ACT in Exploration and Application: Uncloaking the 6 Tenets of Complete Healing
Incorporating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into your treatment approach can have a significant impact on your clinical effectiveness and the well-being of your clients. ACT is a rich, integrative approach, and has been shown to be effective for many clinically-relevant concerns. Because ACT takes a different perspective on psychotherapy, some clinicians wonder how to blend the applications into their own therapy approach. Other clinicians who have embraced the ACT concepts still have questions about certain aspects of the therapy.
This workshop will explain ACT in a very clear, concise, user-friendly manner. D.J. Moran, Ph.D., BCBA-D is a clinical psychologist who has been in the ACT community for over 25 years, has given ACT workshops all around the world, and is an ACBS Fellow and Recognized ACT trainer. He coauthored ACT in Practice, a book specifically written to teach clinicians how to actually use the therapeutic concepts in the therapy room. This “Demystifying ACT” workshop can be enjoyed by novices to the ACT material, and has additional elements that will be instructive for experienced ACT clinicians in the mental health field. Throughout this program, D.J. will help you gain conceptual and applied understanding of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Content includes:
- The six domains of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Why acceptance is difficult for people, and what to do about it
- How to make mindfulness specifically practical for clients
- What to do when people are resistant to mindfulness exercises
- How ACT relates to other empirically-supported therapies
Because ACT can be helpful for many clinically-relevant concerns, case examples used throughout the day will include substance abuse, social phobia, OCD, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, anger management in executive coaching, and using a mindfulness-based approach to parenting children with childhood behavior disorders.
Learning Objectives:
This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:
- Explore and discuss the six basic tenets of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).
- Identify and describe the problem of experiential avoidance in clinical work for different diagnoses.
- Learn and practice acceptance approaches with each client’s avoidance problems.
- Discuss how ACT attempts to undermine problematic language functions.
- Learn and practice defusion exercises to deal with verbal entanglement in clinical cases.
- Discuss values authorship to increase motivation for committed action.
- Learn and implement contacting the present moment exercises and mindfulness practice in therapy.
- Learn and implement the Division 12 research-supported psychological treatments list to select effective interventions for clients in therapy.
Target Audience:
Mental Health Clinicians & Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Marriage & Family Therapists, Counselors, School Personnel, and Healthcare Workers.
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Pay once for lifetime access.
Course Duration: 6 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Lifetime Access: Your access to the course does not expire, so you can revisit key concepts anytime you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Complex behavioral patterns that resist traditional therapeutic approaches often transform when clinicians learn to harness Acceptance and Commitment Therapy's powerful principles. Daniel Moran has spent over 30 years pioneering the integration of ACT with organisational psychology, sports performance, and clinical practice, becoming one of the world's leading authorities on helping people "find their why and find their way."
As Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training at Touro University and past president of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Dr. Moran represents the cutting edge of behavioral science application. His co-authored book ACT in Practice is recognised as the canonical case conceptualisation manual for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, while his Finding Your Why and Finding Your Way demonstrates how mindful action planning can transform stuck clients into purposeful change agents. His recognition as a Fellow and inaugural ACT Recognised Trainer reflects his mastery of this evidence-based approach.
Dr. Moran's expertise spans ACT, applied behavior analysis, organisational behavior management, leadership coaching, and sports psychology. His unique background combines clinical psychology with board certification as a Behavior Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D), giving him rare insight into how behavioral principles operate across individual therapy, organisational systems, and athletic performance. He specialises in helping clients who feel directionless, unmotivated, or stuck in patterns that conflict with their values.
What sets his training apart is practical integration across settings. Moran doesn't just teach ACT techniques - he shows practitioners how to apply behavioral science principles whether working with anxious individuals, underperforming athletes, or dysfunctional organisations. His consulting work with Fortune 500 companies and appearances on major media outlets demonstrate his ability to translate complex psychological concepts into actionable strategies.
For your practice, expect to gain specific ACT intervention techniques, tools for values-based goal setting, and frameworks for helping clients build psychological flexibility. His Mindful Action Plan (MAP) approach particularly benefits clinicians working with clients who know what they want to change but struggle with sustained action.
Quick Win: Moran's "values clarification hierarchy" helps clinicians quickly identify what truly motivates clients beneath surface-level goals - often revealing the key to unlocking sustainable behavior change and increased life satisfaction.
Qualifications
- Ph.D., Clinical-School Psychology, Hofstra University, 1998
- B.A., Psychology, Marquette University, 1991
- BCBA-D, Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral, 2004
- Licensed Psychologist, New York State
- Over 30 years experience as behavioral scientist
- Clinical supervisor for 100+ health practitioners
Selected Books
- ACT in Practice: Case Conceptualization in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (co-author with Timothy Gordon, canonical ACT manual)
- Finding Your Why and Finding Your Way
- Building Safety Commitment (Behavior-Based Safety)
- Breathe and Bring the Heat (Sports psychology for athletes)
Teaching & Roles
- Chief Executive Officer, Optimize Psychological Health, November 2024–present
- Associate Professor & Director of Clinical Training, Touro University School of Health Sciences, July 2022–present
- CEO & Founder, Pickslyde Consulting, August 2008–present
- Founder, MidAmerican Psychological Institute, 2003–present
- Founder, Breathe and Bring the Heat, February 2004–present
Featured & Recognition
- Featured: The Oprah Winfrey Network, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet
- Podcast host: "Functionally Speaking"
- Psychology Today blog contributor
- Co-published articles with CBT pioneer Albert Ellis and ACT pioneer Steven Hayes
- Multiple peer-reviewed publications and book chapters
Speaking & Training
- International keynote speaker across 6 of 7 continents
- Trained organisations in all 50 U.S. states
- Thousands of hours of behavioral science and performance enhancement workshops
- Fortune 500 company consultant
- Helped organisations win APA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award
Ready to help clients align their actions with their deepest values? Discover how Dr. Moran's ACT-based methods can transform therapeutic stagnation into meaningful, sustainable life change.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 4
- Topics 0
- Duration 6 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English