Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy starts from a counterintuitive premise: fighting unwanted thoughts and feelings usually makes them stronger. ACT doesn't try to eliminate distress — it teaches you to hold it differently, clarify what actually matters to you, and act from your values even when anxiety, grief, or uncertainty is present. It's especially well-suited for the kind of loss and transition that has no clean resolution.
Most major insurances accepted.
Don’t see your plan? We sign new contracts a few times a year — ask during intake and we’ll let you know if yours is being added soon.
How Acceptance works in our practice.
ACT has six core processes: acceptance (making room for difficult feelings rather than fighting them), cognitive defusion (creating distance from unhelpful thoughts), present-moment awareness, self-as-context (a stable sense of self beyond your current story), values clarification, and committed action. The goal isn't to feel better — it's to live better even when feeling hard things.
For fertility loss, perimenopause, identity shifts, and grief, ACT offers a framework that doesn't require the pain to go away before you can move forward. It's a genuine alternative to the 'fix your thinking' model of CBT — not better or worse, just differently oriented.
Mindfulness practices are woven throughout ACT, though the focus is less on meditation and more on present-moment contact with experience. Sessions are structured but conversational, often involving metaphors, values exercises, and behavioral experiments outside the office.
From first call to first session.
- 01
Values work
We'll identify what genuinely matters to you — not what you think should matter — and use that as the compass for behavioral change.
- 02
Defusion exercises
Techniques that create space between you and your thoughts, so you're less fused with them. You observe the thought without being controlled by it.
- 03
Committed action
Small, values-aligned steps even in the presence of anxiety or grief. Action doesn't wait for the feeling to pass.
Common questions about acceptance & commitment therapy (act).
How is ACT different from CBT?+
CBT aims to identify and change unhelpful thoughts. ACT aims to change your relationship to thoughts — accepting them rather than arguing with them — while redirecting energy toward values-based action. Many therapists integrate both.
Is ACT good for infertility grief?+
Very. ACT was developed partly to address chronic pain and ambiguous loss — exactly the texture of infertility, pregnancy loss, and the kind of grief that doesn't have a burial. It helps people move forward without requiring the pain to resolve first.
Does ACT use meditation?+
Mindfulness is part of ACT, but it doesn't require a formal meditation practice. The exercises are often brief, in-session, and focused on present-moment contact rather than extended sits.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) is also referred to as ACT therapy, acceptance therapy, values-based therapy, third-wave CBT, and mindfulness-based CBT. Whatever you call it, our specialists treat it.
Often paired with this work.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The most-researched, most-evidence-based talk therapy for anxiety and depression.
Mindfulness-based approaches
Present-moment awareness as a skill — for anxiety, perinatal mood, and chronic stress.
Fertility & family planning
Reproductive grief, IVF stress, secondary infertility, and pregnancy loss.
Ready to start?
Same-week availability, in-network with major insurance, and a specialist who actually treats acceptance & commitment therapy (act) as their main work.