ACT and Occupational Therapy for Pain Rehabilitation

Overview

As an occupational therapist, you're dedicated to helping people engage in what truly matters in their lives. You guide them through life's changes, fostering resilience and adapting to new ways of doing things. But when chronic pain enters the picture, it often feels like an unwelcome roadblock, one that disrupts your clients' lives and challenges their sense of identity.

With 1 in 5 people affected by chronic or persistent pain, many find that traditional approaches like medication and exercise can fall short. The pain remains, along with the frustration and emotional toll it takes. As a therapist, you see this struggle up close—clients feeling disconnected from themselves and losing hope in the process.

That's where Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) comes in. ACT isn’t just about managing pain—it's about helping clients build psychological flexibility and reclaim their lives. This evidence-based approach empowers people to embrace meaningful activities, despite pain, and regain a sense of self-worth in the everyday. 

Whether you are an occupational therapist or have another important role in the rehabilitation space, this course will help you integrate ACT’s powerful tools into your practice, equipping your clients with the mindset and skills they need to live with purpose and resilience. Whether you're familiar with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or new to ACT, you'll find this approach adaptable and transformative for both you and the individuals you support.

Join Bronnie Lennox Thompson, Registered NZ Occupational Therapist/Kaiwhakaora Ngangahau, DipOT, MSc(Psych), PhD, and learn how to guide your clients back to what truly matters.

What You Will Learn

This online course will introduce you to ACT so that you can begin to incorporate the principles into your occupational therapy or rehabilitation practice, providing your patients with new tools to manage pain and regain a sense of purpose.

The presenter, Bronnie Lennox Thompson, will introduce you to the principles of ACT and how ACT aligns with occupational therapy practice.

A brief review of the evidence base will be covered to help familiarize you with ACT and its foundations. Afterward, three approaches or models of ACT will be presented to help you understand and apply the concept in various clinical settings:

• Choice point,

• Three Pillars, and

• The Hexaflex. 

Patient selection and assessment will be discussed, and clinical examples will be used throughout to illustrate how ACT can be implemented. 

Learning Objectives 

1. Define acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and describe its application in a clinical or therapeutic setting. 

2. Describe the “choice point” model and how it can promote individuals to take positive and empowering action to return to the activities they love. 

3. Describe the three FACT pillars of psychological flexibility, and understand how they relate to managing pain. 

4. Identify which behaviors are “workable” and “not workable,” and come up with strategies to help guide and support individuals in restructuring their actions. 

5. Use a four square analysis to visualize how different actions, thoughts, feelings, and sensations can foster or inhibit patients from achieving their goals. 

6. Use the hexaflex model to describe psychological flexibility and identify its connection or relation to the three FACT pillars. 

Who Should Attend?

This online course is ideal for occupational therapists, pain management specialists, and other healthcare professionals interested in expanding their therapeutic toolkit and improving patient care for those with chronic pain.

This online course is also for physiotherapists, chiropractors, and other rehabilitation therapists who are curious to better understand the role of occupational therapists and deepen their knowledge of chronic or persisting pain management.

Why Attend This Course? 

Enhancing your practice with ACT can not only diversify your therapeutic approaches, but deepen rapport and relationships with your clients, as well as making sessions more effective by keeping them focussed on the client’s goals. Join Bronnie Lennox Thompson to expand your knowledge, enhance your skills, and bring a fresh perspective to your practice.

Why Attend This Course? 

Enhancing your practice with ACT can not only diversify your therapeutic approaches, but deepen rapport and relationships with your clients, as well as making sessions more effective by keeping them focussed on the client’s goals. Join Bronnie Lennox Thompson to expand your knowledge, enhance your skills, and bring a fresh perspective to your practice.