Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a mindfulness-based therapeutic practice that encourages clients to identify what values are personally important and to take action on those values. ACT encourages clients to accept and embrace what is out of their personal control, while developing a flexibility to alter the things they can. ACT generally applies six core principles (cognitive defusion, acceptance, contact with the present moment, observing the self, values, and committed action). Therapists practicing ACT help clients to commit to goals based on their personal values with the ultimate goal of bringing more meaning to life.
Local experts in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cory Anton
Licensed Professional Counselor
Acceptance of the unknown can be daunting and overwhelming, but ultimately leads to freedom and relief. ACT is often a very helpful adjunct to ERP and CBT when treating OCD and anxiety.
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Samantha Auclair (She/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, CRC, NCC
ACT is an action-oriented approach that stems from CBT, but can be quite different than traditional CBT in practice. In a nutshell, it involves learning how to diffuse your thoughts, choosing to "lean in" to your emotions, identifying what is important to you (i.e., your values), and acting in commitment with your values.
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Sam Wilson
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW, LCSW-C
Are you ready to commit to being the person you want to be? Are you ready to leave your reservations behind on your path to becoming your authentic self? Using ACT, I can help you chart that path, combining existential techniques with proven lessons from cognitive and behavioral research.
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Michael Ianello (he/him/his)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC
ACT has two basic principles for therapist and client to follow. One, accept that we have unwelcome thoughts sometimes and that these thoughts are out of our control. Two, commit to a life which is focused on core values defined by you. In other words, "Embrace your imperfections and learn how to trust that you know what's best."
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Megan Bucknum (She/Her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW CADC I
ACT is an engaging form of therapy that includes processing/reflection, learning skills, practicing skills both inside and outside of sessions, and clarifying what matters to you. If you find you have tried everything to stop painful thoughts or feelings, but the struggle continues, this may be a helpful approach. I hope you leave our sessions with a plan of action— something you can take with you and do between sessions that will make a positive difference.
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Teresa Zahariades, LCSW (she/her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I have trained with Steven Hayes, Ph.D, the co-creator of ACT, attended ACT bootcamps and continue self-study daily with ACT principles.
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Emily Fagan (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches mindfulness skills to help individuals live and behave in ways consistent with personal values while developing psychological flexibility.
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John Coyle
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
Helpful for anxiety, depression, and more.
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Joshua Bogart (He/Him/His)
Professional Counselor Associate
MA
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is a therapy approach that can guide you towards a more meaningful life. It's like having a trusted companion who can help you overcome life's obstacles with greater resilience and poise. Through ACT, you'll learn to release the things that limit you and concentrate on what truly counts. You'll discover how to be mindful of the present, acknowledge your thoughts and emotions, and take purposeful steps toward your objectives.
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Jennifer Gray (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed Professional Counselor
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy that uses mindfulness and behavioral strategies to help individuals engage in values-based actions. ACT encourages the acceptance of difficult thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to eliminate them, and promotes commitment to personal goals despite these challenges.
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Ryja (Rylan Jay) Testa (he/him)
Clinical Psychologist
PhD; Psychologist Licensed in OR and CA
Over the years I have received formal training in ACT through my initial doctoral internship and followed this with additional trainings in my post-doctoral years and beyond. I have consistently used ACT integrated into my therapeutic work since 2012 and consider it to be one of my primary treatment approaches.
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Cayla Panitz (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC
I use ACT to inform my work with people across various areas of concern. I help people apply the principles of connecting with their current experiences, identifying the ways in which the relationships to our emotions and thoughts impact our lives and disconnect us from our values. I then help people change the relationships they have with their emotions and thoughts and move towards their values.
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Gabe Fields
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
ACT is a powerful and highly adaptable mindfulness-based treatment which guides us in releasing unhelpful control efforts and fostering what really matters in our lives. In my experience with groups and individuals, I have found that ACT offers a particularly wise and effective way to work with our mind and emotions, and to live with heart.
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Bob Kleinjan (he/him)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an orientation rooted in mindfulness and exploring personal values to help guide you to a more enjoyable and meaningful life. I have many years of experience using ACT for a variety of issues including healing trauma, mood imbalances, anxiety, chronic pain, and personal growth. ACT can be highly personalized and focuses on "action" you can take to feel better and live your life in ways that bring fulfillment, meaning, and peace.
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Wes Harris (he, his, him)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, CADC I
I have expertise in ACT and have spent a lot of time in ACT consultation groups and taking advanced trainings. I am passionate about this approach and working with clients who are open to learning more or putting their experiences with ACT into practice.
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Sakura Counseling (She/He/They)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC
Our clinic employs Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to guide clients in embracing their emotions, clarifying values, and committing to positive actions. Through mindfulness and acceptance techniques, clients learn to manage distress, cultivate psychological flexibility, and align their actions with their values, ultimately leading to improved well-being and a more fulfilling life journey.
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Julio Iñiguez (he/him)
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist
LMFT, CGACII, CADCI
ACT helps us learn what is important to you by clarifying your values. We use your values to take committed action that helps you experience more satisfaction and integrity in your life. We get acquainted with your ways coping and the impact these have on your life without judgment. In this process you develop the psychological flexibility that will help you become more resilient and confident in you life, and help you gain clarity in what's important to you and how to go after it.
