Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

For when you're stuck between 'everything is fine' and 'nothing is fine'

You know that feeling when you're staring at your phone, knowing you should be doing Something Important, but instead you're deep in a spiral of comparing your day-to-day life to everyone else's highlight reel, and scrolling through job listings/apartment hunting/dating profiles (pick your poison) to finally make your life what you want it to be? Your mind helpfully(?) reminds you that by this age, you should have it all figured out. You should be thriving, not just surviving. You should be more productive, more successful, more... everything.

And you’ve tried - the manifesting, the positive thinking, the mindset work, the affirmations, the tough love, the self-help books, the journalling, the vision boards, the motivational quotes and TED talks - but instead of finding direction, you found yourself even more lost. As the internet meme says, your brain feels like a browser with 47 tabs open, and you don’t know where the music’s playing from - except it’s not music, it’s thoughts and worries you're tired of fighting with and trying to get rid of. All of this is making you feel anxious, overwhelmed, and basically, like a hot mess.

If this sounds uncomfortably familiar, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) might be your next step.

Because maybe this isn’t about trying to ‘fix’ your thoughts, your anxiety, your confidence, or waiting until you feel ready, or confident, or ‘fixed’. Maybe it’s about learning to get a move on while being exactly as you are - anxious, overthinking, uncertain, imperfect. Maybe it’s about building a life worth living in a way that works with your overthinking brain, rather than trying to shut it up (PSA: trying to silence your inner critic usually just makes it shout louder.)

Ovethinking mess, meet no-BS tools for actual change

If ACT sounds like the thing for you, it just depends on whether you want to do it together with others, supporting each other, creating the group together, breathing a sigh of relief that you’re not the only one who isn’t all put together - or you want a more individual setting, where it’s just you and me, and you maybe have a bit more time to ask anything and go into a bit more detail.

There are pros and cons to both - if you’re not sure, I’m more than happy to talk it through with you. Just book a free consultation.

From:

  • Living according to "should" rather than "want"

  • Feeling disconnected from what’s really important to you value and who you really are

  • Getting stuck in comparing and despairing, overthinking, worrying (mind going 100 km/h)

  • Believing you shouldn’t feel anxious, overwhelmed, stressed - and (unsuccessfully) trying to ‘feel more positive’

  • Avoiding everything scary because you feel too anxious

  • Always thinking about the embarrassing things you did 7 years ago, the future you see as hopeless, or drowning all this in doom-scrolling, over-exercising, people-pleasing and so on

  • Feeling stuck in analysis paralysis

  • Comparing yourself to others and coming up short

To:

  • Knowing what matters to YOU (not your parents/society/Instagram)

  • Building and living a life that feels authentic, not imposed by everyone else’s (ridiculous, contradicting, unnecessary) expectations

  • Getting to know your mind and learning how to bring it along for the ride, no matter how fast or slow, settled or not

  • Understanding your emotions, and how they’re not the boss of you

  • Doing stuff even if you feel anxious

  • Finding your way to the present - being with whatever’s going on (whether pleasant - in which case, actually enjoying that cup of tea, the sunset, a wholesome moment with your friend, or unpleasant - in which case, knowing it’s not going to be the end of you)

  • Making decisions without needing 17 pros/cons lists and everything to be perfect

  • Finding out what success means to you, and only you

ACT 8-Week Course

Experiential, psychoeducational, skills-based course which takes you through all the six ACT processes to build a good understanding of how you can make changes and choices to live a fuller, richer, more meaningful life. Basically, taking your messy, wonderful life, and making sense of it, so you can choose what to do rather than being strung along.

Each session focusses on an ACT process, and includes some psychoeducation and a lot of experiential practice and debrief on this.

The sessions build on each other - we start with clarifying values and committing to actions in line with these, before seeing what inevitably gets in the way. We then address this by learning to unhook from our thoughts, beliefs, and narratives about ourselves, others, the world; learning to relate more helpfully to our emotions; learning to understand our mental landscape differently, while cultivating mindfulness/present moment awareness throughout.

Curriculum

  • Session 1: Welcome and introduction to ACT

  • Session 2: What do you stand by? (Values)

  • Session 3: A look at behaviours (Committed action)

  • Session 4: What gets in the way? (Present moment awareness)

  • Session 5: How thoughts hook us and how to unhook (Defusion)

  • Session 6: Making room for emotions (Acceptance)

  • Session 7: The observing self (Self-as-context)

  • Session 8: Bringing it all together and moving forward

Logistics

  • The first thing you will need to do is complete a personal history questionnaire - to make sure I’m aware of any particular difficulties. I might then get in touch to arrange a follow-up call, and if during this call we both agree that the course isn't for you at this time, I’ll offer a full refund or credit for any future courses.

