Focused ACT for brief interventions

Discover the benefits of brief, evidence-based interventions for effective and time-efficient therapy. 

As mental health professionals, we face the challenge of optimising client outcomes within a limited number of treatment sessions. Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) offers a solution, providing a brief and powerful intervention approach for meaningful change in just a few sessions.

FACT is a brief, powerful, contextual behavioural intervention approach rooted in the three principles of acceptance, mindfulness and values based change. It gives you a structured method to  “jump in” and get momentum started in a highly efficient and effective way. It’s about making a start, helping people and getting them ‘unstuck’ right from the first meeting.

Why Focused ACT?

• Efficiency: FACT moves beyond syndrome-based protocols, eliminating the need for lengthy treatment sequences.
• Flexibility: Emphasising psychological flexibility over diagnoses, FACT allows for rapid case conceptualisation and immediate intervention.
• Adaptability: The streamlined structure of FACT makes it suitable for time-constrained situations or when clinician energy is low.

Get ready to be inspired by Kirk and Patricia, two dynamic and passionate trainers with extensive experience and knowledge. This workshop is packed with engaging activities, including mini-lectures, experiential exercises, clinical role plays, guided practice, and video demonstrations. Don’t miss out on this rare opportunity to learn from two world-renowned experts in ACT and discover their powerful and innovative model!

Maximise the impact of each session. Explore the potential of FACT for your clients and practice.

About this workshop

This comprehensive course will introduce you to the key concepts, strategies, and techniques of FACT. You will gain valuable experience with the clinical techniques that make FACT an efficient and effective approach through practical demonstrations and hands-on exercises, learning how to:

• Be open to their experiences of distressing, unwanted thoughts, and feelings
• Live more in the present moment
• Notice the approach and avoidance tendencies of “the mind”
• Choose actions that align with their direction for flourishing, even when doing so produces emotional discomfort.

The workshop is highly practical, focusing on specific clinical techniques that make up the FACT approach. These include Focused contextual interviewing skills, using the Four Square and Psychological Flexibility Profile for rapid case formulation and treatment targeting, and core interventions such as the Life Path and True North exercises. Participants will come away with a bundle of extra tools for their therapy toolkit.

Who would benefit from this workshop?

This workshop is designed for mental health professionals seeking to learn practical skills to incorporate FACT into their practice. This includes mental health professionals including psychologists, psychiatrists, GP’s and nurse practitioners in primary care, A&E healthcare professionals, social workers, mental health counsellors, pastoral care teachers and CAMHS practitioners.

Learning objectives

At the conclusion of the workshops, you will be able to:

• Prepare clients for rapid change within one or very few sessions.
• Conduct a work-love-play-health focused contextual interview. Conduct a focused functional analysis of the presenting complaint.
• Utilise in-session rating scales to assist in promoting rapid behaviour change.
• Conceptualise a case using the Four Square treatment planning tool and TEAMS analysis of inner experiences.
• Rapidly identify and effectively intervene with examples of following unworkable rules.
• Rapidly identify and effectively intervene with examples of emotional and behavioral avoidance.
• Efficiently integrate productive discussions about values and value-consistent actions.
• Utilise SMART goal strategies for promoting behavioral variability.
• Understand the function of and effectively utilize change-oriented metaphors.
• Utilise the Life Path metaphor to increase motivation and set value-consistent goals.
• Utilise the Bull’s-Eye metaphor to increase motivation and set value-consistent goals.
• Understand and self-reflect on risk factors for professional burnout.
• Develop, implement, and refine a self-focused burnout prevention plan.

Group booking discounts

Contextual Consulting offer discounts for groups of people from the same organisation e.g. an NHS Trust that does not have a contract arrangement with us.

Please email us here  to arrange a group discount or find out more about our CPD contracts here.