Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) combines mindfulness strategies with the elicitation of core values. The goal of ACT is to help clients create a workable relationship with their thoughts and feelings, while living a life filled with meaning and purpose.

In this interactive and experiential training, you’ll learn the philosophy behind ACT. The focus, however, will be on the “values” aspect of this therapeutic modality. We will take an in-depth look into the connection between personal values and creating a life worth living. We will also explore how our belief system can influence what we value. This is an important component of the training, because if our clients understand their limiting beliefs, they will avoid sabotaging themselves in their quest for a meaningful life.

During the training, you’ll learn exactly how to assist clients in discovering what they value in the world, and how they can begin aligning their lives with what is truly important to them. To that end, you’ll be practicing a wide variety of practical skills that you can immediately begin using with clients. 

Since this will be a hands-on experience, please be sure to bring a notebook with you. In addition, we will be using the presenter’s workbook, “A Life of Meaning and Purpose: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Guided Journal for Exploring Beliefs and Connecting with Values,” which will be provided to each participant.

Objectives:

• Understand the role of value identification in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Understand how limiting beliefs influence the elicitation and execution of value-directed behavior
• Identify the components of core values, in terms of their definition and use in ACT
• Discuss how to best assist clients in accessing core values
• Learn a variety of ways to teach clients how to elicit core values
• Practice ways to explore core values
• Explore the relationship between core values and ACT’s strategy of “committed action”