ACT Book Club Series, The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

When: Mondays from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PST)

• May 22nd, please read Chapters 1-4
• June 19th, please read Chapters 5-8
• July 17th, please read Chapters 9-11

Where: Online via Zoom!

(Zoom link will be provided in registration confirmation AND emailed the week of the meeting. The same Zoom Link will be used for each meeting in this series for this book.)

Cost: FREE!

Join us for our monthly ACT Book Club series where we meet once a month for 3 months (per book) to engage and discuss ACT-relevant themes and topics, hosted by SoCal Chapter Board Member, Dr. Samantha Munson! Discussion questions will be provided ahead of time to help structure and guide the conversation. For this ACT Book Club series, we are reading The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper. Our ACT Book Club reading group qualifies for Psychologist Professional Development CE's under BOP's new CPD Model (1-hour CE per meeting).

While we encourage you to attend all 3 meetings for each book, please feel free to join us at any point in the series!

Who Should Attend?

Anyone interested in learning more about ACT in an informal setting, via thought-provoking and stimulating discussions of ACT-relevant topics and themes.

Skill Level: All skill levels are welcome to attend!

Questions? Email ACBS SoCal at info@socal-acbs.org

Book Club Questions / Food for Thought

1. The quote by Thich Nhat Hanh is shared: “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness…..” What ACT skills/tools do you find most helpful for clients who are learning to ‘let go?’

2. ‘Olivia Hernandez’, a patient in the ER, is described to be experiencing various chronic stressors (e.g., health of her husband, caring for her grandchild). How do you find an ACT model most helpful for clients who are managing chronic stressors? And, how do you consider diversity factors when applying the model?

3. On pg. 252, Dr. Harper emphasizes to a patient the importance of wanting positive change for himself and his willingness to do the work “to claim it.” When clients may be in a precontemplative, contemplative, or preparation stage of change, how may we most effectively help them increase their readiness for positive change?

4. Dr. Harper states that “brokenness can be a remarkable gift.” Yet, clients can feel identified with being “broken.” How do you find it most helpful to challenge these types of labels/views of self and increase adaptive ways of seeing the self?

5. We have considered the theme of this book in past book clubs. On the last page, Dr. Harper says the book “is a story of love rebuilt better; the story of a butterfly birthed from goo; the story of newly grown wings that beat to a higher vibration to soar in a place of unconditional love….this is where healing happens and this is where healers abide.” As a healer, how may this intention and theme of the book land with you?