June 2011 NUI Galway Host Psychology Conference

The School of Psychology at NUI Galway will host a one-day workshop entitled Mindfulness and Values in Acceptance Commitment Therapy. The workshop will take place in Áras na Mac Léinn on Wednesday, 15 June.

The workshop will focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an approach to psychotherapy and sound living, and will be delivered by Dr Kelly Wilson, co-developer of ACT and Associate Professor of Psychology with the University of Mississippi.

ACT is based on emerging clinical science that demonstrates the broad utility of mindfulness and values in human wellbeing. It’s a hybrid therapy in terms of approach and technique, bringing together aspects of mindfulness, Gestalt therapy, and humanist-existential thought, all organised under a contemporary contextual behavioral framework. The ACT approach is about embracing necessary suffering in order to make more committed, life-affirming choices and live in accordance with deeply held personal values.

Dr Wilson has devoted himself to the development and dissemination of ACT. Over the last 20 years, he has published numerous articles, chapters and books on ACT and the theory and empirical science underlying it and has led workshops in 21 countries. He has recently published a book, Mindfulness for Two, on the use of mindfulness in Acceptance Commitment Therapy and this workshop will present many of the methods and techniques discussed there.

Speaking about the upcoming one-day workshop, Dr Ian Stewart, Lecturer with the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, said: “ACT is an increasingly popular form of psychotherapy in the United States and internationally. The key to its success is its basis in a unified empirically-based understanding of human psychology. Kelly Wilson is an expert in both the research and the therapeutic delivery of this approach. I’d thoroughly recommend this workshop to any clinician or professional for whom an understanding of human psychology is a key part of their work.”

For further information on the workshop, or to register, visit www.conference.ie.