EP Book Club

One book, four Thursday evenings, and a room full of colleagues to talk things through.

We're reading A Liberated Mind by Dr. Steven C. Hayes together, one part at a time, and coming together to discuss as a group. Free, and open to members and non-members this round.

Free to join  ·  4 Thursday evenings  ·  Live on Google Meet  ·  Members and non-members welcome

What this is

This isn't a lecture or a course. It's a book club for peer discussions with behaviour analyst colleagues. We read the same book in our own time, then meet to talk about what stood out to us, what we're still reflecting on, and how what we're learning shows up in our work and our own lives.

The book

Our first book is A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters by Dr. Steven C. Hayes, the originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT).

It's a "must read" for really anyone, but especially for behaviour analysts practising ACT, or curious about using ACT in their own lives. The book comes in three parts. Part 1 draws us in through Steve's own compelling story, and how ACT was "born" out of him questioning the very therapy (CBT) that was supposed to help his panic disorder. Part 2 walks through each of the 6 pivots along your ACT journey in developing psychological flexibility skills. Part 3 is about using your ACT toolkit to live a better life across a range of application contexts.

That three-part structure is exactly why we've set up our discussions in a similar way, one part per call.

Grab a copy however suits you: print, ebook, audiobook, or a library loan. You're responsible for getting the book from a legal source, whether you buy or borrow. Want a preview? Dr. Hayes shares tools and videos at stevenchayes.com/tools.

Hayes, S. C. (2019). A liberated mind: How to pivot toward what matters. Avery.

Your dates

Thursdays at 7:00pm ET, on the same Google Meet link every time.

What to expect on a call

Each call follows the same simple rhythm, so you can settle into the present moment instead of wondering what's next: a quick hello and one-line check-in, a reflection to open us up, a couple of discussion questions, and a closing round on one thing we're each taking with us.

Now and then we'll try a short, optional two-minute noticing exercise from the book. And because A Liberated Mind touches on things like anxiety, avoidance, and self-criticism, one ground rule holds throughout: this is professional development, not therapy. Share at the depth you choose. No one is ever required to disclose anything personal.

Who this is a good fit for

What you get

Once you're in, everything you need arrives by email:

EP members also get a private discussion channel where the conversation keeps going between calls. Not a member yet? You can join the book club either way, and doors to the wider community are opening soon.

A note on CPD (for CPBAO Registrants)

About your host

Melissa Legree
RBA(Ont.), BCBA

I'm Melissa Legree, RBA(Ont.), BCBA, founder of Ethically Possible. Across my 22+ years in the field of behaviour analysis, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the opportunities I’ve been afforded to learn and apply the science of behaviour alongside my clients, their caregivers, staff, supervisors, mentors, researchers, allied health professionals, professors and students. There has been a great deal of change in our field since 2004 when I started but what has never changed is the absolute necessity to never stop learning, contributing, critiquing, and reflecting. As my career has evolved and my passion for expanding my professional impact grew, I shifted my focus from direct clinical client work to creating learning experiences and opportunities for current and future behaviour analysts on the path to doing even better than those before them.

As I continue expanding my skills with ACT, I am forever grateful for my time at the end of May 2026 learning about Process-Based ACT from Dr. Hayes himself in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I wasn’t able to read ‘A Liberated Mind’ before the training and reading it now, I wish I did! But here we are, and there has never been a better time to read this useful book that is so hard to put down once you get in the pages.

A quick word on how I will run this book club. My job as host is to ask good questions, not to hand out answers (especially since I’m learning ACT too). I'll usually go first, including the parts of the reading I wrestled with, because by modelling my own honest reflections I’m setting the stage where everyone else can be honest too. This is a peer conversation of sharing and listening. Nobody's the expert, nobody's being graded, and nobody knows-it-all.