How We Work
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you build psychological flexibility — the ability to have difficult thoughts and feelings without being controlled by them, and to keep moving toward what matters most in your life.
Third-Wave CBT · Evidence-based · Values-based · Creswick, Brisbane & Online
What Is ACT?
Living a meaningful life alongside difficult feelings
ACT was developed by psychologist Steven Hayes and is one of the most well-researched psychological therapies available. Unlike traditional CBT, which focuses on changing or challenging unhelpful thoughts, ACT works on changing your relationship to thoughts — learning to observe them, create distance from them, and choose your responses rather than being driven by them.
Central to ACT is the idea of psychological flexibility: the ability to be present, open to your experience, and guided by your values. ACT teaches specific skills — including mindfulness, defusion (separating yourself from your thoughts), and values clarification — that help you live more fully even when difficult feelings are present.
ACT is particularly powerful when used alongside trauma therapies like EMDR, as it helps build the psychological foundation needed for deeper trauma processing and supports meaningful life change beyond symptom reduction.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy can help with
- ✓Anxiety and chronic worry
- ✓Depression and low mood
- ✓Perfectionism and self-criticism
- ✓Chronic pain and illness
- ✓Grief and loss
- ✓Burnout and emotional exhaustion
- ✓Low self-worth
- ✓Life transitions and finding purpose
Core ACT Skills
What you'll work on in ACT
Mindfulness & present-moment awareness
ACT teaches you to bring non-judgmental awareness to what is happening right now — noticing thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. This creates space between your experience and your response.
Defusion — stepping back from your thoughts
You'll learn to see thoughts as just thoughts — not facts, and not commands. Defusion techniques help reduce the power that unhelpful or painful thoughts have over your behaviour.
Values and committed action
ACT places enormous importance on what you care about. Your therapist will help you clarify your values and take meaningful steps toward them — not waiting until you feel better, but moving in a valued direction even when it's hard.
Available locations
FAQ
Common questions about Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
How is ACT different from regular CBT?
Traditional CBT focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thought patterns. ACT instead focuses on changing your relationship to thoughts — accepting that difficult thoughts exist without letting them dictate your behaviour. Many people find ACT more helpful when CBT hasn't worked, or when thoughts feel too overwhelming to challenge directly.
Is ACT a mindfulness therapy?
Mindfulness is one of the six core processes in ACT, but ACT is much broader than mindfulness alone. It also addresses values, committed action, self-as-context, defusion, and acceptance. You don't need to have a meditation practice to benefit from ACT.
Can ACT be combined with EMDR?
Yes — and the combination is often very powerful. ACT can help build the psychological flexibility and distress tolerance needed before and after EMDR processing, while EMDR works on the underlying trauma driving the distress ACT is helping you manage.
Ready to Begin?
Ready to build a life worth living?
Book an appointment or reach out with any questions. We'll help you find the right therapist and the right approach.