This course is designed for people who want to join the growing network of ordinary citizens working to build a more nurturing nation. Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), we offer practical skills for staying connected to what matters most — even in the presence of fear, anger, grief, or helplessness.

Together, we'll practice noticing the thoughts that pull us toward resignation, making room for the pain that comes with caring deeply, and taking committed action guided by our values.

This course is not about becoming calm in the face of injustice. It's about becoming more capable — of acting with courage, steadiness, compassion, and persistence. It's about mustering the motivation to join with others in what may be one of the most important things we ever do as citizens: helping to build a more nurturing nation.

Pricing options

Select Course Only for personal development. If you are not a BCBA, put in any number when registering. Select Course + CEU to receive 6 BACB Learning CEUs upon completion. CEUs provided by Alison Szarko, Ph.D., BCBA-D(IP-24-10916).

Course Sequence:

  • Starting 9/9/26, we will meet Weekly on Wednesdays at 10am-11am PST for 6 consecutive weeks on Zoom. 
  • Each week will review core components ACT and the psychological flexibility framework.
  • Participants will learn hands-on practical skills for increasing their own psychological flexibility and will be more equipped to take action in service of their values by the completion of the course. 


Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  1. Identify the core processes of the psychological flexibility model (acceptance, defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values, committed action) as they apply outside a clinical context, in civic and community engagement.
  2. Describe the function of experiential avoidance in producing resignation, burnout, or disengagement from civic participation.
  3. Demonstrate at least six ACT techniques for working with verbal behavior that influence avoidant action.
  4. Apply ACT strategies to make room for difficult private events (fear, anger, grief) without those events controlling value-based behavior.
  5. Differentiate values-based action from avoidance-driven action in the context of civic engagement.
  6. Formulate values statements relevant to community or civic participation, using ACT values clarification methods.
  7. Construct committed action plans that translate stated values into specific, trackable behavioral steps.
  8. Describe how ACT processes can be extended from individual-level behavior change to group- or community-level behavior, consistent with a contextual behavioral science framework.

Instructor(s)

Scientist-Practitioner Alison Szarko

Alison Szarko, PhD, BCBA-D is a scientist-practitioner whose work centers on bringing a psychological flexibility lens to how organizations listen to and serve the people they work with. Her research and clinical training sit at the intersection of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) and behavioral systems analysis. She spent eight years at the University of Nevada, Reno, working alongside Dr. Ramona Houmanfar in the Performance System Technologies Lab, and her doctoral work applied ACT to improve resilience and engagement in medical education. Dr. Szarko is currently a Client Experience Architect for Mayo Clinic, where she builds omnichannel listening programs to better understand and improve consumer experience. She is also a trail runner, climber, and mother, and finds that living out psychological flexibility in daily life is as important to her as studying it. She is honored to co-teach ACT for a Nurturing Nation alongside Tony Biglan, bringing both scientific rigor and lived practice to the work of building more nurturing communities.

Senior Scientist Anthony Biglan

Tony Biglan is the founder of Values to Action and an award-winning leader of worldwide efforts to evolve more nurturing societies. ​ He earned the Award for Scientific Translation from the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Analysis in recognition of his contribution to public understanding of the power of behavioral science. Dr. Biglan’s expertise is based on 40 years of research on the treatment and prevention of psychological and behavioral problems. As a Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute, he has helped to identify effective family, school, and community interventions to prevent the most common and costly problems of childhood and adolescence around the world.