Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Anxiety Relief

About 40 million American adults suffer from anxiety. In this intensive 5-day professional workshop, mental health professionals learn the practical application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a way to transform the suffering associated with major anxiety disorders.

ACT is an evidence-based approach that balances mindfulness and acceptance processes with commitment and behavior change in the service of living a more vital life. Through lectures, live and video demonstrations, and practical experiential exercises, we learn ways to help our clients live well, richly, and meaningfully, without first having to defeat or eliminate sources of emotional and psychological pain.

This work can be challenging for both therapists and clients because it calls on us to stand in difficult places and open up to that difficulty, without struggle or resistance, as we create a life that matters to us and our clients. We are encouraged to engage the material at a personal level, as it applies to our own lives, and then also in the context of our clinical work.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be better able to:

• Conceptualize anxiety, fear, anger, and depression within an ACT framework
• Identify excessive struggle and avoidance while promoting more mindful and compassionate actions
• Integrate experiential exercises, metaphors, and mindfulness skills into clinical work
• Increase their own and their clients’ ability to balance acceptance and change while moving toward values and goals Upon completion, participants will be able to: •
• define three core elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy that guide its practice;
• identify the ACT model of human suffering in terms of six essential features outlined in the hexaflex model;
• link each of the six elements of the ACT model of human suffering with six central treatment targets of ACT in practice;
• define and identify “fusion” and “experiential avoidance” and their role in various forms of anxious suffering;
• utilize ACT with individuals suffering from all of the anxiety-related disorders;
• practice at least 3 basic ACT mindfulness and defusion techniques and describe how they can be useful for their patients and for themselves;
• practice clarifying values and barriers to valued action and how this can be useful for their patients and for themselves;
• frame and conduct exposure-based strategies in a context of mindful acceptance and valued living using experiential exercises, metaphors, and defusion techniques;
• employ strategies to help clients disarm their anxieties with mindful acceptance and kindness while moving in the direction of their chosen values and life goals;
• discriminate ACT consistent and ACT inconsistent moves in clinical practice, and strategies to foster the development of ACT consistent competencies

Mental health professionals, including graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, are invited to attend. Familiarity with ACT is not required.