I Don't Want to Hear It. Applying Principles of Relational Frame Theory and Acceptance and Commitment Training to Communication is the kind of topic that looks straightforward until it collides with the speed, ambiguity, and competing demands of language assessment, teaching sessions, caregiver coaching, and natural communication routines.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis
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Join Free →The promise of this workshop is that, out of your participation, you will experience greater ease and facility in having conversations you consider difficult. Experiential avoidance is the tendency to avoid unwanted thoughts and feelings events when doing so is harmful in the long run. In this highly interactive and experiential workshop, we are going to explore personally where we avoid experience in ways that don't serve our larger commitments. It is grounded in decades of research in derived stimulus relations (considered from a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) model) and the therapeutic extension of that research known as Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT). After just enough RFT to demonstrate how the behavior of language relates to experiential avoidance, we're going to look at how this impacts our communication, specifically how it has us communicate in ways that work against desired outcomes. We will then do an exercise to assess situations that are likely to evoke avoidance responses and identify specific overt behaviors that serve that function. We'll then do work with acceptance, a behavioral practice of sitting with aversive thoughts and feelings while acting in the service of values. From there, we will practice communication strategies designed to leverage language in a way that makes it easier to say things that might evoke things from another that are difficult to hear, and to do so by virtue of making it easier to hear those things. Objectives - Participants will identify how temporal framing can be used in conversation to alter the probability of values consistent behavior. - Participants will complete a personal assessment of their own thinking behavior and the overt behaviors that function to avoid aversive thoughts. - Participants will practice a conversation in which they apply temporal framing to communication and practice the ACT process of acceptance.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 2 | General |
Scott Herbst is the founder and president of SixFlex Training and Consulting and the Chief Programming Officer for Pivot 2 Inclusion. He earned his PhD at the University of Nevada, Reno where he focused his studies in organizational systems, Relational Frame Theory, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He has published in the academic and popular literature in the areas of leadership, performance management, organizational culture, and communication. He is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management and Behavior and Social Issues, and a frequent guest-reviewer for other behavioral journals. He has published in both the academic and popular press in the areas of organizational development, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), leadership, and communication. In his current practice, he works with organizations and individuals in the areas of leadership development and communication.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
239 research articles with practitioner takeaways
225 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.