The Mindful and Effective Employee: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance

“This book presents a simple, practical, and incredibly useful program to create exactly what the title offers: effective, mindful employees. It’s a must-have in the armamentarium of any psychologist or HR professional who wants to help people increase their satisfaction, improve their performance, create better relationships, or enhance well-being in the workplace.”
―Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap

“This book is a remarkable step forward in accelerating productivity in the workplace while caring for the well-being and vitality of employees. When companies blend the proven ideas of mindfulness and value-directed actions into the work culture, the employees will blossom, the work teams will strengthen, and the organization will prosper. Research clearly suggests that applying the principles in this book will yield a solid return on investment. It is easy to envision leading-edge companies capitalizing on this training manual. These forward-thinking companies will not only advance their bottom line, but will also benefit the people of the organization. The Mindful and Effective Employee training manual presents a solid how-to handbook for achieving the elusive win-win scenario of creating productive and healthy work environments.”
―D.J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D, senior vice president of Quality Safety Edge and founder of Pickslyde Consulting

“After reading The Mindful and Effective Employee I felt inspired, wiser, and very well equipped to deal with both individual career coaching and brief but effective group exercises. This is a glistening gem of a book, and it provides the reader with a smart 'how-to' rationale for delivering cutting-edge, evidence-based workplace training. I want to start practicing what I learned right now!”
―Walter Osika, MD, PhD, specialist in internal medicine and author of The Stressed Heart

“This book is a must for those wishing to make a significant contribution to workplace health and well-being. It is built out of workplace experience and research and written by authors who are experts in their field, offering techniques that are carefully crafted, known to work, and readily transferable into the workplace. More than just a valuable resource, this book gives support and confidence to those wanting to improve the quality of working lives.”
―Philip Dewe, professor of organizational behavior, department of organizational psychology, Birkbeck, University of London

“Even though work is often defined as a necessary evil, having a job tops the list of what makes people happy in life. Work is a great source of both stress and joy. We spend more time working than doing any other single activity in our lives. It stands to reason that psychotherapists help us to learn to react to the challenges of work in ways that are healthy in the long run. The aim of this book is to demonstrate how ACT can be implemented in the workplace. The authors are internationally acclaimed experts in the field. The book is helpful for both the newcomer to ACT and the seasoned expert. It covers the theoretical aspects as well as practical session-by-session protocols and handouts. This book is the first of its kind; don’t miss it!”
―JoAnne Dahl, PhD, professor in the department of psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden

Paul E. Flaxman, PhD, is senior lecturer in psychology at City University London. He specializes in adapting acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help improve employees’ mental health and performance. Evaluations of Paul’s ACT interventions have been published in numerous scientific papers and books, and he has been invited to present his research at conferences around the globe. Paul recently directed two major projects focused on delivering ACT and other mindfulness-based interventions to public sector workers across the United Kingdom.

Frank W. Bond, PhD, is professor of psychology and director of the Institute of Management Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research and consulting work focus on the psychological and organizational processes that underpin peak performance and well-being in the workplace.

Fredrik Livheim, MS, is a licensed clinical psychologist at FORUM, a research center for psychosocial health at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He has trained more than 400 professionals in how to use ACT in group format to improve employees’ mental health. His research focuses on the use of ACT in group format in the workplace.

Foreword writer Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is a founder of acceptance and commitment therapy and a professor of psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of thirty-four books and more than 470 scientific articles, he has shown in his research how language and thought lead to human suffering. Hayes has been president of several scientific societies and has received several national awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.