3 Day Intensive: Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Mental Health Practice

Presented by John P. Forsyth,Ph.D. and Jamie R. Forsyth,Ph.D.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019 – Friday, July 5, 2019  |  Alberta, Banff, Canada

Date & Location

• Cultivate fluid and flexible use of ACT in practice
• ACT techniques for a broad range and severity of mental health disorders
• An interactive workshop including experiential exercises, demonstrations, clinical worksheets and practical tools
• Transformative for you and your clients!

How often do you review your appointment calendar and start wondering how you’re going to, finally, help a regular client who seems to progress for a while – and then regress?

Each time he/she arrives, you use the same tools and techniques you’ve used for so long – and mostly successfully – but this one client is testing your skills. Now, you can begin to integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into your practice – and see improved outcomes.

Researched and developed by world-renowned researcher, speaker and author Steven Hayes, PhD, ACT has fast become the treatment approach that gets to the heart of human suffering and what is needed to restore psychological health and wellness.

Join ACT experts, Drs. John & Jamie Forsyth for this workshop where you will develop highly practical, evidence-based skills, case conceptualization techniques, and powerful therapeutic strategies that will help you when working with a broad range of mental health concerns including:

• Anxiety Issues
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Mood Disorders
• Substance Abuse
• Anger Management
• Trauma
• Personality Disorders
• And many more!

View this intensive, engaging and transformative workshop and start a new path for healing you can use with your most difficult clients.

Recommended Reading

Who Should Attend

Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, School Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills.

Agenda

ACT Model and Case Conceptualization

• Centering Exercise
• Why It’s Hard Being Human
• Pervasiveness of Human Suffering
• The Light and Dark Side of Language & Cognition
• ACT Case Conceptualization
• ACT Model of Human Suffering
• ACT Model of Psychological Health
• Self-Assessment Exercise: Eyes On
• ACT in a Nutshell Role Play Demonstration

Use Creative Hopelessness to Weaken the Control Agenda

• Why Creative Hopeless in ACT?
• Exploring Workability
• Establishing Creative Hopelessness
• Exercise and Role Play: Tug of War with Anxiety Monster
• Exercise: Metaphors to Weaken Illusion of Control
• Exercise and Role Play: Chinese Finger Trap
• Exercise: Quick Sand and Swamp Metaphors
• Dyad Practice of Creative Hopelessness Exercises

Do Effective Values Work in ACT

• The Nature of Values in ACT
• Distinguishing Values from Goals
• Connecting with Values
• Exercises: Funeral Meditation & Tombstone Exercise
• Values Clarification and Assessment
• The Values Directions & Life Compass Worksheets
• Life Compass Cards
• Barriers to Valued Action
• Exercise: Barriers Clarification Using Barriers Worksheet in Dyads
• Values in ACTion

Cultivate Mindful Acceptance & Defusion

• Opening Up: The Nature of Mindful Acceptance in ACT
• Exercise: Getting in Contact with the Present
• Exercise: Take Your Mind for a Walk
• Exercise: Acceptance of Thoughts & Feelings
• Self as Context vs. the Conceptualized Self
• Defusion: Overview and Purpose
• Mindful Defusion Exercise: Wise Mind
• Mindful Defusion Exercise: Chess Board
• Thoughts on Cards: Demonstration and Role Plays

Nurture Self-Compassion, Willingness, and Value-Guided Action

• Self-Compassion and Kindness – Powerful Antidotes to Suffering
• Exercise: Loving Kindness Walking Meditation
• Exercise to Nurture Self-Compassion: Tonglen Practice
• The Nature of Willingness
• Exercise: Trying vs. Doing
• Compassionate Exposure in a Value-Guided Context
• Exercise and Demonstration of Exposure in ACT
• Building Patterns of Committed ACTion
• The Role of Behavioral Activation in ACT
• Distinguishing Good from Poorly Stated Goals
• Setting SMART Value Guided Goals
• What to do When Clients Feel Stuck

