By Sarah Benkwitz & Jim Lucas
These slides were produced in a skills class at the ACBS UK and Republic of Ireland Conference in 2024.
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Abstract: Amplify your ACT Practice with CFT
Compassion-focused Therapy (CFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) have been shown to improve mental health significantly (Petrocchi et al., [AB1] 2023; Gloster et al., 2020 & Beygi et al., 2023). The definitions of psychological flexibility and compassion within CFT overlap considerably, and CFACT is the only known approach to date that seeks to integrate the two models (Tirch et al., 2015).
In this workshop, you can enhance your ACT practice with CFT by developing your understanding of compassion as defined in CFT. Facilitated by two therapists, each specialising in CFT and ACT, you will explore their similarities and differences. You will learn to train compassion as a primary motivation by modelling compassionate flow, incrementally evoking more compassionate responses from your client, and you will leave with a powerful tool you can implement immediately in your practice[AB2] . It includes a demonstration from the presenters and small group discussions and practice. Practitioners wishing to amplify the compassion within their ACT practice will benefit hugely from this workshop.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the concept of compassion as defined in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT).
- Illustrate the consilience of CFT and ACT principles and processes.
- Discuss how compassion can be an evolved biological motivation that underpins psychological flexibility.
- Modify the ACT approach by training compassion as a primary motivation.
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