Manuela O'Connell

Lic. Manuela O’Connell, is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, ACT trainer, supervisor, and President of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS). She is also a certified Mindfulness Teacher through the two-year program at UC Berkley’s Greater Good Science Center with Drs. Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and a professor at Universidad Favaloro. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she has trained thousands of clinicians around the world in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness, compassion-focused practice, and relational work, in both English and Spanish.  

Her work bridges rigorous evidence-based practice with deeply experiential learning, emphasizing psychological flexibility, presence, and the therapeutic relationship. Her teaching is known for its clarity, depth, cultural resonance, and capacity to transform clinicians’ embodied understanding of ACT. 

Selected Books: 

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Deliberate Practice to Develop and Enhance Skills in ACT (co-author with Robyn D. Walser) — Forthcoming from APA (2026), this book provides structured guidance for building ACT proficiency through deliberate skill development..  

• The ACT Workbook for Anger: Manage Emotions and Take Back Your Life with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (co-author with Robyn D. Walser) — a practical, compassion-based guide to working with anger through ACT processes.  

• Contributor to The Heart of ACT, a foundational text on ACT theory and relational implementation.  

• Una vida valiosa — a Spanish-language self-help book applying ACT principles to everyday life. 

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)

SCHOLARSHIPS

We reserve a number of partial scholarships for potential attendees who could not otherwise afford to come. We give particular priority given to those who would add diverse and under represented voices to our field. To submit an application, please click here.

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.