The three pillars of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – “Be Present, Be Open, Do What Matters”

Presenter: Chi Cheng

Queensland Ambulance Service

Integrating ACT in your CBT practice

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in one sentence, aims to help people drop their struggles with any thoughts or feelings, in the service of allocating their resources, time, and energy to what truly matters to them. In this one-hour pub discussion, Clinical Psychologist Chi Cheng invites you to get to know the three pillars of ACT, and experience them for yourself.

ACT is considered a part of the third wave of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It was developed in 1986 and is credited to Dr Stephen Hayes and his colleagues. While ACT and CBT share the focus on behaviour change, they do have fundamental differences. To date, there are over 1,000 Randomised Controlled Trail published, supporting ACT treatment validity towards a wide range of diagnoses including Chronic Pain, Major Depression, Mixed Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Psychosis (ACBS, 2023).

In this one-hour Pub Discussion, the presenter will provide a brief introduction of ACT, invite participants to experience the basic ACT principles through experiential exercises, and finally engage in a conversation about how to incorporate ACT principles into CBT practice.

About this event:

The format will be a 1-hour, lecture-style presentation, in an informal setting, including an opportunity for open Q&A – bring your questions!

Key Learning Objectives

1. To learn the basic principles of ACT
2. To experience these principles through experiential exercises
3. To consider incorporating ACT into CBT practice

This session is open to all levels of attendees who have an awareness of ACT.

Duration & Format / Training Modalities

This event will be approx. 60 minutes for CPD and Q&A. This event does not include any catering in the ticket price.

Doors open at 6:30pm for a 6:45pm start.

Please note that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.

References – readings

1. Russell Harris; Embracing Your Demons: an Overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; PSYCHOTHERAPY IN AUSTRALIA; VOL 12 NO 4; AUGUST 2006
2. Andrew T. Gloster, Noemi Walder, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig, Maria Karekla, The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: A review of meta-analyses, Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, Volume 18, 2020, Pages 181-192, ISSN 2212-1447.
3. Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (link)

AACBT members have free tickets, but MUST book to reserve their place.

Non-members can join now and gain all of the other advantages of AACBT Membership!

There are no early bird rates for this event and please note that there are no door sales possible.

Please contact info@aacbt.org.au for more information.

Images: Supplied