Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Cultivating Psychological Flexibility

9:00am-12:00pm ET

LIVE WEBINAR

Presenter: Dr. Reji Mathew, PHD, LCSW, REAT

NASW-NYS Members: $30

NASW Other Chapter Member: $60

Non-Members: $75

NASW-NYS Student and Transitional Members: FREE

This workshop is approved for 3.0 continuing education credit hours for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists and licensed psychologists

Workshop Description

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-wave cognitive-behavioral evidence-based approach offering a powerful mindfulness-based framework to foster psychological flexibility to treat clients presenting with depression, anxiety, and trauma. Psychological flexibility is founded on the six core ACT processes: diffusion, acceptance, present moment, self-as-a-content, values, and committed action. ACT uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies to develop committed behavior change by increasing it.

This workshop will explore a variety of techniques for helping clients who are struggling to make difficult behavior changes due to the presence of painful thoughts, feelings, and memories. The primary aim is to guide clients in identifying their values and translating them into value-congruent actions/behaviors. The ACT approach effectively uses both metaphors and experiential exercises to activate meaningful change in clients’ lives.

Learning Objectives

After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1.    Explain ACT approaches as a Third Wave Intervention in contrast to traditional CBT Therapy
2.    Describe the ACT therapeutic clinical target of psychological flexibility and how this conceptualization helps alleviate anxiety and dooming symptoms.
3.    Describe the 6 core ACT processes (skills): 1- Defusion, 2- Acceptance, 3- Contact with the present moment, 4- The Observing Self, 5- Values, 6- Committed action.
4.    Describe ways to guide clients to identify personal values and anchor daily actions by value-congruent behaviors & life choices.

This workshop is approved for 3.0 continuing education credit hours.

NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), licensed marriage and family therapists (Provider ID #MFT-0037) and licensed psychologists (Provider ID #PSY-0088).

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Presenter:

Reji Mathew, PhD, LCSW, REAT is a N.Y. Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 20 years of direct clinical treatment experience. Reji is a clinical instructor of continuing education courses; she specializes in teaching evidence-based treatment approaches – DBT, CBT, ACT, CFT, Positive Psychology, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, and Mindfulness. Reji is a frequent instructor at NYU - SSW, and NASW. They have also taught at Hunter College and Brooklyn OHEL Institute for Training. Reji is an Integrative cognitive behavioral therapist. She incorporates many strategies within a skill-oriented therapeutic approach. Reji is both Neuroscience and Trauma-Informed. Reji also has a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Supervision sessions will include training & teaching on a wide variety of current evidence-based strategies. She offers affordable supervision & mental health training for individuals, educational, and clinical settings. I am also an ARTS advocate. Reji arts advocacy work includes freelance health journalism and graphic design artistry. Reji is currently completing certification to be a REAT (Registered Expressive Arts Therapist) Please see Reji's website for her visual arts project on “Positivity, Hope & The Art of Pause.” (Website: https://www.rejimathewphd-writer.com/).