Focusing on mindfulness and values work in ACT

Workshop med Kelly Wilson

Focusing on mindfulness and values work in ACT

Psykologpartners är glada att få välkomna er till en tvådagars ACT-workshop med Kelly Wilson!

Kelly G. Wilson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of psychology at the University at Mississippi. He is Past President of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Representative-at-Large of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, and is one of the co-developers of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He directs the University of Mississippi Center for Contextual Psychology and is the Science Director for the Center for Hometown Science, a public charity engaged in science for the public good. Dr. Wilson has devoted himself to the development and dissemination of ACT and its underlying theory and philosophy for more than 20 years, publishing 40 articles, 33 chapters, and 10 books including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 2ed, Mindfulness for Two: The Place of Mindfulness in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and his most recent effort The Wisdom to Know the Difference: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workbook for Overcoming Substance Abuse. He has central interests in the application of behavioral principles to understanding topics such as purpose, meaning, values, therapeutic relationship, and mindfulness. Dr. Wilson has presented workshops in 23 countries, and has participated as co-investigator in a wide range of research projects in the U.S. and around the world.

About the workshop
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is based on emerging clinical science that demonstrates the broad utility of mindfulness and values in human wellbeing. ACT is a hybrid therapy in terms of approach and technique, bringing together aspects of mindfulness, Gestalt therapy, and humanist-existential thought, all organized under a contemporary contextual behavioral framework. The paradox upon which ACT is founded is that radical acceptance of what cannot be changed empowers us to recognize and change the things that we can. The ACT approach is about embracing necessary suffering in order to make more committed, life-affirming choices and live in accordance with deeply held personal values.

This workshop will focus on the use of mindfulness work and the ways this work can facilitate valued living. The workshop is based on three bodies of evidence that are experiencing extraordinary growth within clinical psychology and within experimental psychology more generally:

• There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that chasing happiness leads paradoxically to less happiness. For example, experimental studies show that individuals primed to covet happiness derive less pleasure from pleasurable events that follow the priming.
• A second body of evidence shows that pursuit of valued life directions leads to good psychological outcomes, improved physical and psychological functioning, and buffers the impact of stressful life events.
• Finally, there is a growing literature on the benefits of mindfulness for a variety of difficulties including anxiety and depression, among other difficulties.

Although this is an ACT workshop, most of the strategies could readily be incorporated into other models of working. The work will be described in a way that will show how this work can be readily integrated into a traditional CBT approach. The presentation will be carried out in such a way that even experienced ACT therapists will get a different window into the ACT model.

This workshop will contain significant use of mindfulness and present-moment focused work. And, will also contain significant exercises and practice at facilitating values work with clients. Although formal mindfulness meditation practice is not necessarily emphasized in ACT, mindfulness processes are central to the work. Mindfulness processes are particularly important in their integration with values work. These exercises will show how we can bring the values directed, present moment focus directly into clinical interactions—what I have sometimes called mindfulness for two. The work is densely experiential and requires persistent attention and participation.

Learning objectives will be taught through both direct teaching and through the use of clinical examples. By the end of the workshop participants will be able to:

• Describe the rationale and empirical support for values and mindfulness interventions.
• Use ACT values interventions to motivate client change and to foster a strong working alliance.
• Use new values and commitment interventions and use acceptance and mindfulness interventions that compliment them.
• Use new values/mindfulness worksheets and homework assignments.

Workshopen hålls:

Den 21-22 maj, kl. 9:00-16:00 på Kalendegatan 20 i Malmö (ca 7 min från Malmö Centralstation).

Pris: 4500:- + moms. I priset ingår intyg, handouts samt för- och eftermiddagsfika.