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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Health in Social Science : Clinical Psychology

Postgraduate Course: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Introduction and Skills Building (CLPS11061)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Health in Social Science CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryOnline-primer session:
This session aims to familiarize students to the overarching field of Contextual Behavioural Science and the more theoretical, philosophical and historical aspects of Acceptance and Commitment therapy. A series of key readings, video presentations and case examples will be used as learning materials.

Introduction Experiential Workshop:
In this intensive two-day workshop, participants will walk through the model experientially as well as conceptually. You will learn methods for contacting the present moment more fully, stepping back from your own thoughts and other difficult private events that come up during therapeutic encounters and commit to behaviours to help your clients live their values more successfully, with less struggling.This two-day workshop represents the ¿entry level¿ experiential workshop that most people begin with in ACT.

Skills building/supervision sessions:
This series of sessions intends to provide a space for the development and refinement of the delivery of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Each session will have a broad theme followed by an exploration of different experiential exercises or metaphors that can be used to create movement in the specific domain being approached that week. There will also be ample space for supervision, and participants are encouraged to bring their own cases whenever possible. Hopefully the cases brought to supervision will help highlight some of the processes being discussed in the session.
Course description Online-primer session:
This session aims to familiarize students to the overarching field of Contextual Behavioural Science and the more theoretical, philosophical and historical aspects of Acceptance and Commitment therapy. A series of key readings, video presentations and case examples will be used as learning materials.

Introduction Experiential Workshop:
In this intensive two-day workshop, participants will walk through the model experientially as well as conceptually. You will learn methods for contacting the present moment more fully, stepping back from your own thoughts and other difficult private events that come up during therapeutic encounters and commit to behaviours to help your clients live their values more successfully, with less struggling.This two-day workshop represents the ¿entry level¿ experiential workshop that most people begin with in ACT.

Skills building/supervision sessions:
This series of sessions intends to provide a space for the development and refinement of the delivery of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Each session will have a broad theme followed by an exploration of different experiential exercises or metaphors that can be used to create movement in the specific domain being approached that week. There will also be ample space for supervision, and participants are encouraged to bring their own cases whenever possible. Hopefully the cases brought to supervision will help highlight some of the processes being discussed in the session.
Below are the proposed key themes for the 8 sessions that we will have:
1. Functional analysis and workability. (Getting started)
2. Workability and acceptance. (Making a choice)
3. Values (Knowing your direction)
4. Defusion (When to let your mind go)
5. Present moment awareness (Be here now)
6. Committed action (Getting some movement)
7. Therapist barriers (We are all in the same boat) / RFT and metaphors (Do it Yourself)
8. Endings
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must be suitably qualified health and social care professionals (e.g. allied health professionals, applied psychologists, social workers, medical practitioners, nurses) who have existing experience (minimum 6 months) of delivering structured psychological interventions (e.g. CBT, IPT, BA, IAPT). Must also have experience of caseload management including risk assessment and management (minimum 6 months).
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  25
Course Start Full Year
Course Start Date 16/09/2019
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 28, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 15, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 153 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Written assignment (Case conceptualization) (max 5000 words) 100%
Feedback Formative feedback will be provided by tutors and peers during role play activities, supervision and skills building exercises. Three points of self-assessment (post experiential workshop, Session 3 Skills-Building, Session 8 Skills-building) using the ACT core competency rating form (Luoma et al., 2007) and other measures of psychological flexibility.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Critically understand the theoretical model underlying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (History and development of ACT, Behaviour analysis, Relational Frame Theory, Functional Contextualism, Psychological Flexibility Model).
  2. Demonstrate the application of basic ACT skills in practice (Developing an ACT informed case conceptualization, targeting functional processes in sessions, using experiential exercises and metaphors).
  3. Personally apply ACT skills and knowledge to improve practitioner¿s psychological flexibility (Use of ACT in personal self-reflection, dealing with practitioner barriers).
  4. Identify opportunities for applying contextual behavioural science in practitioner¿s work setting and to contribute to the advancement of the field.
Reading List
Essential

