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• Presenter: Klara Prachar, LCSW
  VCU School of Social Work assistant professor of teaching
• Free registration: For all VCU & SSW students, faculty and staff.
• General registration: $35 for those unaffiliated with VCU & the School of Social Work $30 for VCU SSW alumni and field instructors.
• Series/session details + registration links

This seminar will address how psychotherapy, particularly ACT, is increasingly recognized as a valuable addition to medication in the treatment of psychotic disorders. Unlike traditional CBT, which often aims for symptom reduction, the core goal of ACT is to increase psychological flexibility. This means helping clients engage in valued or meaningful actions even in the presence of difficult feelings or sensations associated with psychosis.

This seminar will explore how clients’ attempts to control or escape from hallucinations (experiential avoidance) are a core problem in psychosis and can exacerbate symptoms. A review of key ACT processes in practice will be followed by a discussion of intervention tools such as defusion skills, to assist social workers in helping their clients change their relationship with their symptoms rather than trying to eliminate them.

Objectives
Participants will be able to:

• Define and explain the six core processes of ACT: acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, perspective taking, values and committed action.
• Understand the specific application of ACT for psychosis, including the use of mindful acceptance and defusion skills to help clients change their relationship with their symptoms rather than trying to eliminate them
• Comprehend that the primary aim of ACT is to increase psychological flexibility, which involves the ability to be more present and willing to experience their internal events in the service of chosen values.
• Identify experiential avoidance in clients with psychosis and understand its role as a core problem in psychopathology. They will also learn how this avoidance can paradoxically increase negative experiences.
• Recognize that ACT differs from other cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT) by not having symptom reduction as the primary goal. Instead, it focuses on helping clients accept symptoms while pursuing a valued life.