Why identity is not who we are—but where we look from.

In Episode 5, Todd explores one of the most subtle—and transformative—processes in ACT: Self-as-Context. Often misunderstood as a philosophical concept or spiritual insight, self-as-context is reframed here as a behavioral process—the skill of taking a flexible, observing perspective on experience.

Rather than getting caught in content like “I am anxious,” “I am broken,” or “I am not enough,” clients can be guided to notice these thoughts as events—not truths. This shift in where one sees from, not what one sees, creates the space necessary for cognitive, emotional, and behavioral flexibility.

Todd breaks down:

• Why identity is a product of relational framing—and how it can become rigid and fused

• How to help clients unhook from self-limiting narratives without needing to rewrite them

• Metaphors and micro-interventions (like “The Chessboard” and “Naming the Voice”) that cultivate a more flexible, contextual self-experience

• How Self-as-Context interacts with defusion and acceptance in-session, and what to reinforce when clients demonstrate the behavior of flexible perspective-taking

Whether you're introducing this concept to a client for the first time or trying to integrate it more seamlessly into your functional case formulation, this episode gives you concrete ways to move from content to context, from stuck to spacious.

Clinician Takeaway: You’ll leave with a practical, functional understanding of Self-as-Context—not as something to explain, but as something to evoke, notice, and reinforce in the flow of real-time clinical work.

What’s Showing Up in the Room?
Feeling lost mid-session? TEAMS helps you track internal experience—Thoughts, Emotions, Associations, Memories, Sensations—so you can shift from story to process and regain clinical direction fast.

Another quick, minimal production time, off the cuff moment with Todd Schmenk.

In Episode 4, Todd breaks down one of the most misunderstood processes in ACT: willingness. Often mistaken for internal acceptance or emotional insight, willingness is reframed here as something observable, shapeable, and actionable—a behavior in motion.

We explore what it really means for a client to "open up" to discomfort functionally, and how clinicians can track and reinforce these moments in-session without getting stuck in abstract language.

Todd walks through:

• How to spot micro-moments of willingness (e.g., eye contact, a shift in posture, emotional naming)

• The role of reinforcement in cultivating sustained openness

• Why the presence of discomfort is not a barrier—but a training ground—for flexibility

Using metaphors like "Hands as Thoughts" and examples from real clinical moments, this episode brings clarity and precision to a process often left too vague.

Clinician Takeaway: You’ll gain a process-based lens to identify, evoke, and shape willingness—not as something a client feels, but as something they do, in the presence of pain.

In this short but impactful check in, Todd unpacks one of ACT’s most relatable metaphors: the ball in the pool.

What if your client’s suffering isn’t about what they’re feeling—but about their effort to push those feelings away?

Using the metaphor of trying to hold a beach ball underwater, Todd illustrates the emotional cost of experiential avoidance—and how it keeps clients stuck in a cycle of struggle. When we teach clients to stop pushing and start opening, we free up the energy to engage with life again.

You’ll learn:

• How experiential avoidance functions as a trap

• Why control strategies drain clients over time

• What willingness can look like in practice

“Life isn’t about never having a beach ball. It’s about whether you can keep swimming even when one is next to you.”

Perfect for ACT clinicians, interns, and supervisors who want a fast refresher on a metaphor that lands every time.

In Episode 4, Todd breaks down one of the most misunderstood processes in ACT: willingness. Often mistaken for internal acceptance or emotional insight, willingness is reframed here as something observable, shapeable, and actionable—a behavior in motion.

We explore what it really means for a client to "open up" to discomfort functionally, and how clinicians can track and reinforce these moments in-session without getting stuck in abstract language.

Todd walks through:

• How to spot micro-moments of willingness (e.g., eye contact, a shift in posture, emotional naming)

• The role of reinforcement in cultivating sustained openness

• Why the presence of discomfort is not a barrier—but a training ground—for flexibility

Using metaphors like "Hands as Thoughts" and examples from real clinical moments, this episode brings clarity and precision to a process often left too vague.

Clinician Takeaway: You’ll gain a process-based lens to identify, evoke, and shape willingness—not as something a client feels, but as something they do, in the presence of pain.

Ever feel stuck in session when your client’s tried everything and nothing’s helped? That’s not the end. That’s the beginning—if you know how to use it.

In this very quick check in, Todd unpacks the ACT concept of creative hopelessness, where clients let go of unworkable control strategies and begin to open up to change.

This isn’t despair. It’s clarity.
It’s the moment a client says, “This isn’t working”—and finally becomes ready to try something different.

🎧 Listen in to learn:

• What creative hopelessness really is (and isn’t)

• Why it’s a compassionate, process-based move—not a shutdown

• How to use it as a springboard for ACT work

“Creative hopelessness isn’t giving up. It’s giving up the struggle that’s never worked.”

Thoughts aren’t just thoughts—they’re relational frames doing work.

In this episode, Todd breaks down one of the most misunderstood concepts in contextual behavioral science: Relational Frame Theory (RFT)—the engine behind cognitive fusion, verbal suffering, and behavioral rigidity.

Rather than getting lost in jargon, Todd guides you through how language creates meaning through context, and how these meanings can either restrict or expand behavioral flexibility. You’ll explore foundational relational frames like coordination (sameness), comparison (better/worse), and temporal (before/after)—and how they show up in-session when clients say things like:

• “I’m a failure because I didn’t do X.”

• “This always happens after I see my mom.”

• “That was better back then than it is now.”

You’ll learn how these frames can reinforce stuckness, and how “unhooking” from them isn’t about dispute—but about changing the context in which those thoughts operate.

Clinician Takeaway:
You’ll walk away knowing how to spot relational framing in real time, track how it’s functioning, and intervene in ways that shift the frame instead of fighting the content.

🎧 Listen in to reframe what it means to think—and help your clients move toward freedom from the literal traps of their language.

In this very short episode, Todd breaks down one of the most misunderstood—but vital—concepts in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: psychological flexibility.

These "quick blips" will be less than 2-3 minutes and focus on only one topic and will fill in the gaps to the biweekly release of the main episodes.