Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a therapeutic approach that falls under the Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT) umbrella. We can develop unhelpful ways of reacting and responding to our thoughts and feelings, increasing our distress and being pushed around by them. The Acceptance aspect of ACT involves developing Mindfulness-based skills to help us manage these unhelpful or distressing thoughts and feelings more effectively such that they have less impact and influence over our lives. Through this process of being more mindful and connected to our experiences, rather than being pushed around by them, we can become freer to connect what’s truly important to us. ACT also helps us to clarify our inherent life values and empower us to act towards them, with the aim of living a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
For a more in depth introduction to ACT, see here, and to Mindfulness, see here.
Books
The Happiness Trap or The Happiness Trap Pocketbook (illustrated version) by Russ Harris
The Reality Slap by Russ Harris
Confidence Gap by Russ Harris
Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong: A Guide to Life Liberated from Anxiety by Kelly Wilson
Audio & Videos
Mindfulness Exercises for Everyday Life (Solent NHS Trust)
How Mindfulness Empowers Us – Mindfulness animation
See Joe Oliver’s YouTube videos, including:
See Russ Harris’s YouTube videos, including:
Taking Hurt to Hope – JoAnne Dahl – set of web/podcasts on a range of issues and topics
Also see the international ACT website, Contextual Sciences, for free audios and free videos
Publications
Wardley MN, Flaxman PE, Willig C, Gillanders D (2014). ‘Feel the Feeling’: Psychological practitioners’ experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace. Journal of Health Psychology, 1359105314557977. View here.
Previous Training Events
ACT for Weight Management, London networking event, UCL 9 August 2013 – click here for more details including PowerPoint slides and here’s the YouTube audio recording.
Using ACT Interventions by Dr Matt Wardley and Sue Hart, Southampton, 2015 – click here for more details.