Caroline Fleck, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist, Author, and Corporate Consultant
Kelly Leonard
Vice President, Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Business Development at The Second City
Validation: Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life
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.
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.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
- The Avery Coonley School
- Avoca D37
- Baker Demonstration School
- Beacon Academy
- Bennett Day School
- Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School
- Brickton Montessori School
- British International School of Chicago
- Catherine Cook School
- Compass Health Center
- Evanston Scholars
- Evanston Township High School D202
- The Family Institute at Northwestern University
- Family Service Center
- Foundation 65
- The Frances Xavier Warde School
- Francis W. Parker School
- Glencoe D35
- Glenview Public Library
- Gorton Center
- Hyde Park Day School
- Illinois Student Assistance Commission
- Kenilworth D38
- Lake Bluff D65
- Lake Forest Community High School D115
- Latin School of Chicago
- Leo Catholic High School
- Libertyville D70
- Lycée Français de Chicago
- Near North Montessori School
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Pope John XXIII School
- Psychgeist Media
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Resurrection College Prep High School
- Rogers Park Montessori School
- Roycemore School
- St. Bernard’s School
- Santa Clara University School of Law
- Science & Arts Academy
- The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School
- Stevenson High School D125
- Township High School D113
- TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804
- Wilmette Public Library
- Winnetka D36
- Wolcott College Prep
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
- Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)

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