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ACT in New England List
Mailing #1: 2/05/08
Contents:
1. Welcome
2. ACT Trainings in New England
3. Other Trainings
4. General ACT News and Updates
a. Summer Institute in Chicago
b. ACBS now has values-based dues
c. Learning ACT resources
d. New ACT books
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1. Welcome! This is the first posting of
the ACT in New England List. The primary purpose of this list
is to inform New Englanders of upcoming ACT training
opportunities in the area. A secondary purpose is to begin
cultivating the budding ACT community here. New England is not
yet a hotbed of ACT activity but I hope that we can grow a
sizable community from this tiny seed. Regarding the future of
this list: I am open to any and all ideas. I do have a specific
request: If you hear about any sort of ACT training in New
England, please let me know so I can get the info up on the site
and out to the list ASAP. And if you are having a training of
your own, please let me know and I will help to create a listing
for you.
Regarding the emails: I know we all get
too much email these days. These mailings will be infrequent
and relatively simple. For the time-being, I will send them in
this text format to be sure everyone can read the content. I
will provide links to the website (www.actinnewengland.com,
in case you haven’t seen it yet….), to the ACBS site, and other
relevant sites for more detailed info.
2. ACT Trainings in New England. There is
currently one ACT training in New England in the next few
months. Elizabeth Kubik and I (Joel Guarna), both psychologists
in private practice in Portland, will be doing a one-day
training in Portland, Maine on June 20, 2008 from 9 to 4:30.
Maine is beautiful in June! How can you pass up a
tax-deductible trip to Maine?! Click
HERE for details.
3. Other Trainings. Kevin Polk,
psychologist at the VA in Togus, Maine, and his colleague, Patt
Aptaker, will be running a telephone training series over 8
sessions from March through July, 2008. This is exciting as it
will be accessible to people interested in ACT but unable to
find a local training. Free information sessions will be held
via teleconference on February 13 and 20 at 4 pm. Click
HERE for details.
Reminder: The full listing of ACT
trainings nationwide and worldwide is available at the
ACBS site.
4. General ACT News and Updates
a. Summer Institute in Chicago. The
Fourth ACT Summer Institute will be held May 28-30, 2008 at the
Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Preconference
workshops for persons new to ACT up to advanced practitioners
will held the couple days prior. Click
HERE for info on the Summer Institute.
If you have not yet been to an SI, I highly
recommend it. I attended the SI in Philadelphia a couple of
years ago and the World Conference in London last year—both were
incredible events. There is no substitute for the intensive
exposure to ACT that you can get at one of these events. Note
also that Kevin Polk (see above) and his team are holding a
preconference training on ACT Training Made Simple (Click
HERE for details).
b. ACBS now has values-based dues.
What is this about? The Association for Contextual Behavioral
Science (ACBS), the professional home for many ACT therapists
and so-called “fellow travelers,” has introduced values-based
dues as something of an experiment. First, some context: ACBS,
and its online home at
www.contextualpsychology.org, have promoted an “open source”
approach since its inception. The idea is that ACT is an
unfolding and evolving approach and belongs to no one in
particular and to the community as a whole. The site has an
incredible range of resources, including most-if-not-all of the
published ACT and RFT journal articles, book chapters, research
protocols, audio and video files (including talks from past
conventions), powerpoint presentations, shared exercises and
materials, etc. ACBS membership also permits access to the ACT
listserv, an active and vital discussion group. ACBS membership
is an incredible asset and has been absolutely invaluable as a
professional resource. With values-based dues, you can join
ACBS and access all of this material for a membership fee
of…well, anything you see fit. If you are new and unsure, join
for a dollar. If you are a starving student or just tight on
funds right now, join for five bucks. If you are convinced of
its value, join for more or contribute more later. Pretty
simple. I have gladly renewed my membership for more than the
suggested fee because I use the site on a regular basis. Your
call. Let’s see how the experiment proceeds! To join ACBS or
to read more about values-based dues, click
HERE.
c. Learning ACT Resources. Jason
Luoma and his colleagues recently published a book titled
Learning ACT (available through
New Harbinger) that includes expert guidance on learning
basic and more advanced ACT skills. The book includes DVDs
depicting ACT therapists in action. There is also a website and
online forum to complement readers’ individual work:
www.learningact.com Check it out.
d. A rush of new ACT books have hit
the shelves in the past year. These include Rob Zettle’s ACT
for Depression, several self-help books for issues including
depression, trauma and PTSD, chronic pain, and diabetes, and
several resources for acquiring specific ACT skills. Many of
these books can be found through the big online sellers. Most
are available through
New Harbinger. Russ Harris’s excellent ACT self-help book,
The Happiness Trap, is currently only available in the
U.S. through
Context Press (I hear it will be more widely available in
the U.S. later this year). The “third wave” is picking up –
stay tuned!
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the
update. Please send me your thoughts and feedback. Feel free
to forward this to anyone you know to be interested in ACT.
Sincerely,
Joel
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Joel Guarna, PhD
Licensed Psychologist
25 Middle St
Portland, ME 04101
207-272-8500
www.whitepinepsych.com
Email: joel@actinmaine.com
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