One Life Only Counseling

For more information, please go to www.onelifeonly.net

To see workshops and online learning courses conducted by Dr. Matthieu Villatte please go to https://languageasintervention.com/

For more information, please visit: www.onelifeonly.net

For more about Dr. Matthieu Villatte and online learning workshops, please go to: https://languageasintervention.com/

For more information please go to www.onelifeonly.net

For more information, please visit: www.onelifeonly.net

This is Nathaniel Chua's first talk in front of an international group of therapists from Low or Middle Income Countries (LMIC). He has become the first and only presenter from the Philippines in this inaugural conference organized by the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science LMIC International Conference or ALIC. The talk is entitled, "Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy: An ACT-Consistent Approach to Couples Therapy." Although this presentation was created for therapists who are looking for models of therapy that are consistent with contextual behavioral science, it can also be understandable to anyone or any couple interested in improving their relationships. For more information please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net

Visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information

In this episode for our series, Shrinks Over Drinks, I talk with Dr. Niklas Torneke, a Swedish psychiatrist who has authored three books in English and more in Swedish. Two of his books in English have been very instrumental in my journey into ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), RFT (Relational Frame Theory), and behaviorism. He is an authority when it comes to the uses of language and metaphors from an RFT perspective.

I have myself seen how his work has informed me inside the counseling room and how much it helps people see through the veneer of language.

For more information about what we do and how we can help you in your concerns about your internal life, please go to www.onelifeonly.net

In this thirty-minute interview with Pelita Uy and Angelo Almonte on MakiAlam, I discuss the recent reports about an employer who physically abused a housekeeper. For all of you who have anger issues like I do, I hope you learn a few things here.

This is the fourth episode of our series called, "Shrinks Over Drinks!" And as usual we have an awesome title for all of you to enjoy! This time you can eavesdrop on a conversation between myself and Dr. Emily Sandoz from the University of Louisiana! "Dr Emily Sandoz is the Emma Louise LeBlanc Burguieres/BORSF endowed professor of social sciences in the Department of Psychology at the University of Louisiana. Her research focuses on behavior analysis and psychological flexibility as a model for health and wellbeing. Dr Sandoz uses a contextual behavioral science approach in her lab and clinical practice for the treatment of eating and body image disorders, related pain and trauma. She is an expert practitioner and peer-reviewed trainer in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for body-related issues." Source: https://psychwire.com/profiles/myx9xy/emily-sandoz

Here is a list of the topics discussed:

- Get to know Dr. Sandoz and how she came into psychology

- Counseling as both art and science

- Dr. Sandoz's ACT story

- The role of psychologists in making a change in the world or in the wider society

- The connection between love and psychotherapy

- Dr. Sandoz's vision for psychology

For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please visit us at www.onelifeonly.net

This is the second offering of our Two Shrinks Over Drinks series. This time we have a friend, who's also a doctor and co-author of a book entitled, "Mastering the Clinical Conversation: Language as Intervention."

Here you get another chance to eavesdrop on two MORE shrinks caught in a casual conversation. If you have ever wondered what it is like to listen to a couple of psychologists/counselors talk over a drink, well, here's your chance!

In this second part of the chat with Matthieu, we discuss the following:

- Matthieu's views about the DSM

- Movies that he saw from an ACT perspective and his views about the characters in the movie Les Miserables

- How clinging to rules can lead to loneliness and sometimes even suicide

- Hierarchical thinking and its relation to our choices of behaving

- What role psychologists play in changing behavior in society for the good

For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please visit us at: www.onelifeonly.net

This is the second offering of our Two Shrinks Over Drinks series. This time we have a friend, who's also a doctor and co-author of a book entitled, "Mastering the Clinical Conversation: Language as Intervention."

Here you get another chance to eavesdrop on two MORE shrinks caught in a casual conversation. If you have ever wondered what it is like to listen to a couple of psychologists/counselors talk over a drink, well, here's your chance!

We talk about a myriad of topics and it took two hours to do! In fact, this could have been topics that are fit for a whole day's chatter!

So this will be the first part wherein we talk about:

- Dr. Villatte's ACT story

- Philosophical framework in counseling or psychotherapy

- What Skinner referred to when he wrote about a pre-scientific way of explaining human behavior

- What we mean by an approach that has precision, depth, and scope; how this can affect the way therapists choose their approach or models of therapy, and how this can assist clients make decisions on the kind of therapy they want for their work in therapy

Please visit us at www.onelifeonly.net for more information.

We take a break from the usual blogcasts with this important infomercial for you. Why us for your counseling needs?

Please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information.

This is dedicated to all those June brides and grooms this 2023 and future years!

For more information, please visit: www.onelifeonly.net

Hi Friends!  I am excited to share a new series with you!  I call this one, "Shrinks Over Drinks!"  And this episode will be called, "Two Shrinks Over Drinks!"

