Full Course Description

3-Day Workshop Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): The Complete A to Z Training Program for Treatment Professionals

Therapy often gets caught up in diagnosing and reducing symptoms, turning it into a checklist of problems to solve instead of a path towards growth and fulfilment.

But let’s be honest, that approach can lead to a cycle of temporary relief rather than lasting transformation. And that’s not great for your clients. Not great for you.

That’s why you need to be using ACT.

Because ACT moves therapy away from a change-based model and lets you and your clients focus on what matters most: helping them thrive, achieve their goals and live a life aligned with their values.

And now in this intensive training you can join thousands of therapists who are not only finding greater treatment success with ACT but reenergizing their passion for the work.

You’ll watch expert and author Dr. Mike Mecozzi for the step-by-step instruction you need to confidently start using ACT with your clients right away. This extensive training experience goes beyond “just talking” as Dr. Mecozzi shares experiential exercises, lists of metaphors, printables, and video demonstrations that will show you exactly what to do in sessions.

No guesswork. No hoping you’re doing it right. Dr. Mecozzi’s detailed guidance will ensure you know how to handle a variety of clinical scenarios whether you’re working with anxiety, depression, relationship struggles or any number of issues you see in clients each day.

And all along the way you’ll find yourself better able to empathize with your clients’ problems, feel more prepared to handle “stuckness” and even ready to use ACT skills that can protect you from burnout.

This is your chance to make therapy better for both you and your clients.

Purchase now and take the first step toward becoming an ACT expert!

Program Information

Objectives

Identify the core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), including acceptance, cognitive defusion, mindfulness, values clarification, and committed action.
Analyze the randomized controlled trials research base of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Determine the implications of ACT interventions on enhancing overall quality of life and resilience.
Identify the specific psychological and behavioral mechanisms underlying ACT interventions.
Define cognitive defusion within the context of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Identify experiential avoidance patterns and explore the short-term benefits and long-term costs of avoidance behaviors.
Identify considerations for implementing ACT interventions in treatment plans.
Formulate ACT interventions to address specific client needs and preferences.
Evaluate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in reducing depressive symptoms compared to control groups.
Utilize the Open and Engaged State Questionnaire (OESQ) as a tool for assessing psychological flexibility in clients with major depression.
Utilize strategies to enhance motivation and address barriers to treatment adherence in ACT interventions for major depression.
Use metaphors and experiential exercises to facilitate understanding and engagement with ACT concepts.
Integrate values into treatment goals and action plans to promote a sense of purpose and motivation for change.
Utilize outcome measures and feedback to assess the effectiveness of ACT interventions.
Compare the effectiveness of ACT with other available active treatments for chronic pain.
Identify common methodological challenges encountered in ACT research, such as sample sizes, and their potential impact on study outcomes.
Identify contexts in which ACT interventions may fail to alter psychological flexibility processes effectively.
Use ACT interventions targeting repetitive negative thinking to improve interpersonal skills.

Outline

Introduction to the ACT Model

Brief history of ACT
The benefits and costs of language
Define relational frames
ACT, destructive normality and suffering
Destructive normality
Cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance
Research, risks and treatment limitations
Indications and contraindications

The Six Core Processes of ACT

The Hexaflex
Define psychological flexibility
The ACT goal as compared to goal of symptom reduction
How to focus on processes rather than symptoms
Apply the six core processes to our work

Creative Hopelessness: How to Detach Clients from Avoidance and Open Them to Change

Four core questions to help clients detach from avoidance
The unworkable change agenda
Metaphors to help clients experience the costs of avoidance
Creating conflict with the change agenda
Video demo of creative hopelessness metaphors in a session

Cognitive Defusion: Distance Clients from Their Thoughts to Catalyze Transformation

Define cognitive defusion
The function of fusion and the contexts in which fusion is unhelpful
Change thought content and change one’s relationship with thoughts
Three cognitive defusion metaphors
Experiential exercises to promote defusion in daily living
Apply defusion skills to our work as clinicians

Embrace Acceptance: Make Room for Uncomfortable Emotions and Sensations

Understand the function of avoidance
Explain the paradoxical effects of avoidance
Metaphors to help teach clients acceptance skills
Three experiential client exercises to promote willingness in daily living
Apply acceptance skills to our work as clinicians

ACT in the Moment: Mindfulness Practices, Information Overload and Present Living

Information overload and its impact on clients and therapy
Two questions that can help promote living in the moment
Gratitude and present moment
Practice mindfulness meditation and incorporate it into sessions
Three mindfulness skills that can be used in session and in daily living
Utilize and practice mindfulness skills as clinicians

How Self-As-Context Transforms Therapy: Harness Inner Compassion and Flexibility in ACT Practice

The conceptualized self, inflexibility, and values-inconsistent responses
Promote self-compassion with the observer exercise
Three metaphors to promote self-as-context skills
Practice self-as-context skills as clinicians

ACT and Values: Help Clients Align Their Lives with What Truly Matters to Them

Understand the difference between values and goals
Three values clarification exercises
Use values to assist with exposure interventions
Help clients create a mission statement
Utilize values clarification to aid our work as therapists

Committed Action: Align Clients’ Actions with Purpose

The importance of intention
Describe the difference between being busy and being purposeful
Three exercises to help clients develop committed actions
Create daily plans

ACT for Anxiety: Clinical Strategies and Exercises for Therapists

Conceptualize anxiety from an ACT perspective
Link avoidance to anxiety disorders
Five metaphors to distance clients from anxious thoughts
Simple “experiments” to promote acceptance of anxiety
Make exposure work more tolerable with ACT
Case studies and video clips

ACT Strategies for Depression: Transform Thought Patterns and Cultivate Hope

Conceptualize depression from an ACT perspective
Link fusion and avoidance to depressive disorders
Five metaphors to distance clients from depressive thoughts
Simple “experiments” to promote committed actions
Make behavioral activation more effective with ACT
Case studies and video clips

Use ACT to Improve Clients’ Interpersonal Skills

Conceptualize relationship challenges from an ACT perspective
Link fusion and avoidance to unhelpful interpersonal repertoires
Understand how evaluation and reason giving contribute to relationship struggles
Utilize values clarification to help clients strengthen relationships
ACT skills for clients with challenging interpersonal presentations
Case studies and video clips

Target Audience

Counsellors
Social Workers
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Addiction Counsellors
Nurse Practitioners
Physicians
Others in caring professions

Copyright : 28/10/2024

2-Day Intensive Training: Mindfulness Certification Course

This Certification training is your chance to become a Certified Mindfulness-Informed Professional (CMIP)!

