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Evaluation Video ViewAttendees 13

Mini Workshop

Parenting / Families

Session: Values-Based Parenting: Righting the Ship When You've Been Blown Off-Course

Mini Workshop 23 - Values-based Parenting: Righting the Ship When You've Been Blown Off-course

Sunday, November 19, 2023
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Location: Columbia D, Level 3
Earn 1.5 Credit
Recorded Session
Keywords: Parenting , Parent Training , Families
Level of Familiarity: Moderate
Recommended Readings: Polk, K. L., Schoendorff, B., Webster, M., & Olaz, F. O. (2016). The essential guide to the ACT Matrix: A step-by-step approach to using the ACT Matrix model in clinical practice. New Harbinger Publications ,   Raftery-Helmer, J.N., Moore, P.S., Coyne, L., & Reed, K.P. (2016) Changing problematic parent-child interaction in child anxiety disorders: The promise of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 6, 64-69. ,   Chu, B. C., & Pimentel, S. (2023). CBT Treatment Plans and Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders in Youth. New York: Guilford Press. [Chapter 5]. ,   Byrne, G., Chrada, A.N., O’Mahony, T., & Brennan, E. (2021) A systematic review of the use of acceptance and commitment therapy in supporting parents. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 94, 378-407. ,  
This workshop is designed for clinicians with moderate direct clinical experience conducting CBT or ACT with school-aged/teenage youth and caregivers.

It’s a universal problem for parents. Their intentions are well-meaning. Their verbally-stated values and personal principles might even be clear and well-reasoned. And yet... in the moment of truth, it can all go wrong. Tempers flare, feelings are hurt, and defensive, angry or avoidant reactions result. How can therapists help parents and caregivers stay true to their values, even when things start to go off course? The current workshop aims to provide a conceptual framework and tools for helping caregivers (a) assess their values, as distinguished from specific goals, and (b) identify common parenting/family interaction traps that impede responding in line with stated values. We will introduce participants to the ACT Matrix (Polk et al., 2016) as a way of assessing, conceptualizing, and illustrating caregivers’ experiences and behaviors as they relate to values. We will provide additional guidance on how to help caregivers articulate their values, using role-plays and experiential exercises. Attendees will then be introduced to common parenting traps (e.g., accommodation cycle; aggressive-coercive cycle; Chu & Pimentel, 2023) and practice using functional analysis to help caregivers identify where they depart from stated values. Finally, we will demonstrate how to integrate values clarification with results from the functional analysis, to present cognitive and behavioral solutions that bring caregivers’ actions back in line with their stated values. The presenters will share worksheets and handouts from Dr. Chu’s newly published text and other sources to illustrate common parent interaction traps and family-based chain analysis. Attendees will also be encouraged to bring local examples for group consultation. Presenters will moderate a discussion of integrating values-based assessment and intervention into their daily practice with families.

Outline:

I. Why ACT for parenting?
1. What is ACT?
2. Research on its application
3. What are “values”, and how are they helpful in parenting work?
II. The Matrix
1. Role-play demonstration of matrix for parenting
2. Discuss assessing values with parents
3. Have participants practice completing a Matrix on their own about a parenting case
III. Applying Values Clarification and the Matrix to Parenting Dilemmas
1. Parenting traps and how they interfere with Values-Based Parenting
2. Seeing the Stuck Spiral in action: Functional Analysis
3. Using the Analysis to guide a Values-Based response in place of a Stuck Response

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:
  • Describe the difference between values and goals and lead clients through a parenting-based values identification exercise.
  • Describe the ACT Matrix and apply it to parenting values.
  • Conduct chain analyses of parent-youth interactions and identify common parenting traps.
  • Describe basic communication analysis and family problem solving approaches to help families practice values identification and assessing parenting traps.
  • In the long-term, be able to describe the above lessons and strategies to caregivers when working with youth and family clients.