University of Arkansas at Little Rock
School of Social Work
Graduate Social Work Program
Course Outline
Number and Title of the Course: 7392 Special Topics in Clinical Social Work Practice, Acceptance and
Commitment Therapy
Semester Credits: 3
Prerequisite: Concentration year standing
Instructor: Matthew S. Boone, matthewsboone@gmail.com
I.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said as a single word) is a mindfulness- and acceptancebased cognitive behavioral therapy which has shown promise for a wide variety of problems. Over 80
randomized controlled trials have demonstrated ACT's efficacy with mental health problems such as
depression, anxiety, OCD, trichotillomania, body image dissatisfaction, addictions, and psychosis; health
problems such as chronic pain, obesity, diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, smoking, and tinnitus distress; and
nonclinical problems such as stigma and worksite stress. ACT is different from traditional CBT in that it
forgoes attempts to change painful thoughts and feelings. Instead, ACT seeks to increase psychological
flexibility, or the ability to mindfully encounter thoughts and feelings without needless struggle (i.e.
acceptance) and act effectively in the service of what matters (i.e. commitment).
This class will provide an introduction to ACT which is both intellectual and experiential. Experiential
learning is important because talking about psychological flexibility is very different from being
psychologically flexible. The class will include exercises which incorporate both mindfulness and
metaphor to help participants experience – in the moment – the six components of psychological
flexibility: acceptance (willingly encountering all thoughts and feelings, whether painful or pleasant),
defusion (treating thoughts as simply thoughts, nothing more), contact with the present moment
(mindfully observing all experience as it happens), self as context (making a distinction between the self
and the thoughts and feelings the self experiences), values (identifying what matters), and commitment
(acting in the service of what matters).
Thus, this class will be highly interactive, and students will be expected to participate fully in discussions,
role-plays, demonstrations of clinical techniques, and experiential exercises.
II.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
By the completion of the course, students will demonstrate:
Skills in accessing the professional literature that supports the efficacy of ACT
Knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of ACT
Knowledge of the population intended for ACT
Knowledge of the central interventions informed by ACT
Skills in identifying and utilizing the best available assessment methods to evaluate target
outcomes when using ACT.
Skills in re-assessing relevant outcomes after interventions have been implemented.
Skills in adjusting clinical practice interventions as needed depending upon issues of race,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and/or socioeconomic status.
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III.
READINGS
The primary text for this course will be ACT Made Simple, by Russ Harris. The schedule of readings
below is tentative; what we read each week will be determined by how the class develops. Notice that
some of the readings are not actually readings, but rather podcasts to which you should listen. URLs for
accessing them are listed immediately below the schedule. I will provide the PDF articles and chapters to
you. Also, the library has streaming access, through psychotherapy.net, to ACT in Action, a six DVD
series which shows what ACT can look like in practice. I encourage you to watch these videos throughout
the semester.
Date
January 15
Reading (subject to revision)
First day of class
January 22
Getting Started with ACT:
 ACT Made Simple,
Chapters 1-5
 Invisibilia podcast: "The
Secret History of
Thoughts"
January 29
Creative Hopelessness,
Willingness, & Defusion:
 ACT Made Simple,
Chapter 6-8
 Reply All podcast:
"Anxiety Box"
February 5
No class
February 12
Contact with the Present
Moment, Self-As-Context, &
Values: ACT Made Simple,
Chapters 9-10
February 19
Committed Action and the
Therapeutic Relationship:
Chapters 11-15
February 26
The Therapeutic Relationship:
PDF: "Finding My Way to
Mindfulness for Two,"
Mindfulness for Two
March 5
Special Populations – ACT for
Anxiety Disorders: PDF:
Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy for Anxiety Disorders,
Chapters 10 & 11
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Assignment Due
Assignment #1:
Case Description and
Functional Assessment sections
from the Final Paper to be
reviewed in class
March 12
Special Populations – ACT
With Children and
Adolescents: PDF: "Acceptance
and commitment therapy for
pediatric chronic pain,"
Acceptance and Mindfulness
Treatments for Children &
Adolescents
March 19
Special Populations – ACT for
Psychosis: PDF: "Brief
acceptance and commitment
therapy for the acute treatment of
hospitalized patients with
psychosis," Cognitive Behaviour
Therapy for Schizophrenia
March 26
Spring Break: No Class
April 2
Final class, Final Papers due
Assignment #2:
Intervention Part 1 to be
reviewed in class
Assignment #3: Final Paper
Invisibilia podcast: http://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/
Reply All podcast: http://gimletmedia.com/show/reply-all/
IV. TECHNIQUES OF INSTRUCTION
This course will utilize the following instructional techniques:
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V.
