Agenda

ACT Group

INTRODUCTORY SESSION/CORE CREATIVE HOPELESSNESS 45 minutes

***Do not include Introductory ACT statements if there are no new members***
****If there are new members, Introductory ACT statements can be greatly cut downASK
EXPERIENCED GROUP MEMBERS TO BRIEFLY EXPLAIN ACT TO NEW MEMBERS****

Session GOAL: Understand ACT in a Nutshell; Core Creative Hopelessness (START HERE IF NO
NEW MEMBERS)

1. Introduction
Group Leaders, purpose of the group, members introduce themselves & goals for the group.
Distribute:
Group Contracts/Rules
Orientation Handout

2. What is ACT? Informed Consent

**Read briefly**
ACT doesnt promise to keep you from experiencing symptoms or from experiencing
struggles (whatever they maybe be) in your life. In fact, one of the major tenets of ACT is
that its normal to experience struggle and pain (emotional, physical, etc). Suffering, on
the other hand, is another matter. ACT draws a distinction between pain and suffering.
We will be targeting the suffering caused by your struggle and symptoms, not the
symptoms themselves.
(From website ACT in plain language) The ACT approach is not so much about changing
the content of thinking but about changing your relationship to your thoughts, feelings,
memories, and other private events. ACT is less about making depression or symptoms
go away and more about getting you untangled from the thoughts, feelings, and
relationships you have and getting you (the client) moving in a direction that is
important to you. Human language and thinking.
If you are up for it, we will use a lot of exercises, mindfulness practice, metaphors, and
other methods to keep us all from getting tangled up in the words and ideas.
(From website About ACT) In a nutshell, ACT helps people to fundamentally change
their relationship with painful thoughts and feelings, to develop a transcendent sense of
self, to live in the present, and to take action, guided by your deepest values, to create a
rich and meaningful life. ACT takes the view that most psychological suffering is caused
by experiential avoidance, i.e. by attempting to avoid, escape, or get rid of unwanted
private experiences (such as unpleasant thoughts, feelings, sensations, hallucinations,
urges & memories).
3. Psychoeducation Piece:
Accept, Choose, and Take Action
**Read briefly**

Acceptance: the opposite of suffering is acceptance, the act of willingly allowing yourself to
interact with your struggle (e.g. symptoms). Use of mindfulness, letting go of control, and
learning to hear your thoughts for what they are instead of what they say they are will aid in
learning how to accept symptoms instead of fighting against it.

Choose: Once you accept your symptoms, you can live with them. Now you have the freedom
to choose how you want to live (values). Lets take a moment to imagine what this would be like
for you.

Action: the next step after making a choice about how you want to live your life is to develop
the steps that are necessary to lead you where you want to go.

**START HERE IF NO NEW MEMBERS**

1. Creative HopelessnessYour Experience with Symptoms Management P.15-16

(Functional Analysis of Types of Solutions Clients have Pursued)

Q: Why are Avoiding Symptoms the problem?

Our efforts at experiential avoidance might work in the short-term, but in the long term they
often fail, and in the process, they often created significant psychological suffering.
Drawing Out the Unworkable Change Agenda:
o Suffering List & How Long
o Solutions List (experiential avoidance)

Q: Lets start by going around the group and having each person take a turn to share types of
solutions you have pursued to manage your symptoms.
What does Your Experience Tell You? (self-as-context)
o Workability (short-term relief & long-term suffering)
o The Cost of the Struggle (Magic Wand Exercise)

Continue facilitating discussion about the exercise with a new question as needed while
facilitating group discussion between members after responses.
Youre Stuck/Trap (creative hopelessness):
o You are not hopeless/The situation you are in is hopeless and yet this is the place
to create something new

METAPHOR: Person-In-The-Hole
4. Group Wrap-Up:

Close group with a brief discussion about how group members felt about purpose/description
of ACT.

5. Homework
Notice being stuck

6. Appointment Slips for next group