0681 - Context Matters: ACT for Racialized and Marginalized Populations

Course Description

Hours: 12

Clinicians are increasingly encountering:

• Race-based traumatic stress.
• Identity-based shame and internalized oppression.
• Chronic vigilance and exposure to systemic threat.
• Institutional betrayal and moral injury.
• Burnout among both clients and practitioners from marginalized communities.

Although ACT has a strong empirical base across anxiety, depression, trauma and chronic stress populations, there is a clear gap in formal training on how to apply ACT processes responsibly and effectively within the context of racial trauma and systemic inequity. This course addresses that gap through a process-based, evidence-informed and clinically grounded approach. It integrates contemporary racial trauma literature with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, with a particular emphasis on Prosocial ACT and contextual behavioral science.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this training participants will be able to:

• Conceptualize racial trauma using functional contextualism and psychological flexibility science.
• Differentiate acceptance from accommodation of injustice.
• Apply ACT processes to identity-based shame and internalized oppression.
• Integrate compassion and dignity-based interventions.
• Utilize Prosocial ACT to address relational and systemic dynamics.
• Develop case formulations and intervention plans specific to racial trauma presentations.
• Implement structured, immediately applicable ACT interventions in clinical practice.

Course Structure

The course progresses from theoretical foundations to advanced process-based case formulation to applied clinical strategy. Experiential exercises, case consultation and structured implementation planning are embedded throughout both days to ensure integration of learning.

Participants will leave with:

• A clear ACT-based framework for racial trauma.
• Structured case formulation templates.
• Adapted ACT exercises specific to racial trauma and identity-based stress, including defusion and compassion strategies.
• Clinical language for addressing race and systemic factors explicitly in session.
• Micro-intervention strategies for rupture, activation, and shame.
• Ethical guidance for acceptance work in contexts of oppression.
• Case-based implementation plans and structured clinical decision-making tools for immediate use.

Participants will gain both conceptual depth and practical strategies that can be applied immediately in a variety of practice settings.

Notes

Time Zone: All listed class times are held in ET (Ontario, Canada)

For more information contact the Faculty of Social Work Professional Development office:

Email: fswprofessionaldevelopment@wlu.ca
Phone: 548-889-4967

Cancellations and Transfers
Be sure to carefully review our cancellation and transfer information before registering.

Website: wlu.ca/fswpd

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Certificate : Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)