ABSTRACT
Contextual cognitive-behavioral therapy (C-CBT) or “third wave” therapy (Hayes, Villatte, Levin, & Hildebrandt, 2011) training has for the most part taken place in academic departments that have strong behavioral/CBT backgrounds. Outside of this context, much of the training has been disseminated to graduate students and postgraduate practitioners via workshops, conferences, and supervision/consultation. Emerging empirical support for, and thereby increased popularity of C-CBTs over the years has led to a desire to train graduate-level trainees in a number of programs (including research, professional and organizational) across a wider range of academic settings (Plumb, n.d.). Some have integrated this training within existing core courses while others have included it in specialized or seminar courses. While anecdotal evidence suggests that is a generally welcomed addition by both students and faculty, the integration of C-CBTs (with their emphasis on mindfulness, acceptance, and their experiential approaches) into pre-existing standard academic curricula calls for some practical and ethical consideration. This chapter will therefore outline what we know about C-CBT training and highlight some of the areas that we, as educators, have stumbled upon and thought to be important when incorporating C-CBTs within the academic setting. We use C-CBT as a general umbrella term to refer to numerous approaches that emphasize values-driven mindfulness and acceptance processes, and utilize a functional contextual perspective vis-à-vis private events (for a more detailed description, see Hayes et al., 2011).
