Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Jewels Tauzin, Advanced Clinical Fellow
As a therapist, one of my core-modalities is acceptance and commitment therapy. I love it because there’s a power in learning how to truly sit with ourselves. Not to fix or fight– but to simply be. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), pronounced like the word “act,” is grounded in this gentle, radical idea: that suffering often comes not from the pain itself, but from our struggle to avoid it.
At its heart, ACT is about psychological flexibility—our ability to be present, open up to what’s hard, and still move toward what deeply matters to us.
What Is ACT?
ACT isn’t about getting rid of negative thoughts or feelings. Instead, it invites us to make space for them, respond differently to them, and reconnect with what truly aligns with our values. The goal isn’t to inherently feel better– Acceptance Therapy is about living better, even when our circumstances feel impossible
The Six Core Processes of ACT
ACT is built around six core processes, which together foster psychological flexibility:
Acceptance
Instead of resisting or avoiding painful thoughts or emotions, we learn to allow them. Not because we like them, but because they’re already here—and resisting them often adds to our suffering.
Cognitive Defusion
Our minds are busy storytellers. ACT teaches us how to step back from our thoughts and see them for what they are: thoughts, not truths. We learn to unhook from the mental chatter.
Present Moment Awareness
Rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, ACT invites us to anchor in the now. This moment is where life is happening—and where we can act.
Self-as-Context
We are not our thoughts, emotions, or experiences. There’s a deeper and wiser “you” behind it all—the you who observes, who notices. ACT helps us connect to that steady place within.
Values Clarification
What really matters to you? ACT guides us to reflect on the kind of life we want to live—not based on shoulds or expectations, but on our true north.
Committed Action
Action is a big part of acceptance therapy. Even when we feel imperfect or anxious, we know we can still take steps towards our values and towards the life we want.
Why ACT Resonates
ACT is for anyone who’s tired of wrestling with their thoughts and feelings. It’s not about control—it’s about freedom. Freedom to be with yourself. Freedom to let go of the fight. Freedom to live a life that feels like yours. Instead of working towards the tiring pursuit of being happy all the time, Acceptance Therapy encourages us that it’s okay to feel everything, and even in feeling everything, we still have autonomy to choose our actions and our path.
Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up– it means showing up with our full selves to exactly what our lives give us, the beautiful and the really hard. It means accepting all of it and choosing to do something that feels in alignment with who we truly are, it means choosing to move in the direction of meaning.