Twohig, M. P. (2012). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 19(4), 499¿507. doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2012.04.003
A-Tjak, J. G. L., Davis, M. L., Morina, N., Powers, M. B., Smits, J. a J., & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2014). A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Clinically Relevant Mental and Physical Health Problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(1), 30¿36. doi:10.1159/000365764
Ost, L.-G. (2014). The efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 61, 105¿21. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2014.07.018
Swain, J., Hancock, K., Dixon, A., & Bowman, J. (2015). Acceptance and commitment therapy for children: A systematic review of intervention studies. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 1¿13. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2015.02.001
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2011). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2nd Edition): The Process and Practice of Mindful Change (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.


Recommended

Levin, M. E., Hildebrandt, M. J., Lillis, J., & Hayes, S. C. (2012). The impact of treatment components suggested by the psychological flexibility model: a meta-analysis of laboratory-based component studies. Behavior therapy, 43(4), 741¿56. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2012.05.003
Luoma, J., Hayes, S., & Walser, R. Learning ACT: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills Training Manual. New Harbinger, 2007.
Harris, R. (2009). ACT made simple : an easy-to-read primer on acceptance and commitment therapy. Oakland: New Harbinger. (You can even download the first two chapters for free along with lots of other goodies at: http://www.thehappinesstrap.com/free_resources )

Stoddard, J. A., Afari, N. A., Hayes, S. C. (2014) The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner¿s Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Oakland CA: New Harbinger

Zettle, R. D. (2005). The Evolution of a Contextual Approach to Therapy : From Comprehensive Distancing to ACT. International Journal, 1(2), 77-89.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012). Contextual Behavioral Science: Creating a science more adequate to the challenge of the human condition. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 1(1-2), 1¿16. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2012.09.004
Wilson, K. G., & Dufrene, T. (2008). Mindfulness for Two: An acceptance and commitment therapy approach to mindfulness in psychotherapy. New Harbinger, Oakland. http://www.onelifellc.com/Workshop_Goodies.html


Further reading

Tirch, D., Schoendorff, B., & Silberstein, L. R. (2014). The ACT Practitioner¿s Guide to the Science of Compassion: Tools for Fostering Psychological Flexibility. Oakland CA: New Harbinger.

Ramnero, J., & Torneke, N. (2008). The ABC¿s of Human Behavior: Behavioural Principles for the Practicing Clinician. New Harbinger, Oakland, CA.

Wilson, K. G. (2001). Some Notes On Theoretical Constructs: Types and Validation from a Contextual Behavioral Perspective. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 1(2), 205-215.
Forsyth, J. P., Lejuez, C. W., Hawkins, R. P., & Eifert, G. H. (1996). Cognitive vs. contextual causation: different world views but perhaps not irreconcilable. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 27(4), 369-76. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9120042.
Blackledge, J. T. (2007). Disrupting verbal processes: cognitive defusion in acceptance and commitment therapy and other mindfulness-based psychotherapies. The Psychological Record, (57), 555-576.
http://www.tastybehaviorism.com/Welcome.html
Torneke, N. (2010). Learning RFT: An Introduction to Relational Frame Theory and its Clinical Application. Context Press, Reno, NV.

Foody, M., Barnes-Holmes, Y., Barnes-Holmes, D., Törneke, N., Luciano, C., Stewart, I., & McEnteggart, C. (2014). RFT for clinical use: The example of metaphor. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 1¿9. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.08.001

Foody, M., Barnes-Holmes, Y., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Luciano, C. (2013). An empirical investigation of hierarchical versus distinction relations in a self-based ACT exercise. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 13(3), 373¿385.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsPsychological Therapies,Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,Psychological Flexibility,Third Wave CBT
Contacts
Course organiserDr David Gillanders
Tel: (0131) 537 6253
Email: david.gillanders@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kirsty Gardner
Tel: (0131 6)50 3889
Email: Kirsty.Gardner@ed.ac.uk
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