Have you ever wondered how it feels like to eavesdrop on a couple of shrinks having a casual conversation?  Well, welcome to our world!  Hope it doesn't turn into a rude awakening!  But seriously, this was a wonderful conversation with a fellow ACT therapist.  Hope you enjoy your eavesdropping!

In this video, I feature a conversation with Lou Lasprugato who is an internationally recognized trainer and behavioral health provider. He’s a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with private practices in both California and Virginia (United States), and Peer-Reviewed Trainer in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, for which he also serves as chair of the Training Committee. 

Here's how Lou describes the video:

"I was delighted to have been hosted by Nathaniel Chua for his new podcast series entitled "Shrinks over Drinks" where we touched upon various ACT-related/informed topics, including eclectic vs integrative approach, clinical implications of functional contextualism, rule-governed behavior, couples therapy, ACT-flavored movies, our ACT origin stories, love, humanity, and more!" 

For more information about Lou and his work please visit:  www.loulasprugato.com!

We will talk about a number of exciting and interesting stuff like, what movies remind you of ACT and what's love got to do with our work and many more!

For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please go to www.onelifeonly.net!

Please visit www.onelifeonly.net for more information.

www.onelifeonly.net

Please visit our website www.onelifeonly.net for more information about our services.

Please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information about us.

Please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information!

Please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information.

For more information, please visit us at:  www.onelifeonly.net

We are a counseling service based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

For more information, please visit www.onelifeonly.net

For more information, visit us at www.onelifeonly.net

If there is one facet of our internal lives that can be quite a puzzle to many, it could be grieving.  This is a part of life that can be difficult to understand.  It’s one of life’s mysteries.

Please do visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net for more information about us

One of the toughest decisions to make in a relationship is when you think enough is enough.  I have seen quite a few clients agonizing over what to do with their partners.  Is this issue enough of a reason to remove oneself from the situation?  Am I doing what I think will be best for us or my family by ending it?  Is it just me who is being impatient?

For more information please go to:  www.onelifeonly.net

In this piece I talk about anger which is often seen as one step.  We get angry is often equated to doing angry.    Please visit our website:wwwonelifeonly.net for more information about what we do and how we can help you!

Finally!  I got my consultant for couples and families for an interview!  Dr. Blake Evans!  

He's been a great influence and an awesome consultant to me.  

I truly appreciate his advice and he has helped me to become a better couple and family therapist.  

For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please visit my website: www.onelifeonly.net  Nathan Chua

In this interview, I talk to my friend and fellow ACT therapist Jacob Martinez to learn more about him and his work as a therapist and also an ACT Matrix specialist.  For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please visit our website:  www.onelifeonly.net

This is a common problem for couples recovering from an affair.  Here are some insights on how couples can deal with an affair better.  

You can read the article here: 

Should you ask for sexual details about an affair? 

https://www.onelifeonly.net/should-you-ask-intimate-details-about-an-affair/ 

Please visit our website:  www.onelifeonly.net for more information about us and what we have to offer!

You can also watch this on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/SoYEHiQ1zw4

One of the hardest experiences to get over is an affair.  Here are some tips for couples out there who have suffered from this experience.

Please visit our website www.onelifeonly.net for more information about us and what we do!

You can also watch this on YouTube or read this in our blog inside our website.  Here's the link to read the blogpost: https://www.onelifeonly.net/what-to-do-after-an-affair/

Have you been frustrated with the lack of change in your relationship?  And if there were changes, do they usually last only for a short while and find yourselves back in the same old patterns?    

Here's something to think about.  

Please visit us at our website: www.onelifeonly.net to know more about us!

Why is it that the way our current system works, people are stigmatized for seeking help for the mental resiliency?  Is there something wrong with the people or does the system have something to do with it?

For more information about One Life Only Counseling Services, please visit our website: www.onelifeonly.net

Ever wondered why we become different people after a religious retreat?  Doesn't matter what religion, but they just happen to help us rediscover that part of ourselves that doesn't show up often. 

Watch or listen to this and see!

To know more about us and what we do, please visit us at www.onelifeonly.net 

You can also listen to this on YouTube through our One Life Only Counseling Channel.

In this podcast, I talk about a common reason that couples make for separating.  It is irreconcilable differences!  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

You are not alone.  I also talk about how we can learn that your partner is not inherently bad or up to no good.  Most likely, both of you are working hard to keep the relationship going.  

Watch this to learn more!  

My website is www.onelifeonly.net if you are interested to know more about how I can help you!

Hello!  Welcome to another vlogcast, blog post, and vlog this time about anxiety and how it works.  I recently came up with a metaphor that just popped out of my head as I worked with a client.  I think it kind of explains what we deal with when we suffer from anxiety problems.    I hope you like it!  Please do visit our website:  www.onelifeonly.net or watch this on our YouTube Channel: One Life Only Counseling Channel

Here's a new ACT Matrix for Anger with some bonus metaphors!  See how this tool can help you realize the ineffectiveness of your mind's strategies in handling your anger.

Here's a helpful way for couples who find themselves getting stuck with fights that seem to have no end.  Where discussions go around in circles even for years on end!  Hope this helps!  For more information about our services, please go to www.onelifeonly.net

Hello everyone!   This is a very welcome surprise I hope!  For the first time in a long time, I am able to do a slide presentation with the articles that I write on my blog and website, www.onelifeonly.net!  Hope you enjoy it!  

How do you deal with disappointments?  What do you do when what you thought would be appreciated ends up not?  Would you still do it?  Here's a video for all of us to understand why we do what we do.  

For more information about our counseling services, please visit my website: www.onelifeonly.net

Have you been frustrated with yourself for constantly failing to remain faithful to your partner or spouse?  Whether it's an actual or casual affair, or even just flirting online or looking at provocative photos which your partner does not appreciate, here's how the ACT Matrix can help you get unstuck!

Do you sometimes get that gnawing sense that you seem to have all the trappings of a happy and successful life, but feel an empty void inside nonetheless?  Have you felt that life has hit a ceiling and you’d never get to a point where you have reached your full potential?  Does it seem like you have made very logical decisions in your life and have come to a point where there is nothing more you can do?  Have you gotten congratulatory messages from people that were important to you, but somehow feel like you have done this not out of your own wishes, but only to earn the respect and regard of those around you?

This is the second part of a series of articles about rules that our minds give us that can lead us to ineffective behaviors.  In the ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy world, we don’t subscribe to the idea that a person is somehow damaged or broken.  We think this just leads people into their own prisons, seeing as if their limits are set in terms of what they can do about their inner experiences.  I have seen it so many times in therapy sessions, when people come armed with some diagnosis/diagnoses that a mental health practitioner just bestowed upon them.  What ACT advocates for is the notion that most of us end up in stuck patterns of relating to our inner world.  This is in contrast to the idea that we “have” something that we need to get rid of in order to live a rich and meaningful life.  One of these stuck patterns of thinking is the subject of discussion for this post.  These are the “if onlys” of life.

I often hear this said to me by clients who feel like they can’t figure out how they want to spend their limited time on this planet.  I can understand how difficult it is.  Having spent much of my earlier years in my career doing stuff that I didn’t really like, it took me a midlife crisis to realize I was going on the beaten path that others expected of me.  In my studies in ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, I have learned the importance of the plumbing underneath the approach that I am using.  The plumbing I am referring to is Relational Frame Theory or RFT.  In RFT terms, doing what is socially acceptable is called pliance.  Many of us do what other people expect us to do in our lives.  I have first hand experience!

How can you bring someone you care about to therapy and not make them feel like all blame is being pinned on them?  This is part of what Dr. Steven Hayes said to me in the interview.  I created a blog post and a podcast for this for your convenience.  

This is just a fun moment of reflection.  Because of my panic, I had one important question I forgot to ask Dr. Steven Hayes, the originator of ACT therapy!  Well, here's something that I wish I could have asked him, which can maybe sum up why we do what we do!

Listen to this interview with Dr. Steven Hayes, developer of ACT therapy and one of the most significant psychologists of our time!  You will see why in this interview.  Here's a list of the segments that you can track and go to the subjects that interest you:

Introduction of Our Special Guest: Start to 4:23 

How Steve wants Filipinos to know him: 4:24 to 9:12 

Biomedicalization of Psychology: 9:13 to 28:10 

Individuality, Board Exams, Eugenics, Statistics: 28:11 to 45:30 

Religion and Psychology: 45:31 to 53:40 

Stigma Related to Mental Health: 53:41 to 1:00 

Behaviorism and What Went Wrong With It: 1:04:45 to 1:13:38 

Anger and Infidelity: !:13:39 to 1:21:10 

Pandemic, Behavior and Physical Disease, Dr. Fauci: 1:21:11 to 1:30:42 

Wars and What Psychology Can Do for a More Peaceful World: 1:30:45 to 1:40:45 

Advice to those who are in Economic Hardship: 1:40:50 to 1:46:57 

Dr. Hayes' biggest contribution to psychology: 1:46:58 to 1:54:03 Basketball and Sports: 1:54:05 to End

It's hard enough marrying your childhood neighbor or friend, it's doubly harder when you both grew up in different parts of the world!  There's a way though to cope with these differences.  Listen up!

You and I get into tunnel vision. It's in our system. It's how we are built. This podcast is about how you can slow down and see if there is more about the crisis situation that you may not have seen yet. See if you can find meaning in the midst of darkness.

Had a big argument with a co-worker?  Having financial problems?  Recalling some traumatic memories?  Can't sleep?  Here is a tip and understanding what sleep is about.