Learn to pull yourself out of the fire of pain and live a life of meaning and purpose. As Black people, we are more likely to face a traumatic experience or suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But being Black is about more than the violence that has been perpetrated against us. It also means living a life of dignity and self-worth. We can pull ourselves out of the fire of painful experiences and gain the psychological flexibility needed to thrive, not just survive. This book will help guide you. In Out of the Fire, Black clinician and professor, Jennifer Shepard Payne presents culturally tailored acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) skills to help you heal from trauma, so you can live a meaningful life that is in tune with your own values. The ACT approach in this guide is empowering, strength-based, and non-pathologizing. As you read, you will come to understand that your suffering is not a sign of dysfunction, but rather a product of circumstances and your experience. Once you face the pain of trauma head on, you will discover the tools needed to feel whole. Recovering from trauma in all its forms is something that we desperately need as Black people. Whether you are experiencing mental pain as a result of race-based trauma, or have lived through a personal traumatic experience, this book can help you take the first steps needed to heal and live the life you deserve.

In today's socially and politically divided climate, anger is on the rise-even boiling over into violence. Anger is a natural human emotion, but chronic, uncontrollable anger can poison all aspects of personal and professional life. In The ACT Workbook for Anger, renowned acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) expert Robyn Walser helps readers who are trapped and struggling with anger to unlock their capacity for acceptance, mindfulness, kindness, and compassion. A much-needed, comprehensive program for managing anger in a world of triggers, trolls, and outrage. Everyone gets angry from time to time. Anger is a natural human emotion, but it can often boil over and wreak havoc in your personal and professional life. If you struggle with chronic, uncontrollable anger, you need help now-especially in these times of increasing volatility. This workbook can get you started. Written by renowned acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) experts, The ACT Workbook for Anger offers a comprehensive anger management program designed especially for navigating the current social and political climate. You'll discover the secret to unlocking your capacity for acceptance, mindfulness, kindness, and compassion. You'll also learn to apply these newfound skills to break anger's stranglehold so you can pause, take a deep breath, and create the space you need to react in a more thoughtful way. Managing anger has never been more challenging. Everywhere you look, people are on edge and volatile. This book will show you how to navigate these challenging times with kindness and compassion for yourself and others.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is among the most remarkable developments in contemporary psychotherapy. This second edition of the pioneering ACT skills-training manual for clinicians provides a comprehensive update-essential for both experienced practitioners and those new to using ACT and its applications. ACT is a proven-effective treatment for numerous mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, stress, addictions, eating disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and more. With important revisions based on new developments in contextual behavioral science, Learning ACT, Second Edition includes up-to-date exercises and references, as well as material on traditional, evidence-based behavioral techniques for use within the ACT framework. In this fully revised and updated edition of Learning ACT, you'll find workbook-format exercises to help you understand and take advantage of ACT's unique six process model-both as a tool for diagnosis and case conceptualization, and as a basis for structuring treatments for clients. You'll also find up-to-the minute information on process coaching, new experiential exercises, an increased focus on functional analysis, and downloadable extras that include role played examples of the core ACT processes in action. By practicing the exercises in this workbook, you'll learn how this powerful modality can improve clients' psychological flexibility and help them to live better lives. Whether you're a clinician looking for in-depth training and better treatment outcomes for individual clients, a student seeking a better understanding of this powerful modality, or anyone interested in contextual behavioral science, this second edition provides a comprehensive revision to an important ACT resource.

In The Heart of ACT, renowned acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) trainer Robyn Walser explores ACT as a process-based therapy incorporating interpersonal, intrapersonal, and overarching and ongoing processes, as well as the integration of six core components of psychological flexibility to connect clinicians to the dynamic and relational implementation of ACT. Engaging clinical scenarios, therapeutic insights, and supervision dialogues are offered to help clinicians move beyond their conceptual understanding of ACT principles to master the nuances of the therapeutic relationship at the heart of ACT. Using the tips and strategies in this professional guide, you'll develop a flexible, grounded, and client-centered practice. With this comprehensive resource, you'll learn to cultivate an organic, process-driven practice, grounded in the heart of the therapeutic relationship and responsive to clients in the moment. The Heart of ACT is designed to mimic the supervision experience by presenting material in thought-provoking chapters grounded in real-life clinical situations and challenges. In the book, you'll also find supervision dialogues inspired by Walser's work with her supervisees, Carlton Coulter and Manuela O'Connell. Carlton and Manuela comment and ask questions related to the material in the book and their own ACT learning process. These are then addressed by Walser in a dialogue designed to assist clinicians in connecting to the material. These sections mimic the helpful mentoring process of one-on-one training and supervision, and offer insights into specific therapeutic challenges that can unfold in structured conversation. As the applications of ACT grow, so does the need for up-to-date professional resources. Unlike many advanced ACT books that focus on procedures and techniques, The Heart of ACT focuses on the heart of the therapeutic relationship, as well as the "soft skills" that are difficult to describe, but which often mark the difference between a merely good clinician and an excellent one. If you're looking to take your ACT delivery to a new, exciting level, this book is a must-have addition to your professional library.

New Directions in the Treatment of PTSD

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) offers a promising, empirically validated approach to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma related problems. In this volume, you'll find a complete theoretical and practical guide to making this revolutionary new model work in your practice.

After a quick overview of PTSD, the first part of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma-Related Problems explains the problem of experiential avoidance as it relates to trauma and explores the verbal nature of post-traumatic stress. You'll learn the importance of mindfulness and acceptance in the ACT model, find out how to structure sessions with your clients, and examine the problem of control. The section concludes by introducing you to the idea of creative hopelessness as the starting point for creating a new, workable life after trauma.

The book's second section offers a practical, step-by-step clinical guide to the six core ACT components in chronological order: Creative hopelessnessThe problem of controlWillingness and defusionSelf-as-contextValued livingCommitted action

Each chapter explains how to introduce these topics to clients suffering from PTSD, illustrates each with case examples, and offers homework for your clients to use between sessions.