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 theACT/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!)
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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:
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
· Homepage for ACBS: www.contextualpsychology.org
· ACT in New England site: www.ACTinNewEngland.com
(pssst! www.ACTinMaine.com is easier to type and will also get you there)
· Our email addresses:
or
· Self-as-Context experiential exercise. The Observer exercise, recorded and available free online can be found at the blog of Randy Burgess.
· There are many new ACT and RFT books available.
· The RFT online tutorial is available on the ACBS site.
(The following require ACBS membership)
· There is a long list of ACT journal articles and publications.
· The full powerpoint presentation of our talk on 6/20/08 is now posted on the ACBS site.
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