RFT-Based Meditation Training
Two 2-hour sessions on December 10th & 17th from 9am to 11am (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one of the sessions.
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This course will teach the core RFT components of Self as Context by focusing on specific types of relational framing and their functional effects in meditation practice. Each session will include short didactics and meditation exercises specifically targeting each key component.
You will learn to practice Self as Context through meditation with more precision, and you will learn to select, build, and debrief meditation exercises adapted to your clients’ specific needs.
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- Session 1: Focus on coordination framing, distinction framing, and hierarchical framing through ranking.
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- Session 2: Focus on hierarchical framing through inclusion and transcendence.
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Fees: US$100
50% discount for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
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Out of the Hexafail
How to Overcome 6 Typical Misunderstandings About ACT
6 x 2 hour sessions. October 29, November 5, 12, 19, 26, & December 3 2025 from 9am to 11am (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least half of the sessions.
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This course is organized around 6 typical misunderstandings I have noticed in my supervision, training, and own practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I have found that when these problems are resolved, the therapeutic process can quickly and dramatically improve. In each session, we will address a misunderstanding related to one of the processes of the psychological flexibility model. We will then explore and practice alternative approaches through demonstrations and role-plays.
- Session 1: Modeling Acceptance rather than fixing experiential avoidance.
- Session 2: Defusion through exploring rather than distancing from the content of thinking.
- Session 3: Contacting the Present Moment to integrate rather than exclude the past and the future.
- Session 4: Self as Context to promote dynamic integration rather than static inclusion.
- Session 5: Treating Values as transcendent sources of reinforcement, not long term goals and domains.
- Session 6: Engaging in Committed Action as an expression of values rather than a performance.
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Fees: US$300
50% discount for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
THE THERAPY OF EVERYTHING
How to Integrate Philosophy and Spirituality into Your Clinical Practice
This course focuses on the integration of philosophy and spirituality into the therapeutic process. We will use a framework organizing RFT principles and philosophical assumptions of functional contextualism into a behavioral model of transcendence. We will also explore ways to connect psychotherapy processes with other disciplines (e.g., art, physics, sport, history) in order to facilitate the transition between clinical work and everyday life for both client and therapist.
Here are some of the key themes we will cover during the 6 weeks:
- How to assess worldviews and philosophical assumptions in therapy
- How to apply the core concepts of Functional Contextualism in session (a-ontology, monism, pragmatism)
- How to make spirituality a universal goal of therapy
- How to completely let go of outcomes and develop unshakable trust in on-going processes
- How to connect everything all the time without losing focus
- How to integrate your personal life into your therapeutic work and vice versa
The course will be organized as follows:
- 6 2-hour live sessions on zoom over 6 weeks. Each session will focus on a specific theme.
- 1 didactic podcast (30 minutes max) will be sent every week to prepare for the live session.
- Each session will begin with a discussion and a demonstration of skills and principles presented in the didactic podcast.
- You will then practice the skills in groups of 2-3.
- We will then debrief and troubleshoot with the whole group.
- The session will end with an activity geared to integrating clinical skills into our personal lives.
One group is available, limited to 10 participants. We will meet for 2h on the following dates (Seattle time):
Monday at 10.30am on November 10, 17, 24, December 1, 8, & 15.
Most of the content of the sessions will be recorded but some content will occasionally be cut out.
Fees: US$300 (12 hours of training)
50% discount for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
Past trainings that will be offered again in the future…
Breaking the Fourth Wall in Therapy
How to Activate Transformation Through Reflexivity
September 8th & 15th 2025 from 11am to 3pm (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one session.
Reflexivity is the ability to examine our own feelings, thoughts, and actions and how these influence the way we behave. While this process is at the core of most forms of psychotherapy, its transformative effect can be enhanced by the use of thoughtful perspective taking techniques.
This course is based on ACT and RFT principles and is inspired by reflexive storytelling concepts. For example, in the concept of breaking the fourth wall, the character of a fiction can take perspective on the fiction itself or directly address the audience. Other techniques consist of making connections between the story and reality outside of the story.
In therapy, taking perspective on the therapeutic process itself and personally involving the therapist in the process can disrupt problematic patterns and expand adaptive repertoires. This course will explore the various ways we can apply perspective taking to activate reflexive transformation. In particular, we will learn to use the multiple functions of mirroring and model the therapeutic process through embodiment and self-disclosure.
Part 1: Mirroring the Process
- How to reflect along interpersonal, temporal, and spatial dimensions
- How to connect the therapeutic process to different areas of the client’s life
Part 2: Modeling the Process
- How to embody clinically relevant processes in session
- How to functionally and appropriately use self-disclosure
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Fees: US$200
$100 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
6-Month Online Clinical RFT Course
September 4th 2025 to March 6th 2026
Registration: Contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
What is this course about?
