Last November, over 250 people from 15 countries gathered at the Mermaid Conference Centre in London for the first UK ACT Conference. The Conference was jointly organised by the BABCP Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Special Interest Group (ACT SIG) and the UK & Ireland Chapter of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS). ACT SIG Committee member Miles Thompson, who attended the Conference, reports

Thompson, Miles

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With around 1,000 members, ACT SIGis one of the largest Special InterestGroups within BABCP, while ACBS hasnearly 7,000 members globally. ACBSis the worldwide organisation thatseeks to advance ContextualBehavioural Science (CBS). Although itrefers to ACT, CBS also implicatesother endeavours such as RelationalFrame Theory (RFT), which is a basiclaboratory-based account of humanlanguage and cognition that hasevolved alongside ACT.ProgrammeThe event consisted of two days ofpre-conference workshops and twodays of the main conferenceprogramme with nearly 50 differentsessions in total. Both parts showcasedthe breadth and depth of work that istaking place within the CBScommunity in the UK and beyond. Aquick thematic analysis of theprogramme showed that broad areascovered included mental health,health psychology and insights fromworkplace and organisational settings.Parallel to this applied work was alarge helping of basic psychologicalscience in the form of RFT, whichcontinued to show its potential toenrich all of the areas above.Mental healthOne of the current strengths of theUK ACT community is the work beingdone with those suffering frompsychosis. Conference organisers EricMorris and Joe Oliver, along withLouise Johns, have recently publishedthe book, Acceptance andCommitment Therapy & Mindfulnessfor Psychosis. Work taking place in thisarea was showcased throughout theconference with skills classes,symposia and panel discussions.Other sessions applied ACT to diverseareas such as end of life issues andlearning disabilities. One session alsoaddressed working with mentalhealth problems in developingcountries around the world,highlighting the potential issues ofapplying ACT in these contexts. Theconference also secured a keynotefrom Professor Kelly Wilson, author ofwhat is popularly known as 'the '99book'. Meanwhile his two day pre-conference workshop provided adeeply experiential introduction to ACT.HealthAnother keynote, Professor LanceMcCracken described the ‘velvetrevolution’ that has taken place overthe past two decades in the area ofchronic pain and ACT. ProfessorMcCracken, who holds the Chair inBehavioural Medicine at King’sCollege London, noted how recentmeta-analyses suggest that, while themethods of investigatingpsychological treatments for chronicpain have become increasinglysophisticated, the effectiveness ofthese treatments have stalled or evensomewhat decreased. This has led tocalls for fewer RCTs and more focuson which specific psychologicalcomponents are effective and how.At the same time ACT, with its focuson process and functionally derivedtreatment components, has beendeveloping its evidence base suchthat the Society of Clinical Psychologywithin the American PsychologicalAssociation now says there is strongresearch support for its use withchronic pain. The conference alsoincluded a skills class that focusednot just on talk based interventionsSpecial reportLondon gets inon the ACTLast November, over 250 people from 15 countries gathered at the Mermaid Conference Centre in Londonfor the first UK ACT Conference. The Conference was jointly organised by the BABCP Acceptance &Commitment Therapy Special Interest Group (ACT SIG) and the UK & Ireland Chapter of the Association forContextual Behavioural Science (ACBS). ACT SIG Committee member Miles Thompson, who attended theConference, reports(Above, top to bottom)Dermot Barnes-Holmes giving hiskeynote, Frank Bond giving a preconference workshop, Kelly Wilsongiving his keynote| February 201420for chronic pain, but also on bodymovement interventions inspired byACT. Open papers were alsopresented that described the recent£250k innovation grant that theDepartment of Health awarded toteach ACT-based techniques toOsteopaths. In other areas related tohealth psychology, the conferenceshowcased work in areas such asinsomnia and weight.WorkWork was one of the themes of thelast year's BABCP Annual Conference.Mirroring this, the ACT Conferencealso illustrated how ACT is not justbeing applied in health and mentalhealth settings, but also in morediverse areas such as in workplacesand for the leaders of organisations.Here ACT is being applied to helpunderstand and increase bothemployee wellbeing andperformance. In his pre-conferenceworkshop and keynote presentation,Professor Frank Bond fromGoldsmiths, University of London,spoke about how the clinicalframework used to help formulateclient problems from an ACTperspective could be adapted andapplied to workplace andorganisational settings. ProfessorBond, who is also the currentPresident of the ACBS UK & IrelandChapter, informed