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ACT in New England List
Mailing #3:
June 23, 2008
Contents:
1. Welcome
2. ACT Trainings in New England
3. Online Trainings & Distance Learning
4. Other Trainings
5. Reflections on the ACT/RFT Summer Institute in Chicago
6. Next annual ACT/RFT event.
Addendum:
Resources for attendees at the June 20 training in Portland.
(…and anyone else who wants them!)
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Links
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1. Welcome!
This is the third posting of the ACT in New England List (if you
missed the previous two postings, you can read them
here). The primary purpose of this list is to inform New
Englanders of upcoming ACT training opportunities in the area.
A secondary purpose is to support the budding ACT community
here. Regarding the future of this list: I am open to any and
all ideas. In the meantime, if you hear about any sort of ACT
training in New England, please let me know so I can get the
info up on the site and out to the list ASAP. And if you are
having a training of your own, please let me know and I will
help to create a listing for you.
Regarding the
emails: These mailings will be infrequent and relatively
simple. I will send them in this text format to be sure
everyone can read the content. I will provide links to our
local website (www.actinnewengland.com)
to the
ACBS site, and other relevant sites for more detailed info.
2. ACT
Trainings in New England.
There are currently no ACT trainings in the area for the next
few months. However, Dr. Kubik and I are sorting through the
feedback from our recent
Introduction to ACT training in Portland and are considering
future trainings sooner rather than later. There is a
possibility that we will host another ACT training locally in
the next half-year. On the horizon: I will be doing a full-day
ACT training, Making Bold Moves: Enhancing Your Practice with
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, for the New Hampshire
Psychological Association (NHPA) next March (2009). Check for
updates
here.
3. Online Trainings & Distance
Learning. These trainings are not exactly in New England,
but they are available to New Englanders.
- Russ Harris, MD is offering an online
course on ACT called
"ACT
in a Nutshell." The e-course is described as "a
unique ten week e-course for professionals, that teaches you
how to deliver ACT simply, quickly and effectively." Louise
Shepherd, a clinical psychologist in Sydney, recently
reviewed Russ’s e-course on the ACT Listserv:
“I personally found it really
valuable to refresh my memory of many of the key aspects of ACT
work and have also learnt many new ideas. I think Russ has an
incredible ability to simplify ACT without losing the key
ingredients. I seem to learn something different from every ACT
therapist I have attended training from or have read their
books......so I'd highly recommend it to any ACT therapist
wherever you are brand new to this work or have been around it
for some years. (Thanks Russ!!!)” (excerpted with
permission)
Russ has other
e-courses scheduled for release in June and August of 2008.
Click
HERE for details.
- Robyn Walser, PhD has a
six-session telephone course from June to December. The
first course was recorded and is available to anyone
interested in joining and continuing with future sessions.
- Kevin Polk, PhD (of the Togus VA in
Maine) has a
six-session telephone course from June to October. The
session is on June 25 and will be recorded and available to
anyone interested in who misses this session but remains
interested in joining and continuing with future sessions.
4. Other Trainings. Another place
to find ACT trainings is at conferences that cater to behavioral
and cognitive-behavioral therapists. The Association for
Behavior Analysis (ABA) conference already occurred this year.
However, the
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) annual
conference in November often has conference workshops or
pre-conference institutes on ACT, so keep your eyes on this
opportunity. ABCT will be in Orlando, Florida this year.
**Reminder:
The full listing of ACT trainings nationwide and worldwide is
available at the
ACBS site.**
5. Reflections on the ACT/RFT Summer
Institute in Chicago. I made the trek out to Chicago in May
to attend the Summer Institute (SI). In summary, it was a great
event and well worth the trip.
