Forging Brighter Futures through Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Education with Dr Duncan Gillard

Play

Episode #7In this episode, I speak to Bristol-based Senior Educational Psychologist, Dr DuncanGillard. Duncan is an experienced Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)practitioner, trainer, supervisor and author. You can follow Duncan on [email protected] this podcast, Duncan talks about his journey into ACT and Contextual BehaviouralScience (CBS) practice as having evolved from several years of travelling in Asia,where he studied, practiced and eventually taught Yoga and Mindfulness practice.Duncan’s travels and studies eventually led him to a career in EducationalPsychology, upon completion of his doctoral training at Exeter University. Duncan isthe co-author of the popular self-help book Acceptance and Commitment Therapy forDummies and has written several peer-reviewed articles and papersaround ACT and CBS. He is also the co-developer of an exciting new PSHEcurriculum based on the ACT-for-youth model, DNA-v, called the Connect PSHE(here’s the website: https://www.connect-pshe.org/).During our discussion, Duncan helps me to understand the world of ACTconceptually, empirically and even experientially. Together, we work through a liveexample of the application of ACT (with me in the role of client!) to my own personalworries about my career as an EP. We discuss just some of the wide-rangingapplications of ACT and CBS within education and Duncan provides examples ofthese, through a number of projects in which he has been involved during his careerso far, including:ACT-based teacher and school staff wellbeing programs Interventions, supervision and training around the provision of targeted support, based on the DNA-v (ACT for youth) model for young people with specific issues related to psychological wellbeing. More on DNA-v here: https://thrivingadolescent.com/ & here https://youtu.be/EoXn2AOR3kIA community-based DNA-v program called Reboot West run by the charity 1625IP, supporting young care leavers in the West Country. More on this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnMdU8yRrO0The Connect PSHE wellbeing curriculum.This was a really helpful conversation for me, as a complete newbie to ACT andCBS, but I have been inspired to develop my interest further. This could be a reallygood starting point for anyone who is curious about ACT and its applications withinthe world of Educational Psychology practice. I hope you enjoy the episode! Feelfree to offer some feedback to either Duncan or me via Twitter!Recommended Reading Brown, F. J. & Gillard, D. (2016). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy forDummies.Gillard, D., Flaxman, P. & Hooper, N (2019). Acceptance and CommitmentTherapy: Applications for Educational Psychologists in Schools. EducationalPsychology in Practice.Gillard, D, Hayes, L., McNally, A. & Willis, K. (in-press). Forging BrighterFutures for Young Care Leavers. The Psychologist.Brown, F. J. & Gillard, D. (2015). The Strange Death of RadicalBehaviourism. The Psychologist.Hayes, L. & Ciarrochi, J. (2015). The Thriving Adolescent.Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, L. & Baily, A. (2012). Get Out Of Your Mind And IntoYour Life For Teens.Porosoff, L. & Weinstein, J. (2018). Empower Your Students: Tools to Inspirea Meaningful School Experience.Sedley, B. (2015). Stuff That Sucks.Biglan, A. (2015). The Nurture Effect: How The Science of Human BehaviourCan Improve Our Lives and Our World.Harris, R. (2019). ACT Made Simple (2 nd Ed.).Support the show