Learning Objectives

1. List of the three pillars of ACT
2. Define the ACT model of human suffering (six inflexahex processes)
3. Define the ACT model of psychological health (six inflexahex processes)
4. Explain a functional contextual approach to ACT case conceptualization
5. Recognize clinical concerns (e.g. anxiety, depression, problem anger) within an ACT framework
6. Identify exemplars of excessive struggle and avoidance and describe mindful and compassionate alternative behaviours
7. Distinguish between ‘fusion’ and ‘experiential avoidance’ and their role in various forms of human suffering
8. Rehearse essential ACT intervention skills to cultivate psychological flexibility
9. Deliver values clarification exercises in skills to cultivate psychological flexibility
10. Deliver values clarification exercises in dyads and small groups
11. Demonstrate experiential exercises and metaphors in dyads and small groups
12. Discriminate ACT consistent and ACT inconsistent strategies in clinical practice
13. Describe strategies to foster the ongoing development of ACT consistent clinical competencies
14. Apply and integrate mindfulness and acceptance processes with commitment and behaviour change processes in dyads

Your Presenters

John P. Forsyth,Ph.D.

John P. Forsyth, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized author, speaker, researcher, and trainer in the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and practices that cultivate mindfulness, loving kindness, and compassion. For over 20 years, his work has focused on developing ACT and mindfulness practices to alleviate human suffering, awaken the human spirit, and to nurture psychological health and vitality.  His personal journey and experience, balanced with practical insights grounded in scientific evidence, offers hope to those wishing to find a path out of suffering and into wholeness.

He has written several popular ACT books, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Disorders (for mental health professionals), and several ACT self-help books for the public:  The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, 2^nd ed., and ACT on Life, Not on Anger, and Your Life on Purpose.  His latest ACT self-help book, Anxiety Happens, is scheduled for release sometime in the Fall of 2017.

John holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and is a Professor of Psychology and Director the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at the University at Albany, SUNY in Upstate New York. He is a licensed clinical psychologist, with expertise in the use and application of ACT for several forms of psychological and emotional suffering.  He is also widely sought after ACT trainer and consultant and serves as a senior editor of the ACT book series with New Harbinger Publications.
Collectively, his work has helped foster growing interest in acceptance and mindfulness in psychology, mental health, medicine, and society.

 

John and Jamie have trained thousands of mental health professionals in the practical use of ACT and together they are known to offer what promises to be a unique and dynamic ACT training experience. They are known to infuse their teaching and trainings with energy, humility and compassion, and their down-to earth workshops are consistently praised for their clarity, depth, and practical utility.

John and his wife Jamie regularly give ACT talks and workshops to the public and professionals in the United States and abroad.  They are well known for offering intensive week long retreat-style ACT trainings at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY, the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, 1440 Multiversity in Santa Cruz, CA, and the Cape Cod Institute in Eastham, MA, where John and Jamie are members of the teaching faculty.

 

Testimonials

“Excellent workshop – Presenters were knowledgeable, respectful of audience – allowing questions, demonstrating the ACT values in their interactions. The content will be very useful in my practice. Thanks to John and Jamie and to Jack Hirose for providing affordable, useful quality training opportunities.”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“I really enjoyed this workshop. It was practical with lots of examples and exercises to help you practice. I found John & Jamie engaging speakers and enjoyed the “dynamic duo” and how they helped add to each others discussion. I really appreciated how genuine they were and that they used personal examples to help show how to use ACT principals. They openness to questions and role plays kept me engaged. I would like to see them again!”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“The presenters were knowledgeable and engaging. They worked well together and complimented each other’s area of expertise. This workshop helped me to understand the ACT framework and gave me skills to implement into my practice.”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“John and Jamie complimented each other’s wisdom, charisma, perspectives and energy to deliver a really great 2-day workshop. They were well organized to allow the information to flow smoothly, yet flexibly. I already had a good sense of and intergrade ACT into my therapeutic work – but it was helpful to hear the concepts through their lenses and deeper my understanding and ability to utilize ACT concepts. Tools/language. A very worthwhile 2 days!!”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“John and Jamie were great speakers who made an excellent presentation team. The info was a great intro to ACT and I liked the practical info they provided.”
– Richmond, BC | November 26, 2018

“You two were amazing and so engaging. Thank you!”
– Richmond, BC | November 26, 2018

Jamie R. Forsyth,Ph.D.

