Understanding behavior changes how we respond to it.
Behavior becomes more understandable when we consider the context in which it developed and what it accomplishes in the present moment.
That is the heart of a functional contextual approach. Rather than beginning with a diagnosis or asking which technique should be applied, we become curious about the person’s history, environment, language, relationships, and the consequences shaping what they do.
This perspective also deepens the practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT becomes more than a collection of exercises. It becomes a flexible way of noticing what is happening, understanding its function, and responding in ways that support meaningful change.
The goal is not simply to do ACT. It is to learn to see and respond functionally.
A GUIDE TO DEEPER, MORE FUNCTIONAL PRACTICE
Todd Schmenk
A clinician, educator, author, supervisor, and peer-reviewed ACT trainer, Todd has spent his career exploring how people change and how clinicians can respond with greater depth, flexibility, and purpose.
He works with clinicians, teams, and organizations ready to move beyond technique and more fully understand the behavior unfolding in front of them. Grounded in Functional Contextualism, RFT, and ACT, his work creates room for vulnerability, responsibility, precision, compassion, and workability to belong in the same conversation.
Embodying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Clinical Practice
Beyond Techniques
ACT is often introduced through its processes, metaphors, exercises, and models. These are important, but they do not fully explain what makes ACT effective in the room.
The Subtle Essence of ACT explores the less visible aspects of the work: how clinicians attend, formulate, respond, and participate in the therapeutic relationship.
The book invites clinicians to move beyond performing ACT techniques and toward embodying a functional contextual approach. It connects the science beneath the model with the moment-to-moment practice of therapy, supervision, and professional development.
Ways To Work With Todd
1
Training and Workshops
Interactive ACT and functional contextual training for clinicians, behavioral health organizations, colleges, and community partners.
Programs can range from focused presentations and introductory workshops to full-day training and longer professional development initiatives.
2
Supervision
Individual and group supervision for developing clinicians, experienced practitioners, and professionals seeking greater fluency in ACT and functional case formulation.
The work emphasizes learning to notice function, respond flexibly, and use the therapeutic relationship as part of the intervention.
3
Organizational Consultation
Focused consultation for clinicians, supervisors, treatment teams, and organizations working through complex clinical, educational, or program-development questions.
Consultation can address individual cases, team processes, ACT implementation, functional formulation, curriculum development, and the integration of contextual behavioral science into existing services.
Deeply Functional
Conversations beneath the technique
Deeply Functional explores the ideas underneath Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and contextual behavioral science.
Through conversations with clinicians, researchers, authors, and trainers, the podcast looks at Functional Contextualism, Relational Frame Theory, clinical process, supervision, and the conditions that help meaningful change occur.
Some episodes examine a single clinical idea. Others slow down the work and explore what experienced practitioners notice, consider, and respond to in the room.
The purpose is not to provide another collection of techniques. It is to help clinicians think more deeply about behavior, context, relationships, and change.
Articles for the RIACT Journal
I write regularly for the RIACT Journal about clinical practice, Functional Contextualism, Relational Frame Theory, supervision, and the everyday challenges of learning to work more functionally.
Many of these articles begin with something that happened in a session, a supervision conversation, or a question raised during training. The goal is to slow the interaction down, examine what may be happening functionally, and consider what another clinician might notice or try.
The articles are written for clinicians, students, supervisors, and others interested in moving beyond the surface of a technique.
Explore the RIACT Journal by Category
A look at concepts and structures useful in the therapeutic setting
Overlapping tag meant to pull some of the most essential concepts all into one place
How to use ACT/PBT to get a 40,000 foot view of the situation as well as determine a direction.