  • 1 x 30 minutes pre-course orientation session

  • 8 x weekly 1.5-hour sessions

  • Home practice between sessions which will vary in duration, but will average ~15 minutes daily

Pricing

Your investment for the course is £320, to be paid in full when you book.

ACT Individual Sessions

Individual therapy sessions are very individualised and tailored to what you need and want to get to. Maybe things just aren’t working well in your life and you’re not sure why, but you feel unfulfilled; or maybe you know quite well what’s keeping you stuck (stress, anxiety, low mood, overthinking, worrying, perfectionism etc.) - whichever one you are, I and ACT can help.

We’ll start with making sense of what’s going on for you and how this all keeps going, and then, based on your goals, we’ll tackle it all bit by bit - getting up close and person with your mind and body, and learning to make friends with them, so you can choose to handle things in a way you’ll be proud of when you’re 85.

Pricing:

  • Individual session: £120

Logistics

  • You can get started by booking either:

    • A free 15-minute call if you’re not sure ACT is for you, or

    • An initial appointment - during which we’ll discuss what is bringing you to therapy now, and what you’re hoping to get out of these sessions

  • Each session:

    • Is 50 minutes long

    • Takes place on Zoom

    • Takes place on the same day/time each week - so please pick an initial appointment slot that works for you on an ongoing basis

  • I usually suggest committing to six sessions to start with - but only after one or two initial sessions, to make sure the “fit” is right and you feel comfortable to continue

    • After this, we review and agree where to go next - ACT is goal-oriented and a therapy episode is usually completed in 3-6 months, but some people carry on for longer

FAQs

About the course…

  • You don’t need anything in particular to attend the course (apart from an internet connection and a device with a camera, headphones, and microphone) - as long as you’re committed to engaging in the sessions and home practice.

  • This will depend a lot on how your difficulties manifest themselves, and therefore, the level of care needed to meet your needs. Please complete the pre-course questionnaire, and we will be able to discuss further.
    Generally though, the group format can be difficult for some people with social anxiety, for example.

  • I try to strike a delicate balance between not having too few people that it doesn’t really feel like a group anymore, and not having too many that it feels like a lecture. I’ve settled on a minimum of 8, and a maximum of 14 participants, so you can make the most of it.

  • No, you don’t have to speak. However, part of the experience is sharing things with the other participants, whatever and whenever you feel like you can, so we all learn from each other. This may be participating in discussions in the larger group, or it may be in smaller groups where you may talk, for example, about your experience of the home practice. It is all an invitation though, and no pressure - I would suggest you come to the course with an open mind, and see what happens. Some days you may not talk at all, perhaps on others you’ll share a little, or a lot.

  • The sessions are live. As part of my continuous training and development, I may ask for permission to record some sessions, but I will always make it clear, and the recordings will only ever be shared with my supervisor.

  • I do not recommend that you miss any sessions if at all possible - so please make sure this only happens in unexpected circumstances. If you miss the first session, you will either be offered a refund, or credit for a future course, as per your choice.

  • It’s helpful if you can book as soon as possible - so I can review your pre-course questionnaire and arrange a follow-up call if needed, to make sure the course is right for you at this time.
    Bookings close 48 hours before the start of any type of service. Please contact me if you want to discuss last-minute bookings, but these are not guaranteed.
    It is not helpful to join a course after the first week as this can affect the group dynamics, so this is not allowed.

  • The last session of the course provides opportunities to discuss taking your learning further, including things like what you are taking away, how will you (continue to) make small changes and so on.

About the ACT part…

  • I mostly specialise in working with common mental health difficulties such as stress, depression, and various anxiety disorders, health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), - as well as with people experiencing a range of difficulties, or a general sense of “stuck-ness” or lack of fulfilment they can’t place their finger on.

  • I generally do not work with people who present with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, including, for example, active symptoms of psychosis, or severe difficulties with emotional regulation - this is because such difficulties are best addressed in specialist services which consist of multi-disciplinary teams of clinicians. Importantly and relatedly, I also do not work with people who are presenting with concerns related to their own safety or that of others - as in private practice I do not have access to professionals and facilities which would support managing such concerns, and therefore, it would be unsafe and unprofessional.

  • I am not set up to provide crisis support, so I am not able to respond to any urgent queries between sessions, nor am I able to work with people who have concerns about their own safety or that of others. If you are having such difficulties and are in the UK, please call 999 or go to A&E. You can also contact your GP or local NHS mental health service for urgent support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, text Shout to 85258, or use the Stay Alive mobile app. If you are outside of the UK, please contact your local emergency services.

  • Yes, research shows that online therapy is just as effective as in person - as long as we both have good cameras and microphones, we can recreate most, if not all, of what we would do in a therapy room. Additionally, it’s preferred by many people, as it saves on time, money, and can help people feel more comfortable.

  • I do not accept insurance at this time, but feel free to get in touch should you have any questions around this, and I may be able to consider this.