Cognitive & Behavioural
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as an Integration within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Overview
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, often spoken as one word, "act") is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies together with commitment and behaviour-change strategies to increase psychological flexibility. Rather than aiming to reduce or eliminate distressing thoughts and feelings directly, it teaches people to relate to inner experiences differently while pursuing actions consistent with their personal values.
How it works
ACT targets six interrelated core processes that together make up psychological flexibility: acceptance, cognitive defusion (changing one's relationship to thoughts rather than their content), contact with the present moment, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action. In practice, clients learn through experiential exercises, metaphors, and mindfulness to notice and make room for difficult internal experiences instead of avoiding them, and to commit to behaviour guided by chosen values; the model is theoretically grounded in functional contextualism and Relational Frame Theory, an account of human language and cognition.
What it is used for
ACT has been studied across a broad range of presentations, including anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, chronic pain, substance use, psychosis, and stress, as well as coping with chronic physical illness. It is recognized as an empirically supported treatment for several conditions, with chronic pain and depression among the more extensively researched applications.
Origins and evidence base
ACT was developed beginning in the 1980s by psychologist Steven C. Hayes, with Kirk D. Strosahl and Kelly G. Wilson, and was set out in detail in their 1999 text Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. It has accumulated a substantial empirical literature, with more than a thousand studies and numerous randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses, though reviewers note variability in trial quality and ongoing debate about its effects relative to established cognitive behavioural treatments.
Within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
People sometimes come to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy hoping it will help them get rid of hard thoughts and feelings for good, and we draw on it for something more specific than that. ACT can change how a client relates to an experience: it can soften the pull of a painful thought, make room to feel an uncomfortable emotion, and point them back toward what matters to them. What ACT is not built to reach is the limiting belief that keeps generating those thoughts and feelings underneath. That is the work the ShiftGrit Core Method™ is designed for, where Pattern Theory™ and the way it is delivered are intended to work alongside reconditioning to settle the belief beneath a pattern. ACT travels alongside that as an evidence-based approach our clinicians may bring in when it fits, complementary to the Method rather than a step that replaces any part of it. Its contribution is to widen a person's room to manoeuvre: noticing a painful thought as just a thought rather than a fact to obey, and building a willingness to feel an uncomfortable emotion without rushing to escape it. We may also help a client name what matters to them and take small steps in that direction, so there is somewhere to move toward instead of the usual avoidance. The two fit together because that wider room to stay with an experience can give the Core Method™ steadier ground while it works to settle the belief itself.
Illustrative example
A client who carries the belief "I am not good enough" may take that thought as literal truth, so when pressure builds they over-prepare or pull back from anything they might fail at, which keeps the belief in place. Our clinicians might draw on these tools to help them hold "I am not good enough" as a passing thought rather than a verdict, stay with the discomfort instead of escaping it, and take one small step toward work that matters to them. That wider room can hold the moment open while reconditioning works to settle the belief itself.
Based on: Macri, J. A., & Rogge, R. D. (2024). Examining domains of psychological flexibility and inflexibility as treatment mechanisms in acceptance and commitment therapy: A comprehensive systematic and meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 110, 102432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102432 [source]
Clinicians who integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
If Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is specifically what you are looking for, tell us during matching and we will pair you with a clinician who carries that training. See how we integrate evidence-based modalities within the ShiftGrit Core Method™.
Find the pattern behind what's been feeling hard
A few simple questions to help surface the concerns that may fit best.
Find Your PatternTrusted by Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations Across Canada
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Trusted By Alberta’s Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Alberta and Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Regulated and affiliated across Alberta’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
Regulated and affiliated across Canada’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
The descriptions and examples on this page are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. They explain how this approach may be integrated within the ShiftGrit Core Method™ and do not describe a specific client, represent a testimonial, or promise any particular result. Integrated modalities are offered at the discretion of individual clinicians, and whether any approach is appropriate for you is determined together with your clinician, within their professional judgement and scope of practice.
