Learning ACT – A Skill Development Program for Therapists
Many therapists are intrigued by the promise of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – a research-based therapy incorporating mindfulness practices and behaviour change strategies that targets the development of psychological flexibility to enrich the client’s life. If you have encountered ACT through a workshop or conference and want to develop further skills in this approach, you may benefit from this training program.
What you will learn in this training program:
- The core competencies of good ACT practice
- The theoretical principles underlying the core competencies
- How to structure therapy within and across sessions in a format consistent with ACT
- How to get unstuck when a session or a client seems to be going nowhere
- How to develop your own ACT interventions from first principles
You will receive:
- Encouragement to practise and develop your ACT skills
- Opportunities to practise interventions in a safe environment
- A copy of the book, “Learning ACT”
- Support in forming or joining a regular peer supervision group
- Membership of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science – the online ACT learning and research community
- Access to a wealth of online ACT resources for both therapists and clients
- A copy of the book ‘Learning ACT’ including a DVD that demonstrates many of the core competencies
Who should attend?
You should have completed at least an introductory ACT experiential workshop, and ideally a clinical or advanced workshop such as those offered by Russ Harris, Robyn Walser, John Forsyth, Kelly Wilson or Graham Taylor. Open-mindedness and willingness to take part in experiential exercises will maximise learning benefits. This training program is most likely to be beneficial to people currently working as therapy practitioners.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
ACT trainer and therapist Kevin Polk recently described ACT this way:
1. ACT is a psychotherapy that assumes that people are not broken.
2. ACT assumes people learn best by doing things.
3. While not broken, sometimes people get stuck.
4. People can notice what works for what’s important to them and become less stuck.
Consistent with these principles and the assumption that therapists and clients are ‘swimming in the same ocean’, this training program will
1. Treat you as capable of learning the core ACT competencies
2. Teach you by doing and experiencing rather than by discussion
3. Assume that no matter how skilled you are, you will get ‘stuck’ in therapy sometimes
4. Teach you how to attend to what is productive for your client and you and to take effective action in response to moment-to-moment contingencies
About Julian McNally
Julian McNally is a counselling psychologist in private practice. He has fifteen years experience in counselling having worked in prison, community and educational settings in roles that included assessment, individual and group interventions, training, clinical supervision and program development and evaluation. He has completed ACT training with Robyn Walser, Russ Harris, Kirk Strosahl and Kelly Wilson among others. Julian currently convenes the Melbourne ACT Peer Supervision Group and also supervises individual therapists in their development as ACT practitioners.
Registration - CANCELLED - see www.julianmcnally.com for more information.
The fee for the program is $400.00 including GST.
To book your place, email me at act@julianmcnally.com and I will reserve your place and respond with payment options. Online payments can be made by EFTPOS or PayPal – details of how to do this will be emailed to you after you complete the online registration form at www.julianmcnally.com [I'm working on this now and it should be up in a few days. - JM, Feb 18]. Mailed payments can be a cheque or proof of either an EFTPOS deposit or PayPal payment. A tax invoice will be provided at the first session.
Read the following carefully:
There will be no facility for registering at the venue. Places in the program are limited. Please ensure that you are able to attend all sessions, as there will be no make-ups or discounts for missed sessions. Cancellations after March 1 will incur a $50 processing fee before refund. There will be no refunds after the second session (March 20) although cancellations can be credited towards a future training program.
Dates: Thursdays, 7.00 – 9.00pm from March 13 through to May 15.
Venue: Northcote Town Hall, 189 High St, Northcote.
Parking: There is free all-day parking in almost all of the surrounding streets.
Catering: Tea, coffee, biscuits and water will be provided during the sessions.
More information
If you have further questions contact Julian at act@julianmcnally.com or phone 0425 823 173.