And unlike other Mindfulness Certification programs that are too expensive, too time-consuming, and require extensive travel, this training is completely within your reach!

Dr. Sears, a licensed psychologist and director of the Center for Clinical Mindfulness and Meditation, is celebrated as an acclaimed mindfulness author, engaging teacher, and knowledgeable scholar. His transformative trainings have empowered hundreds of clinicians, enhancing their clinical effectiveness by seamlessly integrating mindfulness into therapy.

Join him for this intensive training and get:

How-to instruction on using mindfulness-based exercises with clients working through stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, anger, and addiction
Specific guidance on using mindfulness with individuals and groups
Feedback and tips on how you can strengthen your personal mindfulness practice

Program Information

Objectives

Analyze how clear psychoeducational descriptions of the relationship between mindfulness, neurobiology, and common disorders can be used to motivate clients to engage in treatment.
Appraise how a case conceptualization that draws upon neuropsychological principles can help clinicians establish realistic expectations and goals with clients.
Formulate treatment plans for anxiety that incorporate mindfulness strategies clients can use in and out of session to help alleviate symptoms.
Assess the neurobiological underpinnings of how emotions are created, and communicate why this is important to the therapeutic process.
Employ mindfulness training and diaphragmatic breathing techniques that clients can use to help them manage unhealthy anger responses.
Construct treatment plans for depression that incorporate mindfulness interventions that can be used to interrupt rumination and automatic negative thoughts.
Demonstrate how mindfulness based stress reduction techniques can be used with clients to address prolonged periods of stress that can impact mental and physical health
Assess the clinical impact of research regarding the effects of mindfulness based practices on the neuropsychological aspects of trauma.
Evaluate the clinical implications of research regarding the association between mindfulness and relationship satisfaction and outcomes.
Investigate how barriers to implementing mindfulness can be overcome using informal techniques clients can incorporate into their daily lives.
Determine how clinical tools that increase self-awareness can be used in therapy to help clients better manage their thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
Appraise the importance of the connection between therapist and client in contributing to positive clinical outcomes, and evaluate how mindfulness may enhance the therapeutic relationship.

Outline

Mindfulness and the Clinician: “Know What You Teach” and “Teach What You Know”

Empirical support for improved symptomology and well-being
The latest research on therapists who practice mindfulness
Your mindfulness practice and how you can embody mindfulness
Situations that may contraindicate applying mindfulness in session
Research limitations

Mindfulness Psychoeducation Approaches: Easy to Use Strategies to Enhance Motivation in Therapy

Mindfulness vocabulary
Visuals and metaphors to explain mindfulness
Motivate clients with neuroplasticity

Deepen the Therapeutic Relationship: Build Presence, Trust and Empathetic Connection with Clients

Overcoming barriers
Affect regulation techniques for therapist and client
Strategies to create empathetic connection
Exercises to build clients trust in themselves

Teach Mindfulness to Clients: Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practices

Tips for teaching clients about the senses and awareness
Strategies to shift from “Automatic Pilot”
Skill building interventions to increase responsiveness & reduce reactivity
Strategies to cultivate attunement
Approaches for deepened experience of mindfulness
Brief and other informal practices
How to adapt practices to special populations

Group Therapy vs. Individual Sessions

Effectiveness of group vs. individual mindfulness
How to set up and conduct a mindfulness group
- Screening for individual goodness of fit
- Encouraging client buy-in and commitment to practice
Mindfulness interventions specifically designed for groups

Anxiety and Stress: Mindfulness Interventions to Relax the Body and Mind

Breathing practices that break the rumination cycle
Guided visualizations to lower the stress response
Movement strategies
Multi-sensory regulation techniques
Mindfully reduce the intensity of panic attacks

Mindfulness for Trauma: Disempower Intrusive Thoughts

Muscle tension releasing – exercises to counter fight or flight
Guided meditations to disempower intrusive thoughts
Grounding exercises and sample scripts

Using Mindfulness in Depression Treatment

Recognize self-criticism and respond with self-love
Manage negative self-talk with awareness of thoughts
Meditations to boost well-being

Mindfulness for Addictions: Break the Habit Loop

Awareness vs. autopilot -- relapse prevention
Mindfulness for triggers
Emotional regulation for cravings

Mindful Anger: Breathing and Self-Soothing Techniques

Breathe through anger
Distraction and grounding techniques
Self-soothe with calming words and imagery

Mindfulness, Diversity, & Cultural Humility

Adapt mindfulness experiences with cultural sensitivity
Assess appropriateness of mindfulness interventions for individuals
Negotiate the treatment plan

Mindfully Conquer Compassion Fatigue

Right here/right now – stay in the moment to reduce anxieties
Effective and healthy ways to manage your emotions
Change limiting stories about caring for yourself
Release the negative – 3 steps to countering negativity bias

Target Audience

Counsellors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Marriage and Family Therapists
Occupational Therapists
Addiction Counsellors
Case Managers
Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals