A Framework for Addressing Psychological Inflexibility Among Act Therapists-In-Training.

Novice therapists training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may encounter challenges in therapy in which their own personal history functions as a barrier to flexible modes of therapeutic engagement with the therapist. From the ACT perspective, counter-therapeutic interpersonal responses may be examined relative to six behavioral sub-processes. It is suggested that the most vulnerable moments for the therapist will involve those in which certain contextual features of therapy pull historical awareness of a painful personal past into relation with the psychological present. This paper hypothesizes that utilizing approaches based in ACT will assist therapists in overcoming these challenges and will illustrate how to approach case formulation and intervention with therapists in training from a functional contextualistic perspective. To begin, the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of ACT will be outlined in sufficient depth to intellectually ground the model and its therapeutic project. This conceptual foundation will then be brought to applied focus using hypothetical case material, followed by ACT interventions designed to increase clinical flexibility in the given therapeutic scenario. Future research that systematically examines the effectiveness of such methods among therapists is encouraged.

Brief for Amici Curiae Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Support of Respondent Edith Windsor Addressing the Merits and Supporting Affirmance

This amicus brief filed by Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children turns the spotlight on children in same-sex families. The brief enumerates the ways Section 3 of DOMA impairs children's interests by denying federal recognition of their parents' marriages.

Improving urban park design: A comparative and analytical study addressing resources available and components necessary to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of urban parks

Urban parks have long been valued for the environmental, social, and economic benefits they provide. Increasingly, parks are also being recognized as features important for sustainable city design. This Capstone Project will identify, compare, analyze, and discuss means for designing sustainable urban parks. Recommendations for designing sustainable urban parks, based on project results, include: 1) ensure park features will support high levels of human activity; 2) use gravel to construct park trails; 3) purchase playground structures made of recycled materials; 4) plant a high number of perennials in flowerbeds and other vegetated areas; 5) plant climate-appropriate plants in vegetated areas; 6) ensure parks have high levels of plant diversity; and 7) develop future studies further exploring sustainable park design.