Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Clinicians Guide for Supporting Parents

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Clinician’s Guide for Supporting Parents constitutes a principles-based guide for clinicians to support parents across various stages of child and adolescent development. It uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as an axis to integrate evolution science, behaviour analysis, attachment theory, emotion-focused and compassion-focused therapies into a cohesive framework. From this integrated framework, the authors explore practice through presenting specific techniques, experiential exercises, and clinical case studies.

Explores the integration of ACT with established parenting approachesIncludes a new model - the parent-child hexaflex - and explores each component of this model in depth with clinical techniques and a case studyEmphasizes how to foster a strong therapeutic relationship and case conceptualization from an acceptance and commitment therapy perspectiveCovers the full spectrum of child development from infancy to adolescenceTouches upon diverse clinical presentations including: child anxiety, neurodevelopmental disorders, and child disruptive behavior problems, with special emphasis on infant sleepAddresses how best to support parents with mental health concerns, such as postnatal depressionIs relevant for both novices and clinicians, students in psychology, social work and educational professionals supporting parents

1. Introduction

Section One: Theoretical and Scientific Background 2. Parenting 3. Connect: the parent-child relationship 4. Shape: building a flexible repertoire

Section Two: The Bedrock of Clinical practice 5. Case Conceptualization 6. Therapeutic Relationship

Section Three: ACT Processes 7. Values and Proto-values 8. Experiential acceptance of parent, child and relationship 9. Psychological contact with the present moment including shared psychological contact 10. Flexible languaging 11. Flexible perspective taking 12. Compassionate Context 13. Committed Action and Exploration 14. Integrating ACT with other interventions 15. Conclusion