Becoming an ACT Trainer

Joining the ACBS Training Community

Being listed as a trainer on the ACBS site is meant as a pragmatic way to help learners find high quality ACT training. The ACT Trainers in this community are committed to training with high fidelity to the model and work from explicit, agreed-upon shared values as they train others in ACT.

You are welcome to join this training community and be listed as an ACT trainer. Five criteria must be met to do so. You must:

1. Agree to the list of values and principles for ACT trainers;
2. Have a terminal degree in a behavioral health field;
3. Be known to be of good character;
4. Be highly effective in the core skills and competencies of an ACT therapist; and
5. Be highly effective in training others in ACT.

The ACBS training community uses a process of peer review to determine whether a trainer meets these criteria. The spirit of the peer review process is to protect the high fidelity of ACT training through review of the accuracy and quality with which a trainer shares the ACT model while simultaneously promoting a non-proprietary open community that encourages new talent and innovation.

If you are interested in joining the training community and being listed as a trainer, a good place to start is with self-assessment. To self-assess your qualifications, first review the values statement to see if these are values you endorse. Next, assess yourself against the list of therapist competencies and trainer competencies to see if you would rate yourself highly.

If you view yourself as qualified, please consider requesting peer-review of your skills as an ACT trainer. See the Application for Peer Review Form which describes guidelines about materials you should or could submit to provide enough detail for peer reviewers to evaluate your qualifications on the five criteria above. (Note: peer reviewers may not know you and your work personally, so be sure to provide sufficient information to allow them to accurately see and evaluate your qualifications and competency as an ACT trainer. Also, please ask those who write you letters of recommendation to comment specifically about your character, service to ACT/RFT community and competency as an ACT therapist and trainer.)

If you have any questions about requesting peer review or joining the training community, please contact the ACBS Training Committee administrative support person, Kate Morrison.

About Peer Review

The ACBS community uses a peer-review process to balance the need to protect and foster the high fidelity of ACT training with the need to keep the community open to new talented, innovative, qualified trainers.

The peer-review to be listed is analogous to scientific manuscript review at a top-notch journal. Peers review the materials the trainer submits. A positive review means that peers view the trainer’s work as of the soundest quality. Real effort is made to have the decision to list a trainer on the ACBS website under the influence of the data/argument in the work rather than personal or political factors like who you know or where you trained.

Please note: Anyone is free to do/provide training in ACT without undergoing peer review or joining this training community. This peer review process is a voluntary method trainers choose to undergo because it fits their own professional development goals.

Here’s how the peer-review process works:

1. Candidates self-assess their qualifications relative to the evaluation criteria and submit their application for peer review (following the Checklist) to join the ACBS training community and be listed as an ACT trainer on the ACBS website. (All materials should be submitted electronically. Contact Kate Morrison for questions or assistance on how to do that.)
2. The Chair of the Training Committee initiates a review by reviewers from among currently listed trainers on the ACBS website. Each application is independently reviewed by two currently listed trainers.
3. The Reviewers receive the invitation by e-mail. The Reviewer agrees or declines to review.
4. If the Reviewer agrees, he or she reads the application and completes the peer review rating form, selects a Recommendation, and submits the review to the Committee Chair and ACBS office. Reviewers are expected to keep the information in applications they review confidential.
5. The Committee Chair makes the final decision relying on peer-review feedback to guide the decision and will send a summary letter to inform the applicant of the decision along with each reviewer’s blind comments to the applicant. (The same summary and each others’ comments are sent to reviewers.) Applicants are encouraged to use reviewers' comments as suggestions regarding where they could further refine skills and competencies. The Committee Chair may need to occasionally resolve issues related to conflict of interest among reviewers. Reviewers’ identities are generally not revealed to applicants in order to free reviewers from any social pressures, allowing them to consider only the quality of the application).
6. Trainer profiles of those approved by the review process are posted on the ACBS website.