Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), founded by Steven Hayes, offers techniques to help you change your relationship with your internal world - thoughts, emotions, impulses, and body sensations. ACT teaches you to develop acceptance of your inner experiences, which are out of your personal control, and commit to taking values-based actions in order to create a rich, full, meaningful life. Once you are able to relate to your thoughts and emotions in a new way, you will notice that they have much less impact and influence over you. The aim of ACT is to create psychological flexibility - which is the ability to adapt to the challenges life throws your way and to take effective action, guided by your values.

 

Here's some things we focus on in ACT:​

• Observing your thoughts rather than getting hooked by your thoughts and allowing them to control your behavior (having a thought vs. being a thought)

• Allowing and making room for uncomfortable emotions and sensations instead of trying to avoid, numb, or push them away.

• Exploring emotions with curiosity, compassion, and openness instead of feeling overwhelmed by emotions (feeling an emotion vs. being an emotion)

• Practicing being in the present moment through mindfulness skills

• Clarifying values and discovering what matters most to you 

• Making choices that are based on your values and taking action to pursue the important things in your life