Manuela O'Connell

Manuela O’Connell earned her Psychology degree at Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Manuela is the current president of Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. She is a peer-reviewed ACT trainer and Fellow for Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. She is also a Certified Mindfulness Teacher (MMTCP — Two Year program through U.C. Berkley’s Greater Good Science Center with Dr. Jack Kornfield/Dr. Tara Brach — Accredited by IMTA.org). Manuela is also a Professor at Universidad Favaloro and a trainer of ACT and mindfulness in different countries in South America. Author of Una Vida valiosa and ACT book for general public and collaborator in The heart of ACT. Finally, Manuela is co-author of The ACT Workbook for Anger: Manage Emotions and Take Back Your Life with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  

AUDIENCE 

Mental health professionals, including psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists, who incorporate mindfulness and/or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into their clinical practice. The workshop is appropriate for both new and experienced ACT practitioners seeking to deepen experiential skills, enhance therapeutic presence, and apply ACT processes more flexibly and effectively with diverse client populations. 

INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL

Intermediate-Advanced

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the ACT model and its core processes (acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values, and committed action) and explain how they contribute to psychological flexibility. 
2. Demonstrate psychological flexibility in session by embodying openness, awareness, and values-driven action, showing how therapist presence can influence client change. 
3. Apply intervention techniques (experiential exercises, metaphors, paradoxes) that evoke clients’ flexible responses and reinforce these through feedback and therapeutic interaction. 
4. Utilize an egalitarian, compassionate, and culturally sensitive therapist stance; apply appropriate self-disclosure; and tailor interventions to individual clients. 
5. Create culturally responsive metaphors and experiential exercises that align with clients’ linguistic practices and social contexts, revise or adapt interventions as needed. 
6. Integrate mindfulness and reflective practice into professional development to enhance self-awareness and plan therapeutic spaces that support client change and clinician well-being. 
7. Analyze in-session opportunities to shift from rigid patterns to flexible responding, and select interventions that are contextually sensitive and theoretically consistent with ACT. 
8. Plan session structures that combine mindfulness, ACT processes, and relational interventions into a coherent, client-centered approach that supports values-based living. 

WORKSHOP LOCATION

Oxford Suites Portland (Town Meeting Room)

12226 N. Jantzen Drive  Portland, Oregon 97217

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (for both days)

• 8:00am - Registration begins
• 8:30am- Workshop begins
• 90 minute break for lunch (with 2 other 15 minute breaks throughout the day)
• 4:30pm - Workshop ends

CE CREDITS

Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research & Training Center is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Portland Psychotherapy, Clinic, Research & Training Center maintains responsibility for all programs and content.

12 CE credits (with the purchase of Professionals with CE Certificate ticket, completion of the Learning Activity Evaluation, and attendance of the entire workshop)

Refund/cancellation policy:

We charge a $15 administration fee for cancellations made more than one week before the training event. For cancellations within one week of the training event, we will refund 50% of the tuition. Alternately, participants may elect to apply 100% of their tuition to a future training event. No refunds will be given after training events.

Special Accommodations :

Please contact us if you need accommodations to enable you to fully participate in the workshop. We will work with you and do our best to find a way to ensure your participation.