This 6-month online course is designed to turn you into a clinical RFT expert! Step by step, you will learn the basic principles of RFT and how to use them in psychological interventions. The course will be facilitated by Matthieu Villatte, PhD, clinical trainer and author of Mastering the Clinical Conversation: Language as Intervention, and of a number of articles and chapters on RFT for clinical practice. The course will be directly based on this best selling clinical RFT manual.
How will this course work?
We will use a variety of resources such as videos, podcasts, Powerpoint presentations, articles and chapters, live talks, and listserve discussions. Each week, you will receive a training post with optional work assignment to help you progress at your own pace. You will receive personal feedback on your practice and answers to all your questions once a week through the listerve. In addition, 10 1-hour online live sessions will be provided during which you will have the opportunity to deepen your understanding of clinical RFT concepts, discuss clinical cases, and practice skills through role plays.
Live sessions are scheduled on the following Fridays at 9am (US Pacific Time):
September 19, October 10 & 31, November 21, December 5 & 19, January 9 & 23, February 13 March 6.
What will you learn in this course?
- The basic RFT principles involved in clinical work
- The framework for using RFT in clinical practice
- How to conduct psychological assessment using RFT
- How to activate and shape behavior change with RFT
- How to build meaning and motivation with RFT
What people are saying about this course:
“In my opinion, relational frame theory represents one of the most important scientific advances in facilitating a deep understanding of human psychological functioning, how we can struggle, and how we can be helped. Matthieu’s clinical RFT course has been invaluable in helping me to develop an understanding of RFT and how to apply it in my clinical practice, and almost immediately his course began to result in improvements in the depth and precision of both my therapy practice and in the clinical supervision I provide, both of which are focused in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). Given that language is the medium in which nearly all psychotherapy plays out, I cannot imagine the therapist whose craft would not be enhanced by this training.”
— Russell Kolts, PhD, USA.
“Matt’s 6-month online RFT course is amazing!! Learning ACT is like learning to play a beautiful piece of music. Learning RFT in Matt’s course enables you to COMPOSE beautiful music. Applying what I learned in Matt’s RFT class fundamentally enhanced my clinical work and my clients are benefiting greatly. I highly recommend this course!!!”
— Cathryn Campbell, MBA, MSS, LSW, PCC, USA
“I thoroughly recommend Matthieu Villatte’s online course on the application of RFT in clinical settings. It has taught me to apply new practical skills not only in clinical cases, increasing the effectiveness of my therapeutic practice, but even in everyday life. The interaction between Matt and students was great and the course was flexible, allowing me to follow things at my own pace while having the unique chance to learn from a prestigious clinical psychologist and researcher while studying in my home country of Brazil.”
— Diana Ferroni Bast, PhD, Brazil.
“Since I started my training in RFT I was looking forward to a course in which I could really understand the basic concepts and at the same time their applicability to clinical situations in a friendly way. Matt, you did it! For those interested in learning about RFT and its clinical applications I strongly recommend to participate in Matt’s courses. A lot of readings, videos, supervision, in a warm and supporting setting!”
— Fabián O. Olaz, PsyD, Argentina.
Fees: US$400 / $200 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Experiential, Didactic, and Dialectic
How to Build an Integrative Therapeutic Stance in ACT and Process-Based Therapies
June 9th & 16th 2025 from 9am to 1pm (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one session.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an experiential approach to behavior change in which clients are encouraged to contact and observe their emotions, thoughts, and actions, and the context in which they occur. This is typically distinguished from didactic approaches that consist of providing clients with information and guidance, and from dialectic approaches that consist of exchanging points of views on psychological issues. In practice, however, ACT therapists often find it difficult to stick with the experiential stance, especially when their clients are stuck or when they feel pressured to make progress quickly. They might then use more didactic and dialectic means but worry that their work has become ACT inconsistent. This training aims to reconcile these three styles of delivering therapy in order to improve the efficacy and efficiency of your ACT practice. Rather than considering experiential, didactic, and dialectic approaches as fundamentally distinct, we will explore how they can co-exist and even potentialize each other inside an integrative stance focusing on developing clients’ autonomy. The course will consist of two sessions including didactics, demonstrations, and roleplays, as follows: 1st Session: Experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles Based on chapters 9 & 10 of Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte et al. 2016)- Define experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles in therapy
- Recognize experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles demonstrations
- Practice experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles in roleplays
- Explore your values as a therapist
- Build your personalized therapeutic stance
- Practice your own therapeutic stance in roleplays
Fees: US$200
U$100 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here) and for students.
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
INTENSIVE ONLINE TRAINING ON VALUES
Fostering Meaning and Motivation with ACT and RFT principles
TBA (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one session.
All clients come to therapy because they want something to change. Often, however, they are so focused on eliminating painful feelings, thoughts, or sensations, that they don’t know what they want their lives to be about beyond not having these experiences. In some cases, clients are too focused on specific outcomes or social approval to find a sense of purpose and freedom. Sometimes, clients have even lost all sense of purpose, and as a result, they can’t find meaningful satisfaction anymore. There are many methods that help clients manage painful feelings and engage in effective actions, but without a meaningful life direction, these strategies can lack vitality, and behavioral changes don’t sustain. For this reason, helping clients foster a deeper sense of meaning in their lives is key to the therapeutic process, which can be done through values work.
