NYC ACBS 1st Annual Conference
Friday, October 24th, 2025
8 AM - 2 PM ET
Touro University, 3 Times Square, NYC
We are thrilled to announce the 1st Annual NYC ACBS Conference, co-sponsored by NYC ACBS & Touro University's PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology, a gathering of clinicians, researchers, students, and professionals interested in cutting-edge applications of contextual behavioral science.
Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or new to contextual behavioral science, we invite you to come learn, share, and connect with like-minded professionals shaping the future of our field.
And yes, CE Certifications are available!
Pricing:
$65 for NYC-ACBS Members
$80 for Non-Members
$35 for Students
$15 Admin Fee for 4 Continuing Education credits for PhD, BCBA, or SW (NY State only)
Schedule Overview:
8am - 8:30am
Check-in, Coffee, Bagels and Socializing
8:30am - 9am
Community Exercise
9am -10:20am
Awakening Compassionate Flexibility: A Process-Based Integration of CFT and ACT
With Dennis Tirch, Ph.D. & Laura Silberstein-Tirch, PsyD
10:30am -12pm
Coming back to the Context: ACT for Chronic Marginalization
With Yash Bhambani, Ph.D. & Laurie Gallo, Ph.D.
12pm -1pm
Lunch (provided)
1pm -2pm
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Process-Based Approach
With Steven Hayes, Ph.D.
Awakening Compassionate Flexibility:
A Process-Based Integration of CFT and ACT
With Dennis Tirch, Ph.D. & Laura Silberstein-Tirch, PsyD
While Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) possess distinct scientific origins, their theoretical overlap and clinical synergy are striking. This presentation will introduce a coherent, process-based model for their integration, termed Compassion Focused ACT (CFACT). We will demonstrate how each element of the CFT model—from the three flows of compassion to the cultivation of the compassionate self—can be functionally related to the ACT hexaflex processes, arguing that compassion is an integral component of true psychological flexibility. Grounded in recent advances in contextual behavioral science and affective neuroscience, this model provides a multifaceted approach for targeting transdiagnostic challenges, particularly chronic shame and self-criticism. We will conclude by reviewing the current state of CFACT research, featuring ongoing process and outcome data from our research group at Kean University, and introduce interventions designed to purposefully awaken "compassionate flexibility" in both clinicians and the clients they serve.
Coming Back to the Context:
ACT for Chronic Marginalization
With Yash Bhambani, Ph.D. & Laurie Gallo, Ph.D.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been used in a wide variety of contexts with a diverse range of sources of human suffering, however, data on using ACT with racial/ethnic minorities and communities that face chronic marginalization in the US is still needed. In this workshop, we will present components of a novel ACT protocol we created as a result of our work with the Bronx, NY community and the NIH HEAL Initiative (Helping to End Addiction Longterm) which is currently being evaluated in a large RCT (Bhambhani et al., 2025, Gallo et al., 2025). Incorporating feedback from individuals with lived experience, we repackaged the six flexibility processes into modified ACT skills designed to be more accessible and utilitarian for folks with limited resources and experiencing multiple sources of marginalization. We will highlight the context in which substance use, chronic health conditions and trauma occurs for these communities, and offer specific ways in which ACT can be delivered in a trauma informed and culturally responsive manner.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
as a Process-Based Approach
With Steven Hayes, Ph.D.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has long been grounded in the psychological flexibility model, traditionally organized around the “hexaflex.” In this hour-long virtual talk, Dr. Hayes will invite you to reimagine ACT as a process-based therapy rooted in the Extended Evolutionary Meta-Model (EEMM). This approach expands ACT’s core processes—emotional, cognitive, attentional, self-related, motivational, and behavioral flexibility—while extending them into sociocultural and biophysiological domains.