Jamie R. Forsyth, Ph.D. is an active and gifted clinician and clinical supervisor, with extensive expertise in the use and application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with severe forms mental illness (e.g., psychosis and personality disorders) and forms of psychological and emotional suffering in inpatient, outpatient, and college mental health settings.  Beyond ACT, Jamie is a skillful integrationist and researcher, with specialized knowledge in relational and process-oriented therapeutic work, addictions, motivational interviewing, including mindfulness and self-compassion practices.

Jamie holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University at Albany, SUNY. Currently, Jamie is a Clinician at Union College, where she offers ACT-based outpatient psychotherapy to college students presenting with significant psychological, emotional, and behavioural challenges. Her clinical work, grounded in evidence-based know-how, offers unique insights into the subtle nuances of ACT as it unfolds in clinical practice.  Jamie is also actively engaged in the dissemination of ACT and mindfulness practices within her college community and, along with her husband John, co-lead ACT professional workshops in the United States and abroad.

Although ACT is her primary theoretical orientation, Jamie considers herself to be an integrationist and thus draws upon relational and psychodynamic theories to help create a holistic person-centred approach to treatment.  Jamie’s clinical wisdom, coupled with the depth and scope of her knowledge and skills, bridges various approaches and streams of practice within an ACT point of view.

John and Jamie have trained thousands of mental health professionals in the practical use of ACT and together they are known to offer what promises to be a unique and dynamic ACT training experience. They are known to infuse their teaching and trainings with energy, humility and compassion, and their down-to earth workshops are consistently praised for their clarity, depth, and practical utility.

John and his wife Jamie regularly give ACT talks and workshops to the public and professionals in the United States and abroad.  They are well known for offering intensive week long retreat-style ACT trainings at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY, the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, 1440 Multiversity in Santa Cruz, CA, and the Cape Cod Institute in Eastham, MA, where John and Jamie are members of the teaching faculty.

Testimonials

“Excellent workshop – Presenters were knowledgeable, respectful of audience – allowing questions, demonstrating the ACT values in their interactions. The content will be very useful in my practice. Thanks to John and Jamie and to Jack Hirose for providing affordable, useful quality training opportunities.”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“I really enjoyed this workshop. It was practical with lots of examples and exercises to help you practice. I found John & Jamie engaging speakers and enjoyed the “dynamic duo” and how they helped add to each others discussion. I really appreciated how genuine they were and that they used personal examples to help show how to use ACT principals. They openness to questions and role plays kept me engaged. I would like to see them again!”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“The presenters were knowledgeable and engaging. They worked well together and complimented each other’s area of expertise. This workshop helped me to understand the ACT framework and gave me skills to implement into my practice.”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“John and Jamie complimented each other’s wisdom, charisma, perspectives and energy to deliver a really great 2-day workshop. They were well organized to allow the information to flow smoothly, yet flexibly. I already had a good sense of and intergrade ACT into my therapeutic work – but it was helpful to hear the concepts through their lenses and deeper my understanding and ability to utilize ACT concepts. Tools/language. A very worthwhile 2 days!!”
– Edmonton, AB | November 27 – 28, 2018

“John and Jamie were great speakers who made an excellent presentation team. The info was a great intro to ACT and I liked the practical info they provided.”
– Richmond, BC | November 26, 2018

“You two were amazing and so engaging. Thank you!”
– Richmond, BC | November 26, 2018

 

Registration & Fees