Jermin Valencia Guiao

EAP Services, New Zealand

Title: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy A Clinical Social Worker’s Application in Practice in New Zealand

---

Biography

Jermin is a registered social worker in both New Zealand and the Philippines and have been specializing in mental health counseling and therapy for almost seven years. At age 18, he was certified by the Philippine Civil Service Commission as a Professional Civil Servant and became a registered social worker at age 20. He represented the Philippines in various international youth leadership congress like ASEAN Future Leader’s Summit in University Sains Malaysia and International Social Work Conference in University of Hong Kong. He worked as a case manager in the Philippine Government for three years and practiced clinical social work in California, USA before he moved to New Zealand. He currently works as a clinical social worker and his expertise includes PTSD, anxiety, depression, men’s health, and neurodiversity. 

Abstract

I would want to share my practice in New Zealand as a clinical social worker to the delegates of Asia-Pacific Mental Health and Well-Being Conference. Below is my own summary application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that I use with my clients. I am happy to share outcomes of this therapy approach in the stage.

Cognitive Defusion: Stop taking negative thoughts literally- cognitive defusion is when we learn how to change our relationship with our thoughts, instead of changing the thoughts, which is most of the time hard, if not impossible to do. Recognizing that negative thoughts are just mental events and not necessarily true hence, we should not fully attach ourselves to them and not allow them to dictate and limit our lives.

Acceptance: How to tolerate unpleasant feelings- acceptance is the anecdote of experiential avoidance that precludes us from doing the things that are meaningful to us because of the fear of the negative feelings or consequences that we may experience in achieving these things (fear of going out of our comfort zones, the feeling of pain/discomfort when we apply for a promotion, change careers, marriage, pursuing a romantic relationship, moving houses, having children, etc.). Acceptance is allowing ourselves to be fluid, to feel all the emotions and feelings, both good and bad, positive and negative, comfortable and uncomfortable and acknowledging that this is normal, and we should not be letting these natural feelings hinder us from doing the things that give us a sense of fulfilment.

Being Present: How to take back control of your behavior- being present in the here and now instead of living in the past or projecting to the future. The past and the future thinking leads to human suffering because when we focus our mind on the things that have already happened or what is going to happen, it makes us feel worried and anxious, and we miss what is happening around and in front of us in the moment.

Self as context: How to cultivate your sense of self- this is the core process of ACT that I love the most. Learning how to accept, watch, observe, and just experience the moment, whether good or bad, rather than labeling it if it is good or bad. I always share with my clients the importance of knowing the difference between our self as content and self as context. Self as content is the part of us that we label and identify based on our life’s experiences, but self as context is the part of us that has always been there in the most difficult moments of our lives but will always remain whole and intact. Self as context reminds us that it is okay to take risks and be uncomfortable in achieving the things that are meaningful to us, and no matter the outcome is going to be, we always have our safe base that we could always return to.

Values and Committed Action: Achieve Lasting Self-Fulfilment- learning the importance of rooting our goals with core values and trying to achieve eudaimonic (purpose and meaning) happiness more than hedonic (pleasure and enjoyment) happiness. Acknowledging that living a meaningful life does not always give us good feelings all the time, but we will still pursue a meaningful life based on our core values and committed actions even when distressing feelings are present (and/or acknowledging that these distressing feelings may always be present).