Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based action. It aims to help individuals develop psychological flexibility by accepting their thoughts and feelings rather than avoiding or controlling them. ACT also encourages individuals to identify their values and take committed action towards living a meaningful life.

Happiness is not necessarily a natural state of being. ACT helps you understand that unhappy or anxious thoughts and feelings are normal. We will explore how to accept those thoughts and feelings, how to align your values with your actions, and how to create a life worth living.

In ACT, we are identifying who and what matters most to you and then getting curious about the patterns we see arising (both internal and external) that guide you toward or away from what you define as a meaningful life. This approach utilizes a neuroscience informed understanding of the mind, mindfulness practices, compassionate acceptance building and committed action to make the changes you want to see in your life.

ACT is way of learning to tolerate and accept the truth of your present experiences, while taking intentional action toward creating change. When life is hard, it makes sense to have difficult thoughts and feelings; it makes sense to want things to be different. We'll work together, through compassionate conversation and mindfulness practice, to increase your capacity to accept these hard things. And we'll also identify action steps, no matter how small, that will create a pathway forward.

ACT generally is all about identifying areas of our experience that we have control over vs those we don't. The overarching goal is learning to tolerate and function within the areas we don't have control, while leaning into our values which we can use to drive change in areas we have control - committing to this and taking action. ACT is great for work with many clients. It also works great in combination with other approaches such as Intuitive Eating, EFT, and Somatic Therapy.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility means contacting the present moment fully as a conscious human being, and based on what the situation affords, changing or persisting in behavior in the service of chosen values.

I have engaged in in-person and online immersive trainings in ACT and continue to engage in regular consultation with other ACT-informed professionals and attend regular trainings.

I was lucky enough to intern at a mood and anxiety disorder clinic where we were trained to use ACT and used it everyday as a beneficial part of the curriculum.

I incorporate elements of ACT, including mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based work.

I've had the privilege of working with several supervisors who specialized in ACT, and I have used ACT strategies with several clients.

ACT is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that stems from traditional behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. When appropriate, I also incorporate principles of 'Mindfulness Therapy' to allow clients the opportunity to simply participate in therapy without critically judging 'how they are doing'. This helps clients recognize therapy as a process and helps clients from becoming discourgaged that they don't seem to 'be able to do it (therapy) right'.

I guide clients in embracing their emotions and values while developing mindfulness and acceptance skills to manage distress.

ACT focuses on accepting uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and sensations and then taking committed actions that move us closer to our values. We can increase our ability to tolerate what makes us uncomfortable, create distance between ourselves and our thoughts, and live a life that is aligned with our values.

I was trained in ACT when working at a hospital where ACT was being implemented across all programs. We were trained by psychologists who were on the forefront of this modality becoming widely used in the Midwest. In addition to reading the many works of Steve Hayes, Kelly Wilson and Russ Harris, I have taken trainings with Kelly WIlson, DJ Moran, Kirk D. Strosahl and Patricia J. Robinson, among others. As an ACBS member, I have attended multiple local and International ACBS Conferences

Don't just tell me the difficult things you're moving away from. I want to hear what you're moving towards. ACT looks at how individuals can build psychological flexibility by rooting in the present moment and connecting their actions to their behaviors.