In this training based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT), you will learn to help clients explore, clarify, and build their own values, and identify actions directed toward these values. You will learn techniques step-by-step through short practical didactics, video demonstrations of in-session interactions (including formal exercises and natural conversations), and practical exercises.
In practice, you will learn to:
- Help your clients clarify and build values
- Help your clients identify broad patterns of valued actions
- Increase your clients’ motivation to engage in valued actions
- Increase your clients’ satisfaction as they engage in valued actions and reflect on what they accomplished.
- Apply these techniques through formal exercises and through natural conversations.
The structure of the training is intended to build clinical competence, not just knowledge. Didactic presentations will be pragmatic and opportunities for practice and feedback will be emphasized. Learning activities will include video demonstration and analysis, behavioral rehearsal of micro-skills, guided self-assessment, and planning for continued improvement. This training is appropriate for healthcare providers at all levels of expertise and working with any population in any treatment setting.
Fees: US$200/ $100 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
Therapist’s Search for Process
How to Include the Content of Thinking in ACT and Process-Based Therapies
February 18th & 25th 2025 from 9am to 1pm (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one session.
Distinguishing between content and process is a common idea in ACT and other forms of process-based therapies. In practice, clinicians often encourage their clients to stay away from analyzing the content of their thoughts and instead, to notice how they respond to these thoughts. They favor distancing techniques over attempts to understand and discussions about the meaning of thoughts, so as to decrease cognitive entanglement and improve behavioral flexibility.
But therapists also find that distancing from thoughts can be experienced as invalidating by clients and can paradoxically increase entanglement with content. They are also concerned that defusion might lead to meaninglessness and interfere with the exploration of clients’ values and other existential topics.
This course offers a different perspective on the content of thinking and how we can include it in the therapeutic process. You will learn to analyze, interpret, and understand any form of content (thoughts, beliefs, stories, fantasies, dreams) using the RFT concepts of rule and rule following. You will learn to develop tracking, a holistic process integrating thought and experience, regardless of your clients’ attachment with the content. You will also learn to use the process of co-developing metaphors to navigate through any kind of content without getting lost or entangled.
The course will consist of two sessions including didactics, demonstrations, and role-plays, as follows:
1st Session: Tracking as a Central Therapeutic Process
Based on chapters 4 & 5 of Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte et al. 2016)
- Detect rules and rule-following in all kinds of content (thoughts, beliefs, stories, fantasies, and dreams)
- Distinguish the different forms of rule following
- Develop tracking over pliance and other problematic forms of rule-following
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2nd Session: Co-developing Metaphors to Enhance Tracking
Based on chapter 8 of Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte et al. 2016)
- Distinguish the different ways of using metaphors in therapy
- Apply the steps to co-develop experiential metaphors with clients
- Develop tracking through the metaphorical process
Fees: US$200
U$100 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
INTENSIVE ONLINE TRAINING ON SELF-AS-CONTEXT
October 29, November 5 & 12 2024 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. (US Pacific Time) on Zoom
The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least two sessions.
The self is a central issue in all psychological problems we treat in therapy: most clients struggle with self-awareness, at least to some degree; many struggle with self-criticism or a lack of self-efficacy; others struggle to feel whole and stable; some struggle to find a balance between attachment and differentiation in their relationships; others struggle to engage in new actions that contradict their self-concepts.
From a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) perspective, all these problems arise from a lack of differentiation and connection in the way people relate to their psychological experiences (emotions, thoughts, sensations). When clients identify with what they think, feel, and do, they lose the freedom to live a rich and meaningful life because experiences that inevitably accompany self-growth are perceived as too threatening. Conversely, when they reject or ignore significant experiences, they develop a fragmented sense of self that prevents them from finding harmony in life. Developing a sense of self that integrates and transcends all psychological experiences is the goal of the therapeutic process based on RFT.
In this workshop, you will learn to use RFT principles to help clients build a sense of self that allows them to find stability and flexibility; responsibility and self-compassionation; connection and differentiation. We will focus in particular on perspective taking and integrative thinking processes activated through experiential exercises and clinical conversations.
The training will include didactics focused on clinical skills, experiential exercises allowing you to apply RFT principles to yourself, analyses of therapy demonstrations, and role-plays. In order to best benefit from the training, you will be encouraged to personally engage in experiential exercises and to explore clinical techniques that may challenge your usual practice.
AUDIENCE
This workshop is intended for mental health professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, etc.) at all levels of expertise and working with any population in any treatment setting. Some prior exposure to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) or other 3rd wave therapies is encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Fees: US$250/ $125 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here)
Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com
language as intervention 