Parenting from the Inside Out: A Clinician's Guide to ACT for Parents

Join licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Steve Mazza for Parenting from the Inside Out: A Clinician's Guide to ACT for Parents.

This is an interactive synchronous distance learning event. This event will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM EST.

General registration fee: $37.00. Student/Trainee registertaion fee: $15.00.

Registration deadline is June 12, 2025 at 9am.

This is an intermediate level course.

This webinar offers continuing education credits for psychologists (CE) and social workers (CEU). Please review your state's continuing education guidelines for more information on specific CE/CEU requirements.

Employees affiliated with NYSPI/Columbia Psychiatry should email Psych.CE@nyspi.columbia.edu to register.

Overview

When parents struggle to implement effective strategies, it's often not due to a lack of knowledge, but because they're caught in emotional loops of self-judgment, fear, and reactivity. This course explores how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help clinicians support parents at the root of their parenting challenges. By targeting key ACT processes (cognitive defusion, contact with the present moment, and acceptance) clinicians will learn how to guide parents toward greater psychological flexibility, emotional awareness, and values-based parenting. These skills apply to parents of young children, adolescents, and young adults.

Participants will:

• Explore the mechanisms behind cognitive defusion, mindfulness, and emotional acceptance as they relate specifically to parenting struggles.
• Understand how internal experiences—such as unhelpful thoughts, avoidance of emotion, and parental shame—interfere with the consistent use of parenting skills.
• Learn practical, experiential exercises to help parents:

a) Notice and unhook from difficult thoughts about themselves and their children.

b) Stay grounded and present during high-stress moments.

c) Make room for uncomfortable emotions without letting them drive parenting decisions.

d)Apply values-based strategies to help parents move toward compassionate, intentional parenting even in the face of resistance or distress.

• Observe demonstrations and engage in role-play to practice guiding parents through ACT-informed techniques that build emotional flexibility and reduce reactivity.

By the end of the course, clinicians will have a toolkit of experiential and conceptual strategies to help parents shift from rigid control or avoidance to mindful, value-aligned action.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify at least two internal barriers that interfere with parents’ ability to implement traditional behavioral strategies
2. Describe the ACT processes of cognitive defusion, acceptance, and present-moment awareness, and explain their relevance to parenting interventions.
3. Demonstrate at least two experiential exercises clinicians can use to help parents increase psychological flexibility and engage in values-based parenting.

Presenter

Dr. Steve Mazza is an Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) within the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the Clinical Director of the ABC Early Childhood Program at ColumbiaDoctors, which provides parent-focused evidence-based treatments for emotional and behavioral difficulties in children ages 2-8. He is a certified Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Within-Agency Trainer. Additionally, Dr. Mazza is a public speaker who conducts trainings for psychologists, social workers, leadership teams, parents, educators, and summer camp counselors. He has been featured on SiriusXM Doctor Radio, SiriusXM Mental Health Radio, HealthLine, InsideHook, PsychHub, and Camping Magazine. Dr. Mazza is the author of the True-to-Life Parenting blog at Psychology Today.

Continuing Education Information

This live activity is designated for a maximum of 1 CE credit.

Psychologists: Columbia University Department of Psychiatry is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Columbia University Department of Psychiatry maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Columbia University Department of Psychiatry is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0168. Columbia University Department of Psychiatry maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Social Workers: Columbia University Department of Psychiatry is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0732. Columbia University Department of Psychiatry maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, 1968, 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:7/19/2024-7/19/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1 general continuing education credits.

Please direct any questions about CE credit to Psych.CE@nyspi.columbia.edu.

Currently, we do not keep transcripts of continuing education event attendance. It is the responsibility of the attendee to properly save their certificate of attendance and track their event attendance.

Attendance and Grievance Policies

Please note that in order to receive your continuing education certificate, you must attend the entire duration of the workshop and complete the evaluation survey. Refunds are not provided for late arrivals or early departures.

Certificates of completion for CEs will be distributed via email, within 7 days of the event, to those meeting the attendance requirements.

It is important that the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry meets the learning needs, goals, and interest of our learners. The Columbia University Department of Psychiatry is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the principles, standards, and ethics of the organizations which we are accredited to provide continuing education. We will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content and in the treatment of program participants.

The Columbia University Department of Psychiatry goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems. Even so, there will be occasional issues that come to the attention of the continuing education program staff and require intervention and/or action on the part of the staff or a member of the continuing education committee. Please contact us for more information on our procedures and guidelines for handling such grievances.

Refund Policy

We will provide a full refund, less Eventbrite fees, for registration cancellations made within 24 hours of the event date. Please email us at Psych.CE@nyspi.columbia.edu to initiate a refund request.

Accommodation Policy

Requests for accommodations made at least seven days prior to an event will be reviewed and considered. We will make every effort to offer appropriate accommodations and supports for those with disabilities and/or various needs. Please email us . Please email us at Psych.CE@nyspi.columbia.edu with inquiries.