Professor Joseph Ciarrochi

Research focused Professor
Institute of Positive Psychology and Education

Joseph Ciarrochi

Areas of expertise: mindfulness; nonattachment; process-based therapy; acceptance and commitment therapy; positive psychology

Phone: 61 2 9701 4662

Email: joseph.ciarrochi@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU North Sydney Campus

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0471-8100

Flexible strength is the key to health, well-being, and performance

I help individuals and organizations apply the latest findings from behavioral science to achieve health, well-being and peak performance.

Flexible strength (also termed psychological flexibility) is the ability to persist in effective behavior, and change behavior when it is not effective, in order to promote personal growth and build valued action and peak performance. The psychological skills that support flexible strength have been given many labels, including: mindfulness, emotional awareness, value clarity, self-compassion, growth mindset, creativity, willpower, resilience, persistence, and grit.

Flexible strength applies not just to the individual but also to groups. A strong group is one that cooperates well, maximizes each others talents, and manages selfishness and difficult people effectively.

Flexible strength applies not just to the individual but also to groups. A strong group is one that cooperates well, maximizes each others talents, and manages selfishness and difficult people effectively.

Download curriculum vitae

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Select publications

  • Donald, J. N., Ciarrochi, J., & Guo, J. (2022). Connected or Cutoff? A 4-Year Longitudinal Study of the Links Between Adolescents' Compulsive Internet Use and Social Support. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
  • Ferrari, M., Ciarrochi, J., Yap, K., Sahdra, B., & Hayes, S. C. (2022). Embracing the Complexity of our Inner Worlds: Understanding the Dynamics of Self-Compassion and Self-Criticism. In Mindfulness
  • Ciarrochi, J. Sahdra, B., Hofmann, S., and Hayes, S. C. (in press) Developing an Item Pool to Assess Processes of Change in Psychological Interventions:.The Process-Based Assessment Tool (PBAT). Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science., 23,200-213
  • Sanford, B. T., Ciarrochi, J., Hofmann, S. G., Chin, F., Gates, K. M., & Hayes, S. C. (in press). Toward empirical process-based case conceptualization: An idionomic network examination of the process-based assessment tool. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.
  • Ciarrochi, J., Hofmann, S, Oades, L., & Hayes, S. (2022) Towards a unified framework for positive psychology interventions: Evidence-based processes of change in coaching, prevention, and training. Frontiers in Psychology,12
  • Ciarrochi J., Sahdra B.,Yap, K., & Dicke, T. (2020) The role of nonattachment in the development of adolescent mental health: A three-year longitudinal study. Mindfulness,11, 2131-2139

Projects

  • 2022 $68,425 Evaluating a humanities-based curriculum for promoting social and emotional learning amongst those at risk of dropping out of education (Industry partner:Clemente). Sahdra, B; Ciarrochi, J., John Marshall Reeve, and Hy-Ryen Jang
  • 2021 $30000 Developing a humanities-based curriculum for promoting social and emotional learning amongst those at risk of droping out of education (Industry partner:Clemente). McNeeilly, J; Ciarrochi, J., Sahdra, B.
  • 2021 $45000 Enabling Thriving Futures: Forging and Capitalising Upon An Innovative Positive Psychology Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Framework for Positive Education Schooling (Industry partner). Craven, R., Ciarrochi, J., Sahdra, B.
  • 2016-2018 $231852 Compassion at the Heart of Well-Being: an Inter-Disciplinary Study of Well-Being in a Healthcare Setting. (Templeton) (Huppert, F, Atkins, P., Ciarrochi, J., Fairbrother, G., Johnson, A., Keller, S., Nguyen, H., O'connor, S., Sahdra, B., Samuel, G., You, N.
  • 2016-2019 $264000 A RCT of an Education Re-engagement Program for At-Risk Youth (LP160100332). (Professor Joseph Ciarrochi; Dr Philip Parker; Professor Rhonda Craven; Professor Richard Ryan; Associate Professor David Evans; Dr Cathy Little; Dr Baljinder Sahdra; Dr Fabri Blacklock; Dr Sarah McDonagh)
  • 2014-2017 $300000 The Helmsman Project: Giving At-risk Adolescents Skills to Navigate Life's Journey and Make a Difference (LP140100041 ). (Marsh, H., Ciarrochi, J., Parker, P;, Huppert, F., Kemp, T.)
  • 2014-2016 $324000 Australian Research Council (DP140103874). Identifying the biopsychosocial factors promoting healthy, productive, and fulfilling transitions from high school: A seven-year longitudinal study. Ciarrochi, Prof Joseph; Heaven, Prof Patrick C; Huppert, Prof Felicia A; Kashdan, Dr Todd Kashdan

Accolades and Awards

  • Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2011-2014) (This fellowship recognized that the quality of my track record was very high compared to others.)
  • Best-selling author: "Get out of your mind and into your life: Teens."
  • 11 authored and edited books translated into 10 different languages
  • Founding editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science(Elsevier)
  • Past-president, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, an international society consisting of 1000s of members world-wide.
  • 11 Australian Research Council grants since 2003
  • Co-creator of the DNA-v approach to promoting personal growth and peak performance
  • A report published in PLoS Biology of citation data on 8 million scientists who have published at least 5 papers updated to include data up to August 2021. The report detailed data on multiple citation indicators for the 100,000 top-cited scientists across all disciplines and the top-cited 2% of scientists in each of 174 different subfield disciplines. He was ranked in the top 1% of scientists in the world across all disciplines.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Professor, Australian Catholic University

Editorial roles

  • Chief editor, Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (2012-1014)

Public engagement activities

  • How to change and grow stronger using process-based therapy.
    https://drdianahill.com/captivate-podcast/how-to-change-and-grow-stronger-using-process-based-therapy-with-dr-joseph-ciarrochi/

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