Relational Frame Theory (RFT). This was
the year that I determined to dive into RFT trainings to improve
my understanding of the more esoteric underpinnings to ACT. I
have read the RFT text and many articles but often find that
hearing a presentation of the material makes it far more
digestible. I attended two introductory workshops, one by
Stewart & Blackledge and the other by Bach & Moran (our
excellent hosts for the SI in Chicago). Both were excellent in
their own ways. You might think that two intro courses on RFT
would be highly redundant. Surprisingly, this was not the
case. In fact, there was only a small overlap, predictably on
the basic concepts of RFT and what, exactly, comprises verbal
behavior. Bach & Moran, for example, spent more time on the
behavioral preparations used to study operant principles. J.T.
Blackledge spent his portion of the first talk focusing on
clinical issues. My recommendation, if you are interested in
RFT, would be to hear multiple presenters and access multiple
sources (e.g., articles,
online sources, the
RFT online tutorial, speakers) on the subject; I have made
identical recommendations on how to learn ACT and I think the
recommendation is sound for both.
Couples. Russ Harris’s presentation on ACT
with Couples was excellent. There continues to be a dearth of
writings or research on ACT with couples. Rumor has it that
Russ may be writing a text to help address this deficit….stay
tuned. After the training, it was apparent that there are great
opportunities for therapists to apply ACT with couples.
Plenary Talks. Both Plenary talks included
Steve Hayes; the first was a panel discussion comparing and
contrasting ACT with traditional CBT. Thanks to Drs. Bricker
and Hoffman for participating and providing their perspectives
to a complicated issue. The second was Hayes’s talk on The
Roots of Compassion, in which he made the case for behavioral
scientists and practitioners to see their role in affecting
larger world trends (stigma, prejudice, violence on the global
stage). He made a compelling case and the talk was quite
inspiring. Keep an eye on the ACBS site for
videos of these talks (they are not there yet; not sure if
they will be posted).
Other Third Wave Behavioral Interventions.
I attended the Georgescu & Holmes talk on Acceptance-Based DBT
for Emotional Regulation which presented a more ACT-friendly
take on DBT. The presentation was excellent and was a good
reminder both of the commonalities among third-wave
interventions and some significant differences. Hopefully these
presenters will provide a longer and more substantial training
on this subject at future conferences.
Follies. How to describe the follies?
These are a truly must-see-it-to-believe-it phenomenon. Suffice
to say, I have not laughed that hard in a long, long time. The
follies show the distance ACBS folks are willing to go to ensure
that no one takes themselves too seriously. I have occasionally
said, “irreverence is your friend” in talks, etc. Well, this
fact is demonstrated to perfection at the follies. If for no
other reason, you should plan to attend an SI or World
Conference to see the big personalities in ACT/RFT roasted and
take it gracefully!
6. Next
annual ACT/RFT event.
The next large ACT/RFT gathering will be an international
gathering. The 3rd World Conference on ACT, RFT, and
Contextual Behavioral Science will be in Summer 2009 in Enschede
(pronounced EN-sha-day), The Netherlands. Check the
ACBS site for details closer to the event.
**See Addendum
after the signature line.**
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the update. Please send me your
thoughts and feedback. Feel free to forward this to anyone you
know to be interested in ACT.
Sincerely,
Joel
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Joel Guarna, PhD
Licensed Psychologist
25 Middle St
Portland, ME 04101
207-272-8500
www.whitepinepsych.com
Email:
joel@actinmaine.com
Addendum:
For those who attended our recent Introduction to ACT
workshop in Portland, ME (6/20/08), thanks for attending! It
was great to meet everyone and Beth and I enjoyed our time with
you. Based on your enthusiasm during the training and your
feedback responses, there appears to be a great deal of interest
in learning more about ACT. Keep it up! We both invite you to
remain in contact with us with any questions or concerns. If we
can be of assistance in helping you along in your pursuit of
understanding and proficiency with ACT, we will be glad to be
part of it. Below, please find some of the “Additional
Resources” we recommended at the end of the training. Some are
links to online material on the ACBS site. Several require
membership in ACBS to access them (join and then log-in).
Remember, with the advent of
values-based dues, you can join ACBS for $1. It is a steal.
Additional
Resources
(The following
require ACBS membership)
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