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Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mindful ACT Therapy: How to Live Well When Life is Hard
John Forsyth, PhD & Jamie Forsyth, PhD
Week 7: August 11-15, 2025
Monday - Friday: 9:00a.m. - 12:30p.m. EDT | 30-Minute Break Daily
15-Hour Course | Delivery Format: In-Person or Live-Online
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Course Description
Life invites obstacles, problems, and pain. There is no escaping this simple truth. But for many, the pain of life is neither a teacher nor a friend, but instead the enemy and source of considerable suffering, hardship, and despair. Mental health professionals know this all too well. The pain may take psychological, emotional, or physical forms, but it's there and people are desperately seeking a way out and a way forward.
But what if the pain of life could be had just as it is? What if there was a way to nurture the conditions for our own genuine happiness and peace of mind, even when life is (or was) hard? Suppose even, that we could empower those we serve to develop a new relationship with the difficulties they carry and move forward with those difficulties in ways that dignify the pain and support what truly matters. In this intensive workshop, we will learn about one particular approach and set of practices that aims to do just that. It's called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
ACT is an evidence-based approach that balances mindfulness and acceptance processes with commitment and behavior change in the service of living a more vital life. Acceptance and mindfulness-based practices, including ACT, are rapidly making their way into mental health care, medicine, and society. This body of work offers a fresh perspective on psychological suffering and powerful clinical strategies to cultivate transformative life changes.
You will learn powerful strategies to help your clients:
Gain freedom from suffering
Let go of unhelpful struggles
Cultivate peace of mind and self-compassion
Show up to life as it is
Get unstuck and moving
Live a rich and meaningful life
Led by a dynamic husband and wife team, this workshop will introduce ACT, both as a model and intervention technology, and illustrate its use across a broad set of problem areas that are commonly seen in mental health settings. This work can be challenging for both therapists and clients alike, for much of ACT work involves contacting difficult and painful psychological content without defense and for a purpose other than psychological relief. Thus, understanding the application and integration of the ACT model of psychological health and suffering is essential for effective ACT work.
Through lectures, live and video demonstrations, and practical experiential exercises, we learn ways to help our clients live well, richly, and meaningfully, without first having to eliminate sources of emotional and psychological pain. We will also learn how ACT can be integrated effectively into your mental health practice. Clinical worksheets and other practical tools will be provided.
Mental health professionals, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, are invited to attend. Familiarity with ACT is not required.
About the Instructor
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: John Forsyth receives salary as a professor and faculty member from the University of Albany, SUNY. He also receives royalties as an author from New Harbinger Inc. He receives a speaking honorarium from MAK Continuing Education, LLC, Cape Cod Institute.
Non-financial: John Forsyth has no relevant non-financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
John P. Forsyth, PhD, is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and trainer in the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and practices that cultivate mindfulness, loving kindness, and compassion. He is also the Director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program and a Professor of Psychology at University at Albany in upstate NY. John also maintains a small private practice and offers ACT supervision to mental health professionals in the United States and abroad.
As an active researcher and practitioner of ACT and contemplative practices, John is the author of several popular books, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Disorders, The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety (2nd edition), ACT on Life, Not On Anger, and Your Life on Purpose. His latest ACT-informed books include Anxiety Happens, the Anxiety Happens Guided Journal, and Calm in the Chaos: A Quick-Relief Guide for Managing Anxiety & Overwhelm in Loud & Uncertain Times (Barnes & Noble Exclusive). Watch for the 3rd ed. of The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety in Spring 2025.
For over 20 years, his work has focused on developing ACT and mindfulness practices to alleviate human suffering, awaken the human spirit, and to nurture psychological health and vitality. His personal journey and experience, balanced with practical insights grounded in scientific evidence, offers hope to those wishing to find a path out of suffering and into wholeness.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Jamie Forsyth receives salary as a staff psychologist from Freedom First Psychological Services. She receives a speaking honorarium from MAK Continuing Education, LLC, Cape Cod Institute.
Non-financial: Jamie Forsyth has no relevant non-financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Jamie Forsyth, PhD, is an active and gifted psychologist and clinical supervisor, with extensive expertise in the use and application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with severe forms of mental illness (e.g., psychosis and personality disorders) and forms of psychological and emotional suffering in inpatient, outpatient, and college mental health settings. Beyond ACT, Jamie is a skillful integrationist, supervisor, and researcher, with specialized knowledge in relational and process-oriented therapeutic work, addictions, motivational interviewing, including mindfulness and self-compassion practices. Jamie is active within a group mental health practice in upstate New York where she offers psychotherapy, performs psychological evaluations, and trains and supervises doctoral students under her direction.
As a husband and wife team, Jamie and John are known to infuse their teaching and training with energy, humility, lightheartedness, and compassion, and their down-to-earth workshops are consistently praised for their clarity, depth, and practical utility.
Hear more from
John Forsyth, PhD & Jamie Forsyth, PhD
What Alumni are Saying...
"John and Jamie were awesome, so real and authentic. I loved their enthusiasm , humor and presentation style. They were great teachers and I will be a better therapists as a result of attending this course!" - 2024 Participant
"I loved this week! I loved the course content, the instructor’s “willingness” to share their vulnerabilities as individuals as well as as a couple. The flexibility they demonstrate created a wonderful atmosphere of acceptance of myself and others." -2024 Participant
"I have attended a number of CCI courses over the past 10 years and this was by far the most helpful course I have attended." - 2023 Participant
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