The ACT Approach

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Author

Timothy Gordon, MSW, RSW Related seminars and products

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Timothy Gordon, MSW, RSW, is a social worker, ACT trainer, international presenter, and author. 

 

Tim has a mission to offer evidence-based psychotherapy to help others live full and abundant lives. He specializes in working with attachment and trauma issues, including children and adolescents who have suffered abuse.  He is the co-author of The ACT Approach: A Comprehensive Guide for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (PESI, 2017) and The ACT Deck: 55 Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Practices to Build Connection, Find Focus and Reduce Stress (PESI, 2017). He has also authored a self-help book integrating ACT with attachment-based therapeutic practices into his work. He was an instructor of the Clinical Behavioral Sciences program, where he taught ACT at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

As Tim presents ACT workshops around the world, he is renowned for his passion and his experiential approach to training professionals.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Timothy Gordon maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. Timothy Gordon has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Timothy Gordon is a member of the Ontario College of Social Workers & Social Service Workers and the Ontario Association of Social Workers.

Endorsements

"The ACT Approach is a marvelous must have desk resource for any practicing therapist. Tim and Jessica present the ACT model in easy to understand terms, masterfully blend in various ACT concepts and associated techniques, and show the evolution of the model over the last two decades. They even supply highly useful client handouts that the therapist can use to support learning and offer very entertaining and useful experiential self-guided exercises for the therapist who is new to ACT. Through the use of clinical transcripts, which have unique sidebar commentaries, Jessica and Tim demonstrate how to use ACT principles with a wide range of common clinical problems. This book is a wonderful primer for any therapist who wants to learn ACT. It is clearly written, entertaining, informative, and very clinically focused. The book shows very clearly the authors' complete mastery of ACT concepts and clinical strategies. Highly recommended!"

- Kirk Strosahl, PhD, Co-founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

"Timothy Gordon and Jessica Borushok have written a superb therapeutic guide for conducting ACT. In clear prose, with engaging illustrative examples, they explain ACT and show how practitioners can use ACT to help their clients live meaningful lives consistent with their values. I strongly recommend it."

- Andrew Christensen, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Co-developer and author of Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT)

“Learning ACT is often confusing. This great book takes an interested clinician by the hand and leads them through a challenging learning path. Written by working clinicians for working clinicians, the book is engaging and clear. Particularly useful are the places where the authors discuss how they apply ACT principles to their own lives and the clinical transcripts. It seems the clinicians learn best by “seeing” the work. And the transcripts give a very clear sense of how to do ACT in a natural, non “techique-y” manner. Transitioning to ACT doesn’t mean letting go of the clinical practices that work, but adding precision, scope and depth to the processes. I highly recommend this book.”

- Joanne Steinwachs, LCSW, Peer Reviewed ACT Trainer

“As both a basic scientist and ACT researcher, I like that the authors have brought sufficient focus to these topics in the early parts of the book. However, having reviewed plenty of ACT books I must say that this one has a slightly different feel to it. Specifically, it is a hands-on and process focused account of ACT that I believe will be of huge and practical benefit to the people on the front lines of human suffering.”

- Nic Hooper, PhD, Co-author of The Research Journey of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

“ACT is one of the most popular treatments nowadays; despite its popularity, its dissemination is compromised by the lack of clear, hands on, and clinically relevant materials for mental health providers from different theoretical orientations, backgrounds, who work at different settings. The ACT Approach conveys the theory and the practice of ACT in a way that it’s clear and easy to understand, covering different ACT lenses and without losing the sophistication of delivering ACT in a therapy room. This books is clearly written by clinicians who spend hours and hours working with a broad range of clients and therefore it’s full of real-life examples, clinical recommendations, and reflective comments for ACT learners. I really wish this book was written many years ago when I first learned ACT.”

- Patricia Zurita Ona, PsyD, Author of Parenting a Troubled Teen

“This book is a treasure for any therapist interested in learning about ACT, or any trained ACT therapists looking to apply their skills to children, groups or marginalized and oppressed populations. The authors scaffold concepts throughout the book; the simple concepts in earlier chapters are, by the end, rich and complex. This makes the text invaluable to novices and experts. The images are simple and useful. The annotated transcripts are a wonderful way of demystify what ACT looks like in practice, and demonstrating how master clinicians use ACT. This text would be a wonderful resource to graduate students and professionals alike. ”

- Jonathan B. Singer, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor of Social Work, Loyola University-Chicago, Founder and Host of the Social Work Podcast

“The ACT Approach has cleverly integrated all the newest advances in the field of ACT into the text in an accessible and immediately useable format. The book is written in an accessible style teaching the reader ACT concepts while bringing them along in a compassionate and gentle style. The examples are easy to identify with and the exercises well timed. A great way to be introduced to the ACT model. An excellent contribution from innovative authors in the ACT field.”

- Louise McHugh, PhD, Co-author of The Self and Perspective Taking

“A clear and accessible guide to understanding and using ACT in daily practice. The process discussions added to the therapy transcripts are very helpful in guiding the reader in applying the principles of ACT in their own sessions. Whether you are an ACT therapist or a therapist looking to incorporate ACT into your own work, the activities and worksheets are tools that you and clients alike will find helpful.”

- Niki Gomez-Perales, MSW, RSW, Author of Attachment Focused Trauma Treatment for Childrenand Adolescents and Attachment Focused Toolbox

“This very accessible book is both a great way to get in to ACT and a nice friend to hold your hand as you explore it in more depth. I particularly like the clinical vignettes with cheat-sheets attached that makes it clear what is going on in session and helps the reader do the same in their own practice.”

- Andreas Larsson, PhD, Co-author of The Research Journey of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)