Acceptance & Commitment Therapy: 2-Day Intensive ACT Training

Credit

Program Information

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Search:   

Canada Credit - *

NOTE: Each purchase includes CE credit for one individual (participants in full attendance will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, Q&A, and others.

Continuing Education Information: Credits listed below are for full attendance at the live, interactive webinar only. This webinar is being broadcast live in real-time and must be attended live, in its entirety, in order to earn credit. You will be able to type questions to the speaker. The speaker will see the questions and address them during the presentation as time allows. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether web-based activities are an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before the event.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession.  As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.

For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

---

Canada Credit - ---

Earn up to 12.5 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession. 

---

Canada Credit - Canadian Counsellors and Psychotherapists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This activity is approved for 12.5 credit hours.

---

Canada Credit - Social Workers - National ASWB ACE

PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2026 - January 27, 2029. Social workers completing this course receive 12.75  continuing education credits.

Course Level:  Format: .  Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.

 

Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities offered by providers approved by the ASWB ACE program for ongoing professional development.

---

Canada Credit - Other Professions

This activity qualifies for 760 continuing education minutes as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements. 

---

US National Boards - Addiction Counselors - NAADAC

This course has been approved by PESI, Inc., as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #77553. PESI, Inc. is responsible for all aspects of their programming.

This course offers 12.5 continuing education contact hours in the skill group. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance. 

---

US National Boards - Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Clinical Nurse Specialists – ANCC

PESI, Inc. is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nurses in full attendance will earn 12.5 contact hours. Partial contact hours will be awarded for partial attendance.

---

US National Boards - Occupational Therapists & Occupational Therapy Assistants

 

PESI, Inc.  is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Approved provider # 3322. This Distance-Learning Interactive activity is offered at   CEUs , . The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.   Full attendance at this live activity qualifies for 12.5 contact hours.

 

---

Handouts

Speaker

Daniel J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D Related seminars and products

---

Daniel J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D, is an associate professor in the Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis program at Touro University. He has dedicated his career to reducing suffering and enhancing quality of life.

Dr. Moran is also a past president of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), the international organization for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with over 8,000 members worldwide. He co-authored the first case conceptualization manual for ACT, ACT in Practice (New Harbinger), and served on the inaugural ACT training committee. He has authored several other books on ACT, including Finding Your Why and Finding Your Way.

As a recognized ACT trainer within the ACBS community, Dr. Moran is known for his engaging training style and has been an invited keynote speaker at numerous events over the past decade. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Network, The Discovery Channel TLC, and Animal Planet to discuss treatment approaches for various clinical disorders. His scholarly work includes articles and book chapters coauthored with CBT pioneer Albert Ellis and ACT founder Steven Hayes.

Since 2017, Dr. Moran has provided telepsychology services and founded Optimize Psychological Health, a teleclinic where he continues to supervise clinicians and provide direct client care. Passionate about applying ACT beyond clinical settings, he established Pickslyde Consulting to bring mindfulness and values-based commitment skills to workplaces – improving leadership, innovation, and safety.  

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Daniel Moran is the founder, president & CEO of Pickslyde Consulting, Optimize Psychological Health, and the founder of bcbasupervison.com. He has employment relationships with Touro University and FoxyLearning.com. Dr. Moran receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Daniel Moran is a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences, the International OCD Foundation, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavior Analysis International, the Association for Behavioral & Cognitive Therapies, and the American Society of Safety Engineers.

Additional Info

Program Information

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.

Objectives

1. Demonstrate effective use of the six core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help clients advance psychological flexibility.
2. Employ clinical techniques for increasing psychological flexibility in clients using ACT.
3. Utilize acceptance approaches with avoidance problems to strengthen a client’s willingness to have emotions.
4. Apply clinical skills to help client effectively handle automatic cognitions.
5. Utilize effective ACT exercises in therapy to aid clients with developing new skills to engage in the present moment and move past struggles.
6. Assess and clarify a client’s values in order to develop an effective treatment plan and avoid potential clinical problems.
7. Integrate ACT into different therapeutic styles and methods as an approach to managing symptoms.
8. Create committed action plans for clients with anxiety disorders to improve level of functioning.
9. Use metaphors to undermine language-based avoidance repertoires to improve client engagement.
10. Utilize clinical strategies to develop an ACT-based behavior therapy plan as it relates to treatment outcomes.
11. Perform emotional, behavioral willingness and exposure techniques with clients to reduce experiential avoidance.
12. Apply ACT techniques to the treatment of specific disorders including depression, anxiety, trauma and personality disorders.

Outline

• The nature of human suffering
• ”Healthy normality” is a myth
• Language: The double-edged sword
• Undermine unhelpful thoughts
• Aiming for psychological flexibility and why
• The ACT hexagon model

• Children and adolescents
• Acute, florid hallucinations
• Catatonic depression
• Individuals with an adverse reaction to mindfulness exercises

• Strengthening a willingness to have emotions
• The opposite of acceptance is experiential avoidance
• Experiential avoidance throughout the lifespan
• Why acceptance is important
• Case example: Teenage shyness & hoarding

• Look at thoughts rather than from thoughts
• Deal with automatic thoughts
• The power of words
• The problem with cognitive fusion
• Address CBT-based disputation techniques with defusion
• ”Taking your mind for a walk” exercise
• Case example: Eating disorders & social phobia

• Understand the “Self” in ACT
• Self-as-content, self-as-perspective, self-as-context
• Observer self-exercise
• Deal with identity issues
• Case examples related to PTSD & childhood sexual trauma

• Contacting the present moment
• Why being in the here-and-now is critical for mental health
• Relationship between mindlessness and psychopathology
• Meditation, mindfulness and mindful action
• Exercises for mindful action
• Case example: Anger, personality disorders, alcoholism

• The positive side of language
• Identifying core values
• Differentiate values and goals
• Writing values-based treatment goals
• The ethics of values clarification
• Establishing the life line
• Case example: Heroin addiction, bipolar disorder

• Define “commitment” objectively
• Integrate evidence-based therapy with ACT
• Develop ACT-based behavior therapy treatment plans
• Improve behavioral activation with ACT
• Accelerate exposure therapy with ACT
• Case example: Depression, agoraphobia

• Hexaflex model for psychological flexibility
• Ask the “ACT Question” for self-help and case conceptualization
• Inflexahex model: Diagnosis from an ACT approach
• Case example: Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Social skills training
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Inpatient treatment programs systems
• Exposure and ritual prevention
• Behavioral activation
• Parent management training
• Executive coaching

• ACT simplified
• Passengers on the bus: The classic ACT group exercise
• How ACT can make you a better therapist

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Psychotherapists
• Social Workers
• Addiction Counselors
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Occupational Therapists
• Physicians
• Mental Health Professionals
• Nurses
• Art Therapists

Reviews