The Head, Heart & Hands of ACT
for common mental health problems incl. anxiety and depression
A 3 day training workshop – Nottingham 4th & 5th Nov & 2nd Dec 2019
Times: Registration from 9.00am, workshop 9.30am to 4.30pm (on all 3 days)
Venue: The Atrium, 99 Hucknall Road, Carrington, Nottingham, NG5 1QZ
About the workshop
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based psychotherapeutic intervention rooted in the behavioural tradition. Now with over 250 RCTs demonstrating its effectiveness for a wide range of psychological health problems, ACT kits Mental Health Practitioners with a sophisticated set of relevant tools and techniques.
For those therapists already familiar with the application of CBT, REBT, DBT or Solution-Focused Therapy, ACT will sit comfortably alongside your usual ways of working. And yet, ACT offers something distinct and powerful. Parented by Contextual Behavioural Science, ACT adopts a pragmatic approach to human suffering. By concerning itself with ‘what works’, ACT teaches clients how to increase Psychological Flexibility. Made-up of six discrete and interrelated behavioural processes, psychological flexibility leads to significant improvements in well-being and functioning at both an individual and interpersonal level.
This workshop will take place across 3 days – 2 consecutive days and then a 3rd day 4 weeks later. This format will give delegates the opportunity to learn enough about ACT so they can begin using it with clients right away. Day 3 expands the depth and precision of your skills by building on your experiences of putting it into practice.
Days 1 and 2 will provide you with an overview of the entire ACT model. You’ll get to observe and understand the stance of an ACT Practitioner, allowing you to embody the processes of ACT as well as learning about how to teach these skills to your clients. You’ll hear about the philosophical and scientific foundations of ACT including the functional behavioural analytic account of the behaviour of language, Relational Frame Theory (RFT). We will move slowly through each of the six processes that make up psychological flexibility so that you get the chance to learn first-hand, how they work, through personal experience. There will be multiple opportunities to practice in pairs and small groups so that you get to try stuff out and receive real-time feedback.
In Day 3, you’ll build on what you’ve learned. We’ll examine the areas you’ve found tricky and work through them experientially. Anxiety and Depression are common presentations of distress in both primary and secondary care and you’ll learn more about how to adapt ACT to these forms of distress so that you can maximise your impact.
Finally, guidance will be given on how to facilitate ACT peer supervision groups so that you can continue your development after completing the course.
This workshop is aimed at beginners or those who know a little about ACT and want to increase their
understanding and expertise in delivering ACT.
About the presenter
Jim lives and works in Birmingham. He has been BABCP Accredited since 2008 and worked in various NHS settings including addiction, primary care and specialist psychotherapy for longer-term problems. Jim now runs his own private psychology business called Openforwards, which specialises in helping people who work in healthcare and education improve their well-being and professional psychology skills.
Jim is a peer-reviewed ACT Trainer and Teaching Fellow at University of Birmingham on CBT programme. He has taught ACT to hundreds of practitioners throughout the UK and he has spoken on the subject through podcasts, online trainings and at both national and international conferences.
To find more about Jim, click here
Registration and General Information
BABCP Member fee: £200
Non-Member fee: £250
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
On completion, an attendance certificate for 18 hours CPD will be issued (50/50 skills and theory).
*For BABCP Accreditation – this event can be used as one of the 5 x reflective practice statements within a mixed and balanced portfolio of overall CBT CPD
Closing date for registrations is Friday 18 October 2019
