Treatments · Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Burlington & Ontario
Make room for what you feel without putting your life on hold.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based approach that helps you change your relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions, clarify what matters to you, and take meaningful action even when discomfort is present.
About · ACT
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is an evidence-based approach focused on building psychological flexibility: the ability to stay connected to the present moment and choose how you respond based on what matters to you.
Rather than trying to eliminate difficult thoughts, feelings, or sensations, ACT helps you notice them without automatically getting pulled into them or organizing your behaviour around avoiding them.
ACT isn't about getting rid of difficult thoughts.
A key part of ACT is cognitive defusion, which involves learning to step back from thoughts and see them as thoughts rather than facts, instructions, or problems that always need to be solved. ACT also explores acceptance, present-moment awareness, values, and committed action.
The goal isn't to feel comfortable all the time. It's to have more flexibility in how you respond when uncomfortable experiences show up, so they don't have to determine what you do next.
What ACT can help with.
ACT can support a range of anxiety-related concerns, particularly when difficult thoughts, emotions, or uncertainty are getting in the way of doing what matters to you.
Generalized Anxiety & Chronic Worry
Reduce the struggle with anxious thoughts and make choices without waiting for anxiety to disappear first.
Self-Criticism
Step back from harsh self-judgments and reduce the influence they have over how you see yourself and what you do.
Relationship & Attachment Concerns
Navigate difficult thoughts and emotions in relationships while making choices that reflect how you want to show up with others.
OCD & Intrusive Thoughts
Practice allowing intrusive thoughts and uncertainty to be present without automatically engaging with or trying to resolve them.
Perfectionism
Loosen rigid expectations and make choices based on what matters to you rather than fear of mistakes or getting it wrong.
People-Pleasing
Notice when fear of disappointing others is shaping your choices and practice acting in ways that reflect your own needs and values.
Building psychological flexibility.
Psychological flexibility means being able to experience difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them determine what you do next. ACT helps you build this flexibility by changing how you relate to your internal experiences and reconnecting with what matters to you.
Stepping back from your thoughts
Learn to notice thoughts without automatically treating them as facts, instructions, or problems that need to be solved.
Making room for difficult feelings
Practice allowing uncomfortable emotions and sensations to be present without needing to immediately avoid, control, or get rid of them.
Taking action based on what matters
Clarify your values and practice making choices that move you toward the life you want, even when difficult thoughts or feelings come along.
You don't have to feel better before you start living differently.
At Ascend, we use ACT to help you notice when your life has started revolving around avoiding discomfort, controlling how you feel, or trying to reach certainty before moving forward.
ACT can involve mindfulness and experiential exercises, exploring your values, practicing cognitive defusion, and taking small, intentional actions outside of therapy. The approach is flexible, and we focus on the processes that are most relevant to what you're experiencing rather than working through a set protocol.
We may also integrate CBT and ERP when appropriate. You don't need to know which approach you need before starting therapy. Your therapist can help determine what will be most useful for you.
ERP At Ascend
Frequently Asked Questions About ACT Therapy
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ACT is an evidence-based behavioural therapy focused on psychological flexibility. It uses processes including acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment awareness, values, and committed action to help you respond more flexibly to difficult internal experiences.
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CBT may involve examining thoughts, identifying cognitive distortions, and testing beliefs or predictions. ACT generally places less emphasis on determining whether a thought is accurate and more emphasis on changing your relationship with the thought and deciding whether engaging with it helps you move toward what matters.
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No. Acceptance in ACT doesn't mean approving of a situation or giving up on changing things that can be changed. It refers to making room for internal experiences rather than spending increasing amounts of energy trying to eliminate or avoid them.
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Cognitive defusion involves creating some distance from your thoughts so they have less automatic influence over your behaviour. Rather than needing to prove a thought true or false, you can notice that you're having it and choose what you want to do next.
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Values describe the qualities and directions that matter to you in how you want to live. ACT uses values to help guide behaviour, particularly when fear, anxiety, or other difficult experiences are pulling you in another direction. Values and committed action are two of ACT's core psychological flexibility processes.
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ACT can be applied to anxiety and OCD, particularly around changing how someone responds to unwanted thoughts, feelings, and uncertainty. For OCD, we may integrate ACT principles with ERP rather than using ACT as a replacement for exposure-based treatment.
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Mindfulness and present-moment awareness can be part of ACT, but ACT isn't simply mindfulness therapy. Mindfulness is used alongside acceptance, defusion, values, and behaviour change to support greater psychological flexibility
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Yes. We offer virtual ACT therapy across Ontario as well as in-person therapy in Burlington.
Meet Our ACT Therapists
At Ascend Anxiety Clinic, our therapists use ACT to help you develop a more flexible relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions while staying connected to what matters to you. We take a collaborative, individualized approach and often integrate ACT with CBT, ERP, and other evidence-based approaches depending on your needs.
Jordan Best
Emma Weber
Therapy that fits your life.
Meet with your therapist face-to-face at our Burlington office, located at The Therapy Commons. In-person sessions are available for teens and adults.
In Person · Therapy In Burlington
Virtual · Therapy Across Ontario
Meet with your therapist securely online from wherever you are in Ontario, making it easier to fit therapy into your schedule without needing to travel.
Ready to get started?
Connect with one of our therapists to learn more about ACT and whether it might be a good fit for what you're experiencing. Complete the form below and we'll be in touch to help you find the right next step.