Quarterly Newsletter Post 2 of 4 (Continued)

2: ACT Therapy—the Concept of Mindfulness (John Spalding)

At SGE © we focus on several bodies of work to enhance our business services. We draw from the field of Psychology to introduce the Concept of Mindfulness. Specifically, we will look at one of the new branches of psychology termed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy also known as ACT. Mindfulness is described in wikipedia as the practice whereby a person is intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Mindfulness is a skill that can be learned if people are willing to critically analyze their own behaviors.

The concept of Mindfulness is evidenced with the main model used to represent the concepts of ACT. The components of the model make a client more mindful of the situation as a whole. The ACT model (www.contextualpsychology.org) has six components:

• Acceptance
• Defusion
• Contact with the Present Moment (Mindfulness)
• Self as Context (Mindfulness)
• Values
• Committed Action

Acceptance and Defusion— a look at the present state of the person; listen to the presenting problems; agree that the past cannot be changed, but a change can happen for the future. The goal is to accept the current state and defuse thoughts of negativity or desires to give up. Once the coach and client go through this process, they can move to the next two steps.

Contact with the Present Moment and Self as a Context—these two steps are the essence of mindfulness. The client needs to be fully aware of the present moment and willing to be non-judgmental; what’s done is done. The client should also be able to look at their behaviors, non-verbal cues, and attitudes, to identify if those attributes are in line with their values.

Values and Committed Action— Values, being defined as, traits or qualities that are considered; represent your highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. In these steps of the model, the coach facilitates the client to solidify their personal values and make a commitment to take action and move forward.

The Mindfulness model is useful to understand the main concepts of ACT psychology and to uncover a different way for us, as coaches and practitioners, to assist our clients. Mindfulness strategies allow people to reflect on their behaviors through real time diagnosis opening up the door for possible changes to behaviors that are damaging or even unknown to the client. However, unless your occupation is Buddhist monk, we are not recommending hourly “mindfulness sessions”; but, a few sessions a week wouldn’t be a bad start.

At SGE © we use mindfulness strategies in our Executive Coaching with clients. We ask them to reflect on their lives and the events that have brought them to where they are right now. Then, we have them reflect on their actions and receive feedback from others. Once they have a realistic picture of the past and present, we can help them more effectively plan for the future.