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Kate Keating (she/her)
Professional Counselor Associate
MA, LPC-A
I have taken an post-graduate course on ACT and am drawn to the gentle, compassionate nature of the approach. I think you'll find it to be transformative.
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Alissa Holmes (she/her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
I have undergone multiple trainings in ACT, which incorporates many principles of CBT as well as mindfulness-based techniques. In ACT, we use acceptance and mindfulness techniques in combination with behavioral changes to help you live a meaningful life based on your personal values. ACT skills are designed to increase your psychological flexibility - meaning you become better able to deal with change while living fully in the present moment.
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Heather Lokteff
Licensed Professional Counselor
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy aims to become more cognitively flexible, more engaged in the present, take committed action steps towards change, and become more connected to your personal values. It centers around finding ways to live more intentionally in the moment and act in ways that are more helpful to yourself.
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Vy Pham (she/her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach that uses a person’s motivating values, mindfulness, and acceptance to help them move through difficult experiences. ACT liberates us from suppressing unwanted thoughts and emotions, and instead guides us towards acceptance and then action. It accepts that suffering is part of life however does not define it. Using ACT, we will explore what brings us joy and how to move towards the life we desire for ourselves.
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James Whalen (He/Him)
Professional Counselor Associate
R7227
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy teaches us to learn how to sit with our distress and accept it, in order to help us relate to our thoughts and feelings in ways that don't increase the distress that's natural to your situation. It helps us learn to live our lives according to our values, with the understanding that we have control of our behavior and not our thoughts. ACT is most helpful for clients with anxiety and depression.
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Kelly Aldinger (she/her)
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
PMHNP-BC, MSW, RYT
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Neil Panchmatia (he/they)
Licensed Professional Counselor
MS, NCC, Licensed Professional Counselor
I use tenets of ACT in my work as it holistically encapsulates the essence of true healing: learning skills while being holistically congruent with oneself.
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Jason Durtschi
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I have completed multiple trainings on ACT and have been applying related skills and principles for over a decade of practice.
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Katie Playfair, LPC (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC (OR and Tx) LMHC (WA)
I use both mindfulness and values interventions from ACT to help clients develop lifelong skills to live with their own brains (that are sometimes doing super unpleasant things) more effectively.
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Lauren Stines (she/they)
Marriage and Family Therapist Associate
MA MCFT
This model invites us to let go of our judgments and commit to living the life we want to live
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Alma Hadzidedic (she/her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
I completed multiple extensive training in ACT.
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Majken Elek, MA
Licensed Professional Counselor
ACT is an evidence-based intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. The goal is not to get rid of of difficult feelings; but allow them to be present and what life throws at us in order to move toward valued behavior.
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Stephanie Avery (she/her)
Professional Counselor Associate
M.Ed.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on reducing feelings of distress through mindfulness techniques, acceptance of what is both in our control and out of our control, and refocusing on the things that are most important to us so that we can live more fulfilling value-driven lives.
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Josh Clark (he/him)
Clinical Psychologist
PhD, ABPP-CN
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on changing our relationship to our thoughts and feelings. With ACT, I will teach you how to generate more present moment awareness, get unglued from obsessive or depressive thoughts, and engage more in value-driven activities. ACT is very successful in treating depression, anxiety, chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and psychosis.
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Rebecca Garetz (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, LMHC, CYT
I use ACT to practice bringing distance to our thoughts so that we can implement compassion and acceptance practices that align with our values in our daily lives.
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Sarah Connor (she/her)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that focused on dropping our struggle with challenging emotions and, instead, accepting hard feelings and not allowing them to get us stuck in places where we don't want to stay. ACT uses tools to help clients unhook from things that are holding them back, make touch with the here and now, and move forward with what really matters in life.
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Lesley Smith (they/she)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
LCSW
This is the primary modality I use. I took a course on ACT during my Master's program and an intensive training on 2018. I attend a monthly ACT consult group and continue to access books and other resources on ACT.
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Amanda Roberson (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
ACT is an acceptance based model created by Steven Hayes that teaches about the importance of living in accordance with values and accepting what we cannot change. As a client participating in ACT therapy, you would be expected to identify values, discuss barriers that prevent living in accordance with values, practice acceptance of things outside of your control, and make lifestyle changes.
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Darin Bergen (he/him)
Clinical Psychologist
PsyD
My background in ACT shows up when I help people connect with what they value most and how to live those values in their daily life. I have participated in extensive training in ACT over the years. I am a past President of the Oregon chapter of the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Sciences (OACBS), the international organization for ACT practitioners.
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Deborah Nichols LPC, NCC (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
LPC, NCC
Trained in part one and part two ACT training to work with our thoughts, how we respond to the situations and elements of our lives that we may not be able to change.
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Maxine Burton
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I have been trained utilizing this approach. This is the primary therapy approach that I utilize in my practice as I find it to be highly effective in treating a variety of issues and problems. ACT is an approach that provides people with the skills and knowledge needed to maximize their strengths, cope with the vicissitudes of life, and find meaning and purpose in their lives.
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Katie Clark, LMHC, LPC (she/her)
Licensed Professional Counselor
NCC
ACT is a mindfulness based method of treating anxiety and other disorders and challenges. It's empirically supported and proven to be effective.
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