ACT for Moral Injury: From Violated Values to Fostering Forgiveness

Date course created: October 2024

Moral injury has become commonly used phrase to describe some of the difficult internal experiences that show up in the aftermath of moral challenges and values violations. But are emotions like guilt and anger necessarily dysfunctional? This workshop will begin by helping participants to notice the difference between moral pain – the sign of an intact moral compass – and the excruciating suffering of moral injury. Doing so will help clinicians to avoid pathologizing, invalidating, and attempting to “fix” thoughts and feelings that are values-based, socially functional, and part of healthy living. Facilitating moral healing requires an informed and precise conceptualization of the sufferer’s lived experience along with a broad repertoire of traditional and contemporary interventions.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is particularly well suited to foster mindful awareness of the reality of wrongdoing and intentional (re)alignment to core values. This workshop will teach participants ACT processes and practices for enhancing mindfulness, cultivating compassion, fostering forgiveness, and engaging values. With the knowledge and skills provided, clinicians will be able to facilitate healing, growth, and resilience by connecting their clients to a sense of vitality, to their essential self, and to enlivened connection to the world.

**This is a 3.75-CE noninteractive, self-paced online video course delivered in home study format via an industry-standard online learning platform**

Agenda:

00:00 – 01:00: Conceptualizing Moral Pain & Injury

01:00 – 02:00: Assessment

02:00 – 03:00: Flexible Thinking, Centered Thinker

03:00 – 04:00: ACT… Accept, Choose, Take

Objectives:

This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:

Target Audience:

The target audience for this course includes licensed psychologists, social workers, counselors, MFT’s, and other licensed clinical mental health professionals.

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Instructor(s): Wyatt R. Evans, PhD, ABPP

Material Author(s): Wyatt R. Evans, PhD, ABPP

Wyatt R. Evans, PhD, ABPP is a licensed psychologist board certified in behavioral and cognitive psychology. He is a staff psychologist and the associate training director with the VA North Texas Health Care System, clinical psychologist in the U.S. Army Reserve, and assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Evans received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Palo Alto University in 2017, completing clinical training at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, a pre-doctoral internship at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, and a clinical research fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio with the STRONG STAR Consortium and the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD. Dr. Evans’ expertise in posttraumatic stress, resilience, and recovery comes from his training and work in military treatment facilities, veterans affairs hospitals, and PTSD research institutions. He is also an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and he has co-developed programs for utilizing ACT to treat moral injury, enhance resilience, and facilitate posttraumatic growth. Dr. Evans is the lead author of The Moral Injury Workbook and has published on moral injury theory, assessment, and interventions. He founded the Moral Injury Special Interest Group of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and continues to collaborate with researchers and clinicians internationally to advance the field of moral injury. Dr. Evans has consulted with healthcare providers and administrators as well as organizations supporting emergency managers and first responders to guide the recognition, prevention, and treatment of moral injury.

For additional information about this course, the instructors, or the material authors, please contact Content Assistance at content@onlinececredits.com.

Course Materials & Delivery Method:

• Course materials – The course is composed of a recorded presentation and written materials (e.g. a slide deck and/or other worksheets, manuals, or handouts as provided by the instructor). The slide deck and any additional worksheets or handouts (as provided by the instructor) are made available inside the Lesson module after a course is purchased.
• Delivery Method – this course is a recorded asynchronous, self-paced webinar training, and there is no access time limit or due date to complete it once enrolled. The enrolled learner will stream the recorded presentation and view the materials from their internet connected device via an industry-standard online learning platform.

CE Approvals:

Online CE Credits has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6795. Programs that do not quality for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Online CE Credits is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Mind Works Professional Education, Inc. DBA Online CE Credits, #1974, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: July 23, 2024 – July 23, 2025. Social workers completing this course receive [see advertisement] asynchronous distance learning continuing education credits.

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