ACT for ADHD

Dr Russ Harris, author of the million-copy bestseller, The Happiness Trap, is a world-leading ACT trainer. He is a consultant to the World Health Organization, and a pioneer in making ACT accessible and practical. It’s no surprise that his textbook, ACT Made Simple, is the world’s top-selling textbook on ACT.

Through fun and engaging video lessons (if you know, you know!), powerful therapy demonstrations, and ongoing interactive discussions in the forum, Russ will guide you, step-by-step, as you develop skills you can use right away.

You’ll see real clients, making real changes, in real time. And, although the course focuses on adults, everything covered is relevant and easily adaptable for adolescents. 

You’ll learn how to creatively apply ACT principles with a broad range of ADHD issues - all within a compassionate, neuroaffirming format, that empowers clients to recognize and utilize their neurodivergent strengths: 

• Understand ADHD through a neurodiversity-affirming, biopsychosocial lens

• Scaffold executive function skills, such as emotion flexibility, attention flexibility and cognitive flexibility

• Use simple, powerful defusion strategies to undermine harsh self-judgment, and break free from rigid rules 

• Counteract inattention  distractibility with ‘mindfulness on the go’: simple refocusing exercises that are easily done, any time, any place

• Utilize practical motivational strategies to overcome inertia and break through procrastination

• Work ‘bottom up’: interoception, body awareness, somatic mindfulness

• Interrupt hyperfocus (in contexts where it’s problematic), and refocus attention on what’s most important

• Foster self-acceptance and self-compassion

• Integrate sensory self-soothing and other forms of ACT-congruent emotion regulation

• Undermine rumination, worrying and obsessing

• Implement successful strategies for forgetfulness, impulsivity, disorganization, and time blindness

• Prevent or recover from burnout with values-based, compassion-focused pacing & resting strategies (including ‘spoon theory’)

• and soooo much more!

Please note: we will not cover diagnosis and assessment. Instead, the course focuses on practical intervention: tools, techniques, principles and strategies you can use effectively with any client, whether they have a formal diagnosis or not.

This course is open to all mental health and health professionals, including psychologists, therapists, counsellors, psychiatrists, nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, speech therapists, BCBAs, and coaches.

However, this is an advanced level course, so we recommend you have a solid beginners level understanding of ACT. This can include:

• Attend an introductory level 2-day ACT workshop (with any ACT trainer; it doesn’t have to be with Russ), or

• Complete our online ACT for Beginners course, or

• Work through a beginners-level ACT textbook from start to end, such as ACT Made Simple, 2nd edition.

There are 12 CE/CME hours available (see Learner Notification here).