Dr Ana Costa
CBT & ACT Therapist & Teacher
Embrace your demons, and follow your heart
About
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT is a beautiful fusion of different philosophies. Based on research-based mindfulness and behavioural principles, Acceptance & Commitment therapy is one of the ultimate approaches to managing your emotional experience, understanding your values and living a purpose driven life. It helps you to create a rich, full and meaningful life, while accepting the pain that inevitably goes with it.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy is a therapeutic approach based on core principles aimed at helping you to develop “psychological flexibility”. Being psychologically flexible means you’re aware of your thoughts and feelings but you hold them lightly, instead acting on longer-term values that contribute to a rich and meaningful life.
ACT brings together the best elements of different approaches, incorporating mindfulness wisdom, behavioural psychology and values-based theory to create a unique experience
Acceptance & Commitment therapy is based on the following six principles:
- DEFUSION: The ability to perceive your thoughts for what they are (a bunch of words that pop into your mind frequently) and to relate to them so they have less influence over you. As you learn to defuse from unhelpful thoughts (e.g., self-criticism, worry, rumination, etc), they will have less influence over your behaviour.
- ACCEPTANCE: Opening up and making space for unpleasant feelings or sensations. The more you allow yourself to feel your feelings, the less struggle you will experience. Conversely, when you suppress your feelings or pretend they’re not there, they tend to come back stronger than ever.
- CONTACT WITH THE PRESENT MOMENT: Being able to fully connect with the here and now, focusing and engaging in whatever you’re doing (instead of thinking about the past or the future).
- TAPPING INTO YOUR OBSERVING SELF: The more you tap into the part of you who is aware of your own experiences (but who is not those experiences), the more acquainted you’ll become with your difficult thoughts and feelings, thus changing your relationship with them.
- VALUES: Exploring and connecting with your values is an essential step in ACT and in living a meaningful life. Your values reflect what is truly important to you, and give you direction to live your life accordingly.
- COMMITTED ACTION: This refers to actions that are driven by your values and that you do consistently.
Acceptance & Commitment therapy is a great way to learn to manage your emotions and achieve emotional equilibrium. Learning acceptance helps us to make peace with the things we are afraid of. Commitment helps us work towards our dreams and things we look forward to.
8 Week Program
This is an 8-week programme, designed to equip you with basis skills in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT reflects a key message: accept what is out of your control, and commit to action that improves your life. It’s a very active form of therapy/coaching (not just talking about problems). You will be learning skills to handle thoughts and feelings more effectively, so they have less impact and influence over you. You will clarify what matters to you, the sort of person you want to be, and what you want your life to be about. We will also help you to take action, and do the things that make your life better. Each week will provide a combination of teaching materials and experiential exercises that will help you to deal more effectively with any life issues you may be experiencing. Our aim is to have you leave each session with an action plan- something you can take away and do in between sessions, to make a positive difference in your life.
Week 1: Introduction to ACT
Introduction to ACT training as a therapeutic approach based on some core principles that are aimed at helping you to develop “psychological flexibility”. Being psychologically flexible means you’re aware of your thoughts and feelings, but you hold them lightly, and you act instead on your longer-term values, as those values-driven actions will contribute to a rich and meaningful life.
Week 2: Values
Your values reflect what is truly important to you, and give you direction to live your life accordingly. This week, the training will explore your values so you gain clarity in regards to what a meaningful life entails for you.
Week 3: Committed Action
Committed action refers to actions that are driven by your values and that you do consistently. This training week, we will help you transform values into goals and to set up SMART goals.
Week 4: Defusion Skills
Defusion refers to the ability to perceive your thoughts for what they are- a bunch of words that pop into your mind frequently- and to relate to them so they have less influence over you. As you learn to defuse from unhelpful thoughts (e.g., self-criticism, worry, rumination, etc), they will have less impact over your behaviour.
Week 5: Acceptance
Acceptance refers to opening up and making space for unpleasant feelings or sensations (not passively accepting what is within your control). The more you allow yourself to feel your feelings, the less struggle you will experience. Conversely, when you suppress your feelings or pretend they’re not there, they tend to come back stronger than ever. This training class is all about acceptance.
Week 6: Being present
This week, we will focus on contacting the present moment: being able to fully connect with the here and now, focusing and engaging in whatever you’re doing (instead of thinking about the past or the future). Acceptance & Commitment Therapy help bring awareness of the moment, cultivating peace and enjoyment.
Week 7: The Observing Self
Acceptance & Commitment therapy has many influences from Mindfulness, and integrates some of its principles. This training week, we’ll tap into your observing self- the part of you who is aware of your own experiences (but who is not those experiences). The more you tap into this part of yourself, the more acquainted you’ll become with your difficult thoughts and feelings, thus changing your relationship with them.
Week 8: Getting Unstuck
In our last week, we will use Acceptance & Commitment wisdom to identify the main psychological barriers to living the life you want, and how to overcome them. We will focus on how to maintain your progress and prepare for setbacks so that you can continue to lead a meaningful life.
Training Class
Our Acceptance & Commitment training classes are can be larger group training experiences, depending on how many people sign up. The training class allow you to learn key skills in an online group hosted by our expert therapists . The class is a mix of teaching, therapy skills and learning about the different elements of Acceptance & Commitment which you can apply to your life. Ultimately we are teaching you new skills so that you can help yourself and deal with the challenges you are facing. Our training classes are a great way for you to begin your learning experience.
