ACT for ADHD: A Neurodiversity-affirming approach

ADHD affects 5-7% of the Australian population. And co-morbidity is common. (Russ himself is an ADHDer, and will share some of his lived experience in the workshop.)

This advanced level training will teach you how to apply ACT flexibly and effectively with every common aspect of ADHD, even when clients have dual or triple diagnoses. (The focus is on adults, but everything covered is relevant and easily adaptable to youth.)

Russ will use a combination of didactic and experiential learning, as well as videos and roleplays, to equip you for using ACT confidently with ADHDers.

You’ll learn how to use ACT to scaffold executive functioning, break through task inertia, improve emotion regulation, foster cognitive flexibility, and create all sorts of quick’n’easy attention-improving practices ideal for clients who ‘hate mindfulness’, can’t sit still, or find meditation impossible.

We’ll begin with a quick overview of the principles of neurodiversity-affirming therapy, and why ACT – when we do it in a flexible, process-based manner –  is so well-suited for meeting the diverse needs of neurodivergent clients.

Then we’ll go, step-by-step through the fluent, flexible use of neuro-affirming ACT with:

• inattention & distractibility
• problematic hyperfocus
• disorganisation
• task inertia & procrastination
• fatigue & burnout
• forgetfulness
• impulsivity
• emotion dysregulation
• rejection sensitive dysphoria
• self-judgment and shame
• rumination & worrying

You’ll learn how to:

• Introduce simple attention-training and refocusing exercises, that can easily be done, any time, any place
• Avoid the problems and pitfalls of ‘traditional’ mindfulness meditation
• Create simple, easy-to-do mindfulness exercises, ideal for clients who find it hard to sit still and be silent
• Introduce powerful motivational strategies to help clients overcome inertia, initiate and complete tasks, and progress towards important goals
• Work ‘bottom up’: interoception, body awareness, somatic mindfulness
• Scaffold executive functioning skills

And also how to:

• Interrupt impulsivity and compulsivity
• Interrupt problematic hyperfocus
• Develop ACT-congruent emotion regulation strategies
• Defuse from self-judgment and shame, and foster self-acceptance and self-compassion
• Interrupt rumination, worrying and obsessing
• Use pacing and resting strategies (including ‘spoon theory’) for chronic fatigue and burnout
• Use simple defusion strategies to rapidly undermine self-defeating belief systems
• Use sensory self-soothing strategies
• Work with dual or triple diagnoses
• Adress the issue of ADHD medication: pros and cons

As well as how to:

• Simplify everything: language, skills, exercises, etc
• Work with clients that struggle with metaphors
• Overcome ‘It’s too hard’, ‘I can’t do it’, ‘I can’t change’, ‘This is who I am’, and other common barriers to therapy
• Know when to accept behaviours such as clients interrupting or talking over you – and when (and how) to actively (and compassionately) address them
• and soooo much more!

So, if you already know ACT basics and you want to upgrade your skills to work efficiently, compassionately and creatively with ADHDers, this course is for you.

This workshop is worth 14 specialised CPD hours

Who should attend this workshop?

This advanced-level workshop is intended for any practitioner who has already completed basic introductory training in ACT (which needn’t have been with Russ). The workshop is open to all health practitioners, including psychologists, social workers, counsellors, therapists, coaches, BCBAs, psychiatrists, mental health nurses, GPs, youth workers, OTs, physios, and dietitians.

Prerequisites

This is an advanced level course, which assumes at least a beginners-level knowledge of ACT. Therefore, before enrolling, you must have completed at least one of the following:

• Attended an introductory level 2-day ACT workshop (with any ACT trainer), or
• Completed Russ’s 6-week online ACT for Beginners course, or
• Thoroughly worked your way from start to end through a standard ACT textbook, such as ACT Made Simple (2^nd ed) or Learning ACT (2^nd ed)

Please Note: we will not cover diagnosis or assessment.
The workshop does not focus on diagnosis or assessment tools. It focuses purely on practical interventions: tools, techniques, principles and strategies that you can use effectively with any client – whether they have a formal diagnosis of ADHD or not.

You will receive:

• Articles and research on the use of ACT with ADHD
• An 8-week e-course after the workshop for ongoing learning
• Scripts for a wide range of experiential exercises
• A variety of useful client worksheets and handouts
• MP3 recordings of key exercises

Duration: workshops run from 9am – 4pm on Day 1 and 9am – 3.30pm on Day 2

Fees: Super Keen $525 – Early Bird $550 – Standard $595 – Last Minute $620 – Student Concessions apply

Prices are less for advance payment.

For cancellations with more than 48 hours notice: Payment will be refunded, minus a $50 admin fee

For cancellations with less than 48 hours notice: Payment will be refunded, minus a $200 admin fee

ABOUT RUSS HARRIS

Dr Russ Harris, author of the best-selling self-help book ‘The Happiness Trap‘, is an internationally-renowned trainer of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Russ’s background is in medicine. As a GP he became increasingly interested in the psychological aspects of health and wellbeing, and increasingly disenchanted with writing prescriptions. Ultimately this interest led to a total career change, and he now works in two different, yet complementary roles: both as a therapist and as a coach.

Since 2005, Russ has run over 800 two-day workshops and provided ACT training for 80,000 health professionals. He has authored four ACT textbooks (ACT Made Simple, Trauma Focused ACT, Getting Unstuck in ACT, ACT Questions & Answers), and four ACT-based self-help books (The Happiness Trap, The Reality Slap, The Confidence Gap and ACT with Love). In addition, he has co-authored two other self-help books: The Weight Escape and The Happiness Trap Pocketbook. His best-known book, The Happiness Trap, has sold over one million copies worldwide, with translations into more than 30 languages.  (To download the opening chapter, click here.)

Russ has a unique model for training, which he calls ‘ACT Made Simple’, because it covers so much material in a short space of time. (In fact, he even has even written an introductory text book on ACT, titled ‘ACT Made Simple’. To download the first chapter, click here.) He proudly proclaims each workshop a ‘jargon-free zone’ – and bases his training on three core values: simplicity, clarity, and having fun. His highly-acclaimed ACT workshops are brief, powerful, cost-effective and life-enhancing. Participants regularly report not only major improvements in their therapy and/or coaching, but also in their personal lives – and evaluation forms frequently praise his ability to make complex ideas seem very simple. (For examples, go to testimonials )