Beck Institute was excited to welcome the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) to Philadelphia for its 58th Annual Convention on November 14-17. Our staff and faculty presented and attended many wonderful sessions, and our leadership enjoyed catching up with friends and colleagues from around the world. Here are just some of the exciting things that happened.
On the evening of Thursday, November 14, Dr. Paul Grant, and APA CEO Dr. Arthur Evans delivered a free open-to-the public talk, moderated by Dr. Judith Beck, called Recovery Extends to All: The Philadelphia Story of Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Evans was the commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services from 2004 to 2017—and during this time he brought about a culture change in mental health care in Philadelphia, grounded in a population health framework, that extended recovery-oriented practice to all.
Working side by side with our late co-founder Dr. Aaron T. Beck, Dr. Evans directed a larger effort to introduce evidence-based care across the system, especially in traditionally marginalized neighborhoods. The partnership brought about important improvements in efficiency and outcomes. The treatment delivery model they created, emphasizing recovery and resilience, can be reproduced in other state and municipal health systems, in the US and internationally, which will extend recovery to countless more individuals. Drs. Beck, Grant, and Evans were pleased that so many people from the conference—and from the community—showed up to learn about this transformative work.
On Friday, November 15, Dr. Beck, Dr. Jill Rathus, and Dr. Lisa Coyne delivered a clinical grand rounds called A Demonstration by Three Experts in CBT, DBT, and ACT. This was the most well-attended session at the conference, drawing over 370 participants. Later that day, Drs. Sofia Chernoff and Morgan Hagner delivered a workshop on Improving Community Access to CBT: Delivery of Evidence-based Treatments in Medical Settings.
Later that evening, members of our staff, board, faculty, and community of BI certified clinicians gathered to celebrate our 30th anniversary with a casual reception. We greatly enjoyed sharing our accomplishments with many people who have helped us grow and evolve into a world class training center and the global home of CBT. We are proud of the impact we’ve had over the last three decades, and look forward to many more years of delivering on our nonprofit mission of improving lives worldwide through excellence and innovation in CBT and CT-R.
Saturday morning, Dr. Beck joined Dr. Janee Steele for a workshop on The Therapeutic Relationship: Preventing and Repairing Ruptures. Dr. Steele began with a client example, helping to illustrate concepts and techniques. She modelled self-disclosure, demonstrating how important it is for therapists to recognize how their own beliefs might be getting in the way of the therapeutic relationship. Earlier this year, Dr. Beck wrote the Foreword for Dr. Steele’s book Racism and African American Mental Health: Using Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Empower Healing.
Sunday morning, the conference wrapped up with two more important presentations: an advanced clinician seminar on Adapting Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Personality Disorders with Dr. Beck, moderated by Dr. Simon Rego, and a panel discussion with Dr. Paul Grant, Dr. Shelby Arnold, and Lindsey Pinto, LCSW, on Beyond Recidivism: Innovations in CBT to Promote Successful and Sustained Community Participation for Justice-involved Individuals Reentering Society. Learn more about how a recovery-oriented approach to care can help individuals throughout the justice continuum strengthen positive beliefs, identify meaningful goals and aspirations for the future, and engage in positive action regardless of setting, circumstance, or legal limitations.