We all spend an absurd amount of energy trying to get people to listen to us, and despite our best efforts, we often fail. But what if the secret to changing behavior was to demonstrate acceptance?

Enter validation — communication that one is mindful, understands, and empathizes with another person’s experience, thereby accepting it as valid. When validation-based treatment, also known as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), was introduced over thirty years ago, it revolutionized psychology and facilitated change even amongst those patients who were highly resistant to it. Yet, its practice has remained largely buried in treatment manuals and research articles written for psychologists — until now.

With Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life, psychologist and DBT expert Caroline Fleck, Ph.D., brings these validation techniques out of therapy and into everyday life to help anyone decrease conflict, strengthen relationships, and change behaviors—in themselves and in others.

Part memoir and part practical guide, Fleck explains how and why validation is a catalyst for transformation. She draws on her two decades of experience to shows how anyone can develop the DBT skills of a therapist through the “Validation Ladder”: an actionable eight-step model that will help cultivate and communicate acceptance across relationships and unlock the potential for growth.

Fleck will be in conversation with Kelly Leonard, Vice President of Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Business Development at The Second City in Chicago. He is the author of the acclaimed book Yes, And and hosts the popular podcast Getting to Yes, And for Second City Works and WGN radio.

BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: FAN donors are invited to attend a private AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Fleck and Leonard that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.

This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.