Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that stems from traditional behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives. With this understanding, clients begin to accept their issues and hardships and commit to making necessary changes in their behavior, regardless of what is going on in their lives, and how they feel about it.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches mindfulness skills to help individuals live and behave in ways consistent with personal values while developing psychological flexibility. Practitioners of ACT help individuals recognize ways in which their attempts to suppress, manage, and control emotional experiences create challenges. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, individuals can become better able to make room for values-based actions that support well-being.
Acceptance and commitment therapy aims to increase one’s psychological flexibility. This can be an important skill that many individuals could benefit from improving. Psychological flexibility is a complex concept. It includes being able to be in the present moment with your mind and your body in a way that allows you to be aware of what is happening in the now. Additionally, psychological flexibility includes being able to intentionally act in ways that are beneficial and helpful to yourself. By being more psychologically flexible, you can behave in ways that are connected to your own personal values and goals.
ACT commonly employs six core principles to help clients develop psychological flexibility:
Cognitive defusion: Learning methods to reduce the tendency to reify thoughts, images, emotions, and memories.
Acceptance: Allowing unwanted private experiences (thoughts, feelings and urges) to come and go without struggling with them.
Contact with the present moment: Awareness of the here and now, experienced with openness, interest, and receptiveness. (e.g., mindfulness).
The observing self: Accessing a transcendent sense of self, a continuity of consciousness which is unchanging.
Values: Discovering what is most important to oneself.
Committed action: Setting goals according to values and carrying them out responsibly, in the service of a meaningful life..
Mindfulness. It’s a pretty straightforward word. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. That might seem trivial, except for the annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand. Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Our experience enables us to offer effective outpatient. Each client will receive individualized, mental health care. We treat a number of mental health disorders, and provide a nonjudgmental space to individuals, families, and couples to heal and grow.
Our focus is to help individuals heal, energize, and become aware of their inner strengths. We achieve this by providing a neutral safe space, listening to your concerns, and customizing a treatment plan. Chronic pain is one of the primary focus of our practice.
We promise to be there for you every step of your journey. Our goal is to help you grow from your struggles, heal from your pain, and move forward to where you want to be in your life. Your goal is our goal.