What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people become more psychologically adaptable. ACT encourages you to be more fully in the present. Accepting your deep emotions, traumas, or negative coping mechanisms is key in this therapeutic approach.

ACT maintains that to adapt and grow, a person must fully accept themselves as they are. Therapists practicing ACT believe that suppressing or ignoring painful emotions or experiences is counter-productive to growth and change.

You must investigate your current patterns of thinking to change. After examining these patterns, you can better understand the way your thinking impacts you. This acceptance of your patterns and habits helps you change your behaviors.

Trying to stop ways of thinking can be detrimental to ACT. Your therapist will help you understand how and why you think a certain way. Your ACT therapist will encourage you to accept yourself within a given moment. This acceptance is ultimately the catalyst for change.

After fostering the acceptance of the present moment, with all its thoughts, beliefs, and experiences, your ACT therapist will encourage you to develop a new, more compassionate relationship with your experience.

Individuals experiencing a wide range of psychological issues can benefit from ACT because it emphasizes their unique relationship with their problems.

Therapists Who Specialize in Using ACT

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Georgia with over 20 years in the field of mental health therapy. I enjoy working with adults, teens and children. I have specialized training in treating anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD, marital issues, and eating disorders. I am a veteran and and have worked with many military families, active duty members and veterans addressing milita...
As an EMDR trained, faith-based therapist, I help individuals and families heal and grow and thrive - and am honored to take part in others’ journeys toward wellness. I work with teens and adults of diverse backgrounds with a wide range of issues, including depression, anxiety, trauma, grief and loss, parenting, relationship issues, and other mental health concerns. I have an attachment-based...
Video visits available now and accepting new clients. When your child or teen is having a tough time, all you want is for them to feel better. You want them to feel happier, calmer, and able to manage whatever life throws at them. You need a therapist who understands your unique child as well as the challenges you face as a parent, who can teach important skills with humor, patience, and...
I'm a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with additional credentials in health education and fitness instruction. I use an integrative approach, blending wellness and health goals into therapy because I approach mental health as part of a larger system, consisting of mind, body and environment. My clients include those with mental health needs, as well as those managing chronic health conditions...

Sharaine Conner

Des Moines

Iowa

Are you feeling lost? Alone? Misunderstood? Do you ever wish that you could just talk to someone and they not only understand how you feel, but also allow you to be yourself? If you are looking for someone to listen, to understand, to support and push you necessary, then my hope is that I can help you. My clinical areas of interest and expertise include: addictions (gambling, gaming, drugs and...
I bring to my clients over 40 years of clinical experience, working with Veterans as the retired Chief of Mental Health at the VA in Lexington, KY and in as a clinician in other military and private practice settings. I am Board Certified in Counseling Psychology (ABPP). I am a generalist and use cognitive, behavioral and neurobiological approaches to treat a wide range of problems from anxiety...
Exhale - Relaxed approach with humor and easy disposition. Enjoy self improvement. Unfortunately seeking help can be a burden in itself. Do you have an inner dialogue on a loop? “I keep trying and I just can’t get it right”, “life isn’t supposed to feel like this”! Do you find your relationships taxing and unenjoyable? Do you feel anxious (symptoms of fear), depressed (energy and outlook...
Now offering teletherapy! Has anxiety been up on you like the face-huggers from Alien? Is your Animal Crossing island safer than the outside world? Have you been feeling called to the Dark Side of the Force? You are not alone. I specialize in helping my clients to combine therapy with the stories they know and love to reach a deeper understanding about themselves. My focus is on helping teens a...
Most of my clients have reached a point at which their lives have become uncomfortable & maybe even untenable. They may be nervous about embarking on the therapeutic journey with a stranger. Often, this is their first experience with therapy. Or, perhaps, they have been in therapy on & off throughout their lives. Because this is new & anxiety-provoking, we move slowly at first. My clients do no...

Lily Kugler

Houston

Texas

Do you feel lost? Defeated? Hopeless? Are you unsure of what comes next in finding recovery from substance abuse, codependency, trauma, or grief? And don’t know where to go from here? That uncertainty is overwhelming, terrifying, and at times isolating. There IS a way through and you don’t have to navigate this journey alone. We all have parts of ourselves that we hide and mask from others. The...
Feeling sad, anxious, unsure, or overwhelmed frequently causes us to think that we are all alone with our feelings--or stuck. As a client centered, strengths-based therapist, I am here to help. I look at what you are doing well, what your natural talents are and where you hope to be in the future in determining how to assist you. We will use your strengths to examine what is preventing you from...
I recognize the courage you have taken in seeking out help, as every indidivdual endures a difficult time throughout their life, and you have recognized that seeking help may positively benefit you. My goal is to encourage you through our sessions and empower you to grow in a way that allows you move forward towards positive self-growth and healing. I understand the value of creating a setting...
( English | español ) Uncertainty is one of the most uncomfortable experiences. It's easy to get stuck in unhelpful thinking patterns such as "I should do more" and "I shouldn't worry about that." Oftentimes, as a result, we experience anxiety or distress. You may find yourself juggling work or school demands, relationship stress and even self-doubt. Creating balance in your life may not seem...
Like focusing a camera lens to help create a desired picture, we need at times to refocus the image of our lives that may have become blurry often through the uninvited challenges or changes that come our way -or perhpas past events are not completely resolved as we thought. With blocked or stiffled awareness, our copng skills may be crying out for help as our deptression, our anxiety, our mood...

Sarah Jenkins

Indianapolis

Indiana

Dr. Sarah Jenkins is a Board Certified Clinical Health Psychologist. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology with specialization in Health Psychology from Ball State University in 2011. She received board certification in Clinical Health Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology in 2017. Dr. Jenkins worked for seven years as a Clinical Health Psychologist in the...