Bridging ACT and behaviour analysis
Integrating the science of behaviour into therapeutic practice
This workshop offers a unique opportunity for ACT practitioners to revisit and strengthen their understanding of behavioural principles and explore how they can complement existing ACT practice. You’ll gain a practical toolkit of evidence-based, actionable strategies to enhance therapeutic outcomes, all while maintaining a compassionate, client-centred approach
Background to the workshop
As practitioners, we aim to help clients make meaningful, values-driven changes, but understanding and addressing complex behavioural patterns can be challenging. Whilst ACT and behaviour analysis stem from the same behavioural science roots they often operate in parallel rather than in collaboration. While ACT emphasises function over form, many clinicians use this intuitively rather than systematically. Behaviour analysis offers a structured approach to assess what triggers, reinforces, and sustains behaviours over time, making interventions more precise and effective.
By clarifying how avoidance and unhelpful behavioural habits are shaped and maintained, behaviour analysis can help to equip ACT practitioners to identify subtle experiential avoidance and flexibility opportunities to develop alternative behavioural patterns. We will explore the behavioural principles and functions underlying ACT exercises. This clearer understanding of function of behaviours and interventions offers invaluable insights when ACT processes aren’t “landing,” helping practitioners tailor interventions to their client’s real-world context and make sense of resistance or avoidance. It also enhances case conceptualisation with greater precision, helping target interventions at the right level to support alternative behavioural habits. Additionally, it improves the use of reinforcers, ensuring values-based committed actions are supported by real-world contingencies.
This workshop bridges this gap, helping ACT practitioners integrate these powerful principles and tools from behaviour analysis into their practice for more effective and measurable interventions.
What you will gain from this workshop
This workshop will help you become a more skilled and confident ACT practitioner by grounding your work more deeply in the principles of contextual behavioural science. By attending, you will gain:
- A refined ability to understand the difference between functional assessment and functional analysis from a behaviour analytic perspective.
- Understanding how investigating the function of patterns of behaviour can better support clients who are stuck to identify the contingencies maintaining this.
- Practical tools for sharpening your ACT interventions, integrating behavioural strategies like shaping and differential reinforcement to help clients take meaningful, values-based action.
- Greater confidence in addressing stuck points by using behavioural insights to adapt interventions when traditional ACT processes aren’t landing.
- A deeper understanding of contextual behavioural science principles, enabling you to see the client’s behaviour not just in terms of their inner experiences, but within the broader context of their environment, relationships, networks and history.
- Skills to create more precise and dynamic case conceptualisations that honour your client’s unique life context, moving beyond general psychological flexibility maps to interventions that resonate.
- Strategies for blending ACT and behavioural techniques seamlessly, so you can work more flexibly and effectively to build clients skills to meet their needs and reduce avoidance, resistance, or barriers to progress.
This workshop will help you integrate behavioural science into your ACT practice, giving you a richer toolkit to shape clients alternative behavioural habits, manage stuckness, tailor interventions, and create meaningful change in your clients’ lives.
About this workshop
Natalie Savage-Evans is a Certified Behaviour Analyst in the UK (UKBA Cert) and an international Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA). Natalie brings a wealth of experience in behavioural science and therapeutic practice, with extensive experience providing behavioural intervention and support to individuals across the lifespan.
This workshop blends theoretical knowledge with hands-on, practical learning. Through a combination of mini-lectures, interactive discussions, case studies, and experiential exercises, you’ll not only acquire new knowledge but also practise applying it to real-world scenarios. The workshop is designed to be highly engaging and immediately applicable, equipping you with tools to seamlessly integrate behavioural techniques into your ACT framework.
Who will benefit from this workshop?
This workshop is ideal for ACT practitioners, psychologists, behaviour analysts, counsellors, and coaches who are keen to expand their skillset. This includes professionals at all levels, from beginners to advanced practitioners, who wish to integrate techniques from behavioural science into their therapeutic work.
A basic working knowledge of ACT is recommended. If you’re new to ACT, we offer an on demand ‘ACT essentials’ workshop to help you prepare.
Continuing education credits are available both for attending the live workshop and for completing the workshop by viewing the recording of the live event.
APA psychologists: This program is sponsored by Contextual Consulting and is approved for 4 CE credits for psychologists. Contextual Consulting is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Contextual Consulting maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Behaviour analysts: This workshop is available for 4 BACB Learning CEUs. Contextual Consulting is an approved BACB ACE Provider # OP-20-3415.
Nationally certified counselors: This workshop is available for 4 credit hours. Contextual Consulting Ltd. has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7578.
To find out more, including attendance requirements and how to access your certificate, go to our continuing education information page.
If you have disability and require adjustments or accommodation, please email us at admin@contextualconsulting.co.uk to discuss your needs and we will do our best to help you.
Booking cancellation
The registration fee will be refunded minus a administration charge if cancellations are received at least two weeks before the workshop date.
Cancellations within two weeks of the event date are charged the full registration fee, other than in exceptional circumstances that can be verified.
Event cancellation
In the event of cancellation of the course outside of our control we will not be held accountable for travel and/or accommodation costs incurred. However, the workshop fees will be refunded.
All workshops will be subject to minimum delegate numbers being met; in the event that a workshop should be cancelled delegates will be given no less than 2 months’ notice.
Replacing delegates
If a delegate is unable to attend and a replacement is nominated there may be a charge depending on the individual circumstances, this will be advised at the time. Please contact the us to request a replacement of delegates at least a week before the workshop date.
Contextual Consulting is committed to the identification and resolution of potential conflicts of interest in the planning, promotion, delivery, and evaluation of continuing education. Potential conflicts of interest occur when an individual assumes a professional role in the planning, promotion, delivery, or evaluation of continuing education where personal, professional, legal, financial, or other interests could reasonably be expected to impair their objectivity, competence, or effectiveness.
There was no commercial support for this event. None of the planners or presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
By the end of this session, delegates will be able to:
- Demonstrate the ability to analyse behavioural patterns and apply behavioural science tools, such as functional assessment and differential reinforcement, to enhance ACT interventions.
- Utilise contextual behavioural science principles to create precise and tailored case conceptualisations that address clients’ unique environments, histories, and behavioural patterns.
- Develop strategies to modify ACT interventions when clients encounter resistance, avoidance, or barriers, using behavioural insights to promote progress.
- Apply behavioural techniques to foster psychological flexibility: practise using shaping, reinforcement, and other behavioural strategies to help clients build adaptive habits and take meaningful values-based actions.