ACT for parents

When working with children and adolescents, clinicians often navigate the complexities of involving parents effectively in interventions, e.g. managing parents’ own anxieties or differing views on parenting approaches. This workshop introduces a unique integration of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) principles into parent-focused interventions, equipping you with practical strategies to help parents and caregivers support their children while developing their own psychological flexibility. Expect to leave with actionable tools that will enrich your clinical practice and positively enhance the family dynamics of families you are working with.

Background to the workshop

Those of us who work with children and adolescents know that progress rarely happens in the therapy room alone; it unfolds (or unravels) in kitchens, cars, bedrooms, classrooms, and all the messy in-between moments of family life. Parents and caregivers shape these contexts in powerful ways, yet engaging them in treatment can be surprisingly difficult. Many begin their therapeutic input feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or unsure of their role. Others feel criticised, defensive, or wary of being told they are “doing it wrong.” Even the most motivated parents can fall into those familiar, reactive patterns when stress rises: rescuing, withdrawing, negotiating, escalating, or trying to control what feels uncontrollable.

ACT offers a way to work with these patterns with compassion and precision. Instead of viewing parents as resistant or unmotivated, ACT invites us to explore the function of their responses, how their own histories, fears, beliefs, and hopes shape the dance they perform with their child. This opens space for parents to recognise what hooks them, make room for difficult emotions, and shift towards actions that reflect what truly matters in their relationship.

This workshop will give you practical tools to help parents identify these patterns not as failures but as understandable human responses. You’ll learn how to guide parents toward psychological flexibility: the ability to stay grounded, connected, and values-aligned even when tensions rise. With this approach, parents become genuine collaborators; not passive participants, but active partners who can carry therapeutic changes into the everyday rhythms of family life.

What you will gain from this workshop  

By attending this workshop, you will gain:

• A clear, usable way to formulate parent behaviour, drawing together ACT, child development, and temperament, so you can make sense of anxiety, avoidance, control, accommodation, and escalation as understandable responses rather than “bad parenting”.
• Language and metaphors that help parents recognise their own patterns without defensiveness or shame, allowing difficult conversations to become moments of insight rather than rupture.
• A deeper understanding of the parent child interactional loop, how well intended responses can accidentally keep problems stuck, and how small shifts can create meaningful change across daily routines.
• Practical ways to help parents slow down in the heat of the moment, notice what they are being pulled by emotionally, and choose responses that reflect the kind of parent they want to be, even when their child is distressed or dysregulated.
• ACT strategies tailored specifically for parents, including how to work with fear, guilt, frustration, and exhaustion in ways that reduce reactivity rather than amplify it.
• Tools for strengthening parents’ psychological flexibility so they can tolerate uncertainty, step out of power struggles, and stay connected to their child without needing the distress to disappear first.
• Approaches for positioning parents as active partners in therapy, helping them carry therapeutic principles into everyday life, where the real work of change happens.
• Ways of working that help parents feel supported rather than judged, confident rather than confused, and genuinely empowered to act in line with what matters most to them in their role as caregivers.

About this workshop 

This 8-hour (two session) intermediate-level workshop will be led by Dr Chris McCurry, who brings decades of experience in ACT and parent-focused interventions. Teaching methods will include mini-lectures, case presentations, group discussions, and experiential exercises. You’ll engage in hands-on activities to practise applying ACT concepts with parents and crafting strategies for real-world implementation. The workshop will emphasise respect, collaboration, and practical solutions, ensuring you leave with ready-to-use tools for your practice.

Who will benefit from this workshop?

This workshop is designed for clinicians with foundational knowledge of ACT who work in settings where engaging parents or caregivers is essential. It is particularly suited to psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and school counsellors.

As ACT is a transdiagnostic approach, the strategies covered in this workshop are applicable to a wide range of childhood emotional and behavioural issues, including anxiety, depression, and overt behaviour problems. Prior exposure to ACT concepts is recommended to maximise learning. If you’re new to ACT, explore available options here.

About the speaker

Chris McCurry, Ph.D., is a clinical child and parent psychologist with extensive expertise in ACT. He holds a master’s in developmental psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he trained with ACT cofounder Steve Hayes.

Chris has authored several books, including Parenting your anxious child with mindfulness and acceptance (New Harbinger, 2009) and Working with parents of anxious children (W.W. Norton, 2015). He has also coauthored ACT-based workbooks for adolescents and children. Chris’s engaging teaching style blends deep expertise with practical strategies, making his workshops both informative and highly applicable to clinical practice.

Supporting research

• Blackledge, J. T., & Hayes, S. C. (2006). Using acceptance and commitment training in the support of parents of children diagnosed with autism. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 28, 1-18.
• Bodden, H. M., & Matthijssen, D. (2021). A pilot study examining the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy as parent counseling. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30, 978–988.
• Dumas, J. E. (2005). Mindfulness-based parent training: Strategies to lessen the grip of automaticity in families with disruptive children. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34(4), 779–791.
• Ghorbanikhah, E., Mohammadyfar, M. A., Moradi, S., & Delavarpour, M. (2023). The effectiveness of acceptance-and-commitment-based parenting training on mood and anxiety in children and self-compassion in parents. Journal of Practice in Clinical Psychology, 11, 81-92