Jason A. Nieuwsma, PhD, is assistant professor in the department
of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, and
serves as the Associate Director for the Mental Health and
Chaplaincy program in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Nieuwsma
has led multiple projects and authored numerous articles focused on
improving the integration of mental health and spiritual care
services, and has trained hundreds of chaplains and mental health
professionals in the application of acceptance and commitment
therapy.
Robyn D Walser, PhD, is associate director of the National Center
for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division and associate
clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley. As a
licensed psychologist, she maintains an international training,
consulting and therapy practice. Walser is developing innovative
ways to translate science into practice, and is responsible for the
dissemination of state-of-the-art knowledge and treatment
interventions in her current position. Walser has coauthored three
books, including Learning ACT, The Mindful Couple, and Acceptance
and Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder.
Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor and director
of clinical training at the department of psychology at the
University of Nevada. An author of 38 books and over 540 scientific
articles, his career has focused on analysis of the nature of human
language and cognition, and its application to the understanding
and alleviation of human suffering and promotion of human
prosperity. Among other associations, Hayes has been president of
the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, and the
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. His work has
received several awards, including the Impact of Science on
Application Award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior
Analysis, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association
for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.
"ACT for Clergy and Pastoral Counselors is the perfect resource for
clergy, pastoral educators, and mental health providers dedicated
to continuing the legacy of Rev. Anton Boisen and Richard C. Cabot
of bridging mental health and spiritual care. The book is excellent
for clinical pastoral education (CPE) supervisors who want to
introduce students to an established, evidence-based practice that
is patient centered, flexible, and values based. Clinical staff
chaplains will find it provides practical tools to help them work
more effectively as a member of mental health interdisciplinary
teams. It's an outstanding text for any professional healthcare
provider!"
--A. Keith Ethridge, MDiv, BCC, ACPE CPE Supervisor, former
director of the VA Chaplain Service, and associate director of
Mental Health Integration for Chaplain Service at the VA National
Chaplain Center in Hampton, VA
"ACT's flexibility is marvelously on display in this adaptation for
religious persons and contexts."
--Timothy A. Sisemore, PhD, director of research, and professor of
psychology and counseling at Richmont Graduate University, and
author of The Clinician's Guide to Exposure Therapies for Anxiety
Spectrum Disorders
"Evidence is mounting seemingly by the day supporting the
relationship between meeting spiritual and religious needs and
positive health outcomes in both the psychological and physical
domains. However, there is a major shortage of tested interventions
positioned to help deliver these outcomes effectively and
efficiently. This problem is compounded by the long-standing
barriers to partnering 'spiritual' and 'psychological'
interventions to the benefit of the whole human person. This book
makes a major contribution to filling this gap and overcoming these
barriers. In doing so, it gives both spiritual care and mental
health professions a powerful new tool to help reduce suffering.
Bravo!"
--The Rev. George Handzo, BCC, CSSBB, director of Health Services
Research and Quality at the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network
"Nieuwsma, Walser, and Hayes have provided valuable guidance to
spiritual care providers--congregational clergy, laypersons,
chaplains, and pastoral counselors--on how to integrate the
principles of ACT into their practice. Without trying to turn
spiritual care providers into therapists, they nonetheless show how
ACT is consistent with some current practices, and can be used to
extend spiritual interventions even further. Spiritual care
providers benefit from having an evidence-based therapeutic model
to draw on. The authors and editors have held ACT like a jewel to
the light, and shown how ACT can be utilized across major faith
traditions and in the full diversity of settings in which spiritual
care is provided."
--Daniel H. Grossoehme, DMin, MS, BCC, associate professor of
pediatrics who focuses his research on ways in which faith
influences health behaviors in pediatric chronic diseases, and
Staff Chaplain III serving the cystic fibrosis team at Cincinnati
Children's Hospital Medical Center
"Physical and emotional suffering bring to light the spiritual in
most persons, whether overtly expressed or not. Frontline care of
the spiritual needs of the suffering usually falls to spiritual
care providers, such as clergy and pastoral counselors, yet does
not escape the responsibility of the 'secular' therapist. When
spiritual care providers meet the patient, the encounter can vary
widely across the same faith tradition, not to mention different
traditions. In addition, persons suffering are both vulnerable to
ill-advised comments by these care providers, and resistant to
anyone viewed as tampering with their faith. Nieuwsma, Walser, and
Hayes provide a guide into and through this most important yet
tenuous relationship--the application of acceptance and commitment
therapy (ACT). The central tenants of ACT--openness, centeredness
in the present, and engagement through commitment--clarify this
confusing experience for those suffering through informed and
empathic intervention by the spiritual care provider. 'If I am
suffering, what am I to do with my faith?' Recognize who you are,
recognize where you are at this critical stage in your life, and
recognize and engage your core values. This approach is inclusive
yet does not devolve into a watered down generic spirituality.
Rather it calls upon the inner values and strengths that each faith
tradition brings to the healing of the body and the emotions."
--Dan Blazer MD, MPH, PhD, J.P. Gibbons Professor Emeritus of
Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC
"This is a timely and important book, making ACT accessible to
spiritually sensitive providers, not only as an evidence- and
philosophically-based practice, but one capable of informing a
range of theological perspectives to human suffering, in
demonstrably practical ways. Both clinicians and spiritual care
providers will find it a valuable resource."
--John Raymond Peteet, MD, psychiatrist at Brigham and Women's
Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, and
associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
"This superb volume is practically the 'bible' on how to integrate
religion and spirituality into ACT. It is the first and last word
on ACT in religious contexts and for professional pastoral
settings. Highly recommended."
--Jeff Levin, PhD, MPH, professor of epidemiology and population
health, and director of the religion and population health program
at Baylor University
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