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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Anxious Children, Teens, and Parents with Dr. Chris McCurry

Dr. Chris McCurry

Connections Behavior Planning and Intervention welcomes Dr. Chris McCurry for a three-hour webinar for Behavior Analysts! This event will focus on the application of ACT for clients with problematic anxiety.

Abstract

For the past 30+ years Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been applied to a wide range of psychological conditions and problems of living. This three-hour webinar will equip participants with the conceptual background and therapeutic tools to use the ACT model in their work with anxious children and their parents.

Dr. McCurry will provide a therapeutic framework grounded in the theoretical basis for ACT (e.g., functional analysis, contextualism, relational frame theory, and mindfulness) that will inform our case conceptualization and clinical work.

A discussion of early childhood social, emotional, and cognitive development will explore the origins of ACT-related phenomena such as fusion, literality, rule-governed behavior, and psychological inflexibility. Understanding, articulating, and even normalizing these problematic psychological events becomes the cornerstone of important psychoeducation for children and parents as we help change the focus of treatment away from controlling or eliminating certain thoughts or feelings and toward living mindfully, vitally, flexibly, and courageously.

Through PowerPoint lecture, demonstration, experiential exercises, and New Yorker cartoons, Dr. McCurry will present a rich variety of ACT strategies and techniques for working with school-age children, teens, and parents.

An extensive bibliography will provide clinicians with further reading and original sources, as well as helpful books for children, teens, and parents.

About the Presenter

Chris McCurry, Ph.D. is a retired clinical psychologist in Seattle, Washington. He specializes in the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders. Chris received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he had the privilege of studying with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy cofounder Steve Hayes, in the early days of ACT. He is the author of two books, one for parents and one for clinicians; Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance (2009) from New Harbinger Publications, and Working with Parents of Anxious Children: Therapeutic Strategies for Encouraging Communication, Coping & Change (2015) from W.W. Norton. Along with coauthors Sheri Turrell and Mary Bell, Chris saw the publication of ACT for Teen Anxiety, from New Harbinger, in 2018.

Learning Objectives

Participants at this event will:

  1. Describe the theoretical underpinnings of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
  2. Place ACT within a framework of child biological and psycho-social development.
  3. Create and utilize ACT-informed case conceptualizations with anxious child and adolescent clients.
  4. Demonstrate ACT strategies and techniques for improving child and parent functioning.
  5. Describe strategies for effectively and respectfully incorporating parents into their ACT work with children and adolescents both as “co-therapists” and as “co-clients”.

CEU’s included, and Cost to Attend:

  • 3.0 Learning BACB CEU’s (included with purchase)
  • $60 to attend
    • Includes access to the recording and presentation materials, and CEU’s.

For questions, challenges with registration, or any other needed information, please contact Dusty, Director of Continuing Education and ACE Coordinator for CBPI, LLC, at continuingeducation@connections-behavior.com.

Connections Behavior Planning & Intervention, LLC, is a BACB-Approved ACE Provider (Provider # OP-17-2781). The BACB does not directly sponsor or endorse this event, its speakers, or its content.

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