the conference of asoon-to-be submitted meta-analysesabout ACT in the workplace,illustrating just how far work in thisarea has progressed.Relational Frame TheoryColleagues in the CBS communityhave spent around two decadesdeveloping a basic account of humanlanguage and cognition known asRFT. It is hoped that the products ofthis work will be of benefit acrosspsychology including to those whowork day-to-day with clients. As aconsequence, it is perhapsunsurprising that two of the pre-conference workshops sought toprovide therapists and clinicians witha practical foundation inunderstanding RFT.Throughout the conference, ProfessorDermot Barnes-Holmes and hiscolleagues from the NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth,informed attendees of recent insightsfrom RFT. One research stream is inthe area of ‘fast and slow cognition’.The distinction is made betweenresponses that you give slowly andhave time for deliberation (eg thoseyou might give on a questionnaire),and those responses that are givenquickly and automatically (eg whenhaving to press a key on a keyboardunder time pressure). Although thisdistinction has been made elsewherein psychology, Professor Barnes-Holmes’ work appears to be at theforefront of translating such basiceffects into work that is meaningfulto therapists in their day-to-daypractice. Meanwhile his keynotehighlighted how these and otherdevelopments could also be relevantto the psychology community atlarge. In this spirit, he drew attentionto his current work with cognitiveresearchers in Europe and how thiscollaborative work provides some ofthe first direct empirical support forPaul Salkovskis' theoretical insightsinto OCD.Fellow travellersDespite a primary focus on researchand practice related to ACT and RFT,the conference also included materialfrom other therapeutic areas thatshare a contextual perspective. Forexample, sessions focused onmindfulness, compassion-basedapproaches and Functional AnalyticPsychotherapy (FAP) were also on theconference timetable. Even morebroadly, some sessions illustrated thelink that the wider CBS community is| February 2014 21BABCP ACT SIGpresentsA rare and limitedopportunity to attenda 2 day experientialworkshop in RFT30 April & 1 Mayat Solent University,SouthamptonRegistrationEarly bird rateBABCP members £150Students £100Non-members £180After 25th March 2014BABCP members £180Students £120Non-members £200Relational frame theory (RFT) offers the possibility of a theoretical functional basis forboth cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy(ACT) and other types of clinical interventions involving verbal behaviour. Theworkshop will explore several areas that appear to be central to clinical understandingand intervention and which illustrate the utility of RFT in this regard. These areas are:functional verbal assessment; behavioural flexibility; constructing and using metaphor;changing perspectives; and assessing target relational networks. The workshop will beinteractive in format and aims to provide attendees with opportunities for acquiringand practicing relevant therapeutic skills and formulating a scientific understanding ofthe basic verbal processes that underpin these skills and their impact on clients.Presented by Yvonne Barnes-HolmesYvonne is an internationally respected trainer in both RFT and ACT, and has been atenured lecturer at the department of Psychology at the National University of IrelandMaynooth since 2003. She is a prolific author and has supervised numerous doctoratestudents. Her research interests have focused on the early development of cognitionand verbal language and how RFT can help clinicians to better understand clientperspective and activate desired behaviour change. She continues to maintain a smallcase load of complex clients and supervision of ACT clinicians.www.babcp.comSupercharging your CBT or ACTPractice with RFTFor more information email workshops@babcp.comforging with other levels of sciences,for example evolutionary science andepigenetics.ConclusionACT has been a growing anddeveloping movement within BABCPand the wider therapeuticcommunity in the UK for a number ofyears. One of the most importantachievements of this conference wassimply to provide a focus and anoutlet for the efforts and insights ofthe growing number of CBSpractitioners and researchers in theUK and Europe. However theconference organisers should becongratulated for doing so muchmore than that. Building on thissuccess, ACT SIG and the ACBS UK &Ireland Chapter are already inplanning a similar event in late 2014,this time in Ireland.To be amongst the first to knowabout this event, simply send a blankemail with ‘BABCP ACT Conference2014’ in the subject line toact@eyas.co.uk. The conferenceorganisers will be in touch with moreinformation later in the year.Dr Miles Thompson is a ClinicalPsychologist and Senior Lecturer inPsychology at Canterbury ChristChurch University

London gets in on the ACT

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London gets in on the ACT

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