Overview

Recovery from psychosis is increasingly understood to be a personal process of building a meaningful, hopeful and satisfying life, whether or not unusual experiences continue to occur. Psychological interventions can play an important role in helping people to strengthen their sense of identity and agency, move toward valued goals, and participate in communities and relationships that matter to them.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for psychosis (ACTp) is an evidence-based intervention that helps people develop a more flexible relationship to distressing psychotic experiences and cultivate self-acceptance and compassion, while pursuing personally meaningful lives. ACTp promotes functioning and well-being through the development of psychological flexibility, values-based action, and recovery-oriented coping.

This webinar will provide an overview on how ACTp can support personal recovery through formulation driven processes of change promoted by open, aware and active skills. The session will highlight practical therapeutic strategies for working with voices, paranoia and unusual beliefs, experiential avoidance, self-stigma, and recovery-related goals.

Drawing on contemporary research and clinical practice, the webinar will demonstrate how ACT principles can be integrated into assessment, formulation, and intervention, including within private practice settings where psychologists may be supporting individuals with complex and enduring presentations.

The webinar will conclude with a 30-minute discussion and Q&A, providing an opportunity to explore practical applications in participants' own work.

 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this event, participants should be able to:

• Understand how psychological inflexibility (experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, disconnection from values) maintains distress and impact of psychosis
• Understand how to promote present moment awareness and mindfulness/ noticing sensitive to the needs of people with psychosis
• Identify ways to foster values clarification and values-based behaviour to support building of motivation and personal recovery
• Considered adaptations of experiential exercise that are trauma- and psychosis-informed

Presenter(s)

A/Prof Eric Morris

About the presenter(s)

Dr. Eric Morris is a clinical psychologist, researcher and educator with whose work focuses on psychosis, personal recovery and psychosocial interventions. He is Associate Professor at La Trobe University and Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Northern Health, Melbourne. Eric has over 30 years of experience working with people experiencing psychosis and their families across clinical, research, service development and workforce training settings in Australia and the United Kingdom. Through ACTUALISE Lab his work focuses on psychological flexibility and the development and implementation of recovery oriented psychosocial interventions. He is co-editor of the books Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness for Psychosis and Psychological Interventions for Psychosis: Towards a Paradigm Shift, and co-author of ACT for Psychosis Recovery.

Notes

Target Audience

This event is aimed at psychologists and clinicians supporting individuals with complex and enduring presentations.

Please note:

• This is a Member Groups event. All communication will be sent to the registrants’ registered email address. This includes event reminders with details (such as the Zoom link) and any pre-event or post-event resources, if provided by the facilitators.
• A post-event email will be sent within two weeks of the event’s completion to each registrant’s registered email address. This email will include the CPD certificate, event-recording, and any additional resources shared during the session.

Duration of Access

This event will be recorded. The recording will be emailed to all registered within 2 weeks post event and available for viewing up to 90 days.

CPD

It is up to attendees to assess and determine how learning from this event aligns with the requirements of their learning plan. The providers accordingly do not make any representation that the event counts towards attendees’ CPD learning requirements. If an attendee determines themselves that the learning they complete aligns to their learning plan, then they can decide to count those hours towards their CPD requirements for the registration cycle.

The information in this presentation has been prepared in good faith and for educational purposes only. Therefore, the information is general in nature and should not be relied upon in the treatment of any condition and you should seek your own independent professional and/or legal advice concerning any specific issue. The APS accepts no responsibility for any errors, omissions or decisions relating to the information. The content should not be reproduced without permission or unless permitted by law.

If you are experiencing registration difficulties please contact APS Events Support.