Introductory ACT Experiential Workshop - Sonja Batten

Sonja BattenIntroductory ACT Experiential Workshop

Registration is now closed.

Workshop leader: Sonja V. Batten, Ph.D., VA Maryland Health Care System and University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dates & Location: July 14 & 15, 2007, 9:00am - 5:00/5:30pm at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.

General description/abstract: Clients frequently come to therapy with an agenda of the amelioration of symptoms - to feel less depressed, have fewer panic attacks, and have fewer cravings to use drugs and alcohol. Traditional treatment approaches are designed for exactly such a purpose - to assist in symptom reduction. But what if there were another way of approaching our clients' difficulties in living? What if it were not the thoughts, memories, and feelings that are the problem, but instead that individuals presenting for treatment have lost touch with what is important to them? That they are not living a life in accordance with those things that they really value?

Often we find that years of disappointment, disenfranchisement, and avoidance have led our clients to make choices based on attempts to feel good, rather than based on building a life that is meaningful to them.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a contemporary behavior therapy, provides an alternative to the feel-good agenda and instead focuses on helping our clients to reconnect with those ideals and principles for living that are deeply important to them. This two-day workshop will provide clinicians with the tools to work with clients on identifying each person's valued life directions and then help motivate behavior change in the service of those values. Structured experiential and written exercises, along with role pays and case material, will be used to demonstrate the process of values assessment and commitment to engage in valued life activities.

Educational Objectives:
*Understand problems in living as the result of behavioral choices that individuals make that are inconsistent with their personal values
*Identify the role of avoidance in the development and maintenance of psychopathology
*Recognize client barriers to identifying and acting upon values
*Be able to lead clients in experiential exercises designed to facilitate awareness of valued life directions and motivate valued behavior

PLEASE NOTE: It is important that you understand the experiential nature of this workshop. These workshops teach ACT by creating an experience of what it is like to stand in the place where we ask ACT clients to stand. The workshop will be largely experiential and may be intense at times.

Target Audience: Clinicians who have not previously attended a 2-day ACT introductory training