Lecture
Discussion
Case presentation
Video
Role-play
Experiential Exercises
Mindfulness Practice
EXPECTATIONS
Getting in touch with me: E-mail is always the best way to reach me, and I can always be reached most
quickly at my Gmail account: matthewsboone@gmail.com. I will rarely be checking my UALR e-mail.
Please allow at least 48 hours for me to respond.
Food and drinks are welcome. We are meeting when most of us would otherwise be eating dinner, so feel
free to bring something to eat. However, please eat during the breaks and not during our class time.
Cell phones should be turned off.
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Personal growth is a natural byproduct of ACT training. We learn ACT – in part – by doing ACT.
Anything we ask our clients to do we need to be willing to do ourselves. Therefore, this course will ask
you to be open to learning more about yourself – what thoughts and stories you get wrapped up in, what
internal experiences you most want to control and avoid, and what matters to you most in life. This course
will also ask you to challenge yourself to do things that are important to you, even things that may bring
you in contact with discomfort. The good news is that the course will teach you a set of skills and an
approach to thoughts and feelings that will hopefully make this more possible for you. That being said,
this is a graduate class, and not a psychosocial intervention, so you are welcome to only go as deep as you
feel comfortable.
VI.
ASSIGNMENTS
I will e-mail you electronic versions of all the assignments.
For your final assignment, you will write a case-based paper, which will be due on the last day of class.
Rough drafts of portions of the paper will be due earlier in the semester. The paper will require you to
apply ACT with a client with whom you are currently working. Further instructions will be given in class.
There will also be brief homework assignments, both written and experiential, to help you apply ACT to
your life as a way to better understand the treatment model.
Finally, you will be asked to practice mindfulness regularly and discuss your experience with the class.
VII.
METHOD OF EVALUATION
Paper assignment: 70%
Class participation (including attendance, engagement, and homework assignments): 30%
VIII.
GRADING SCALE
The grading scale is as follows:
92-100
82-91
72-81
0-71
A
B
C
F
You will be given a numerical grade for their paper and a numerical grade for your participation. These
two grades will be weighted as described in the "Method of Evaluation" section above to create your final
grade.
IX: CLASS ATTENDANCE POLICY
Learning in a professional program is based in large part on the interaction that occurs between the
instructor and students in the classroom. Therefore, regular attendance is an expected professional
responsibility of the student. Attendance includes not only your physical presence, but also your careful,
consistent preparation for our discussions. You may miss one class for any reason. Two absences will
reduce your final grade by one letter grade (“B” becomes “C”). Absences of greater than 20 percent of the
total class time (i.e., more than two absences) may constitute grounds for failure.
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X. HONOR CODE
All students registered for courses in the School of Social Work are expected to adhere to the rights,
responsibilities, and behavior articulated in both the UALR Student Handbook and the NASW (National
Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics. An essential feature of these codes is a commitment to
maintaining intellectual integrity and academic honesty. This commitment insures that a student of the
School of Social Work will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic
work, thereby affirming personal honor and integrity.
Furthermore, I expect that all of the work you submit in this course will be your own. If you make use of
anyone else’s thoughts or words in any way, you should include a citation. If you have any questions
about when to cite or how, don’t hesitate to contact me.
XI.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES
If you have a physical, mental health, or learning disability that affects your ability to access course
materials or complete coursework, please let me know early in the semester. I'm committed to making
this course fully accessible to all its members. If any barriers to your participation in this course arise,
please contact me as soon as possible so that we can speak with the Disability Resource Center (DRC)
about how to meet your specific needs. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable
accommodations for students with disabilities. The DRC can be contacted at 501-569-3143 (V/TTY) or
501-683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.
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