What Is ACT?
If you’ve been exploring counselling options, you might have come across the abbreviation ACT, short for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is one of the many approaches we use at Foundations, but what does that actually mean for you or your child in a real session?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT isn’t about “thinking positive” or trying to erase uncomfortable thoughts. It’s about learning to notice them, make room for them, and still move forward.
In sessions, that might look like exploring what’s been showing up for you, whether it’s worry, guilt, frustration or self-doubt, and finding ways to respond differently, rather than getting caught in the same loop.
For kids and teens, it often means learning simple ways to name what’s happening (“I’m anxious,” “I feel stuck”) and practising skills to help them manage when those big feelings show up. For adults, it can mean reconnecting with values that have slipped to the background, and figuring out what small steps you can take toward the outcome you’d like to experience.
How ACT Can Help
Life rarely feels tidy. ACT starts from that reality, that we can’t control every thought, feeling, or outcome, but we can choose how we respond.
That shift can help with anxiety, overwhelm, or a sense of being “stuck.” It also supports long-term wellbeing by focusing on flexibility, so we learn to move with life’s ups and downs, rather than against them.
Because ACT works alongside your values, it’s also naturally respectful of culture and individuality. What matters to you - your whānau, your identity, your sense of purpose - becomes part of the process.
Who ACT Is Good For
ACT can help people develop a kinder, more flexible relationship with their thoughts and feelings, so they can live in a way that aligns with what matters to them.
It encourages awareness, choice, and action without pressure or perfectionism, making it a great choice for anyone who wants to move toward change in a compassionate, realistic way.
Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, low mood, burnout, or just feeling disconnected, ACT offers a way to stop fighting your experience and instead learning to live alongside it.
How ACT Differs From CBT
Both ACT and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) are evidence-based approaches that help people understand and change patterns of thinking and behaviour. The difference is in how they do it, and is why often people find one works better for them than the other.
CBT tends to focus on identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts, questioning their accuracy and replacing them with more balanced alternatives.
ACT, on the other hand, doesn’t ask you to dispute or eliminate those thoughts. Instead, it teaches you to notice them, accept their presence, and decide how much influence they will have on your actions.
Where CBT might ask, “Is that thought true?”, ACT asks, “Is that thought helpful? Do I want to hold onto it or let it go?”
Both can be valuable, and at Foundations we often use them together, depending on what best works for you.
How ACT Fits Within Pluralistic Counselling
At Foundations, ACT is one of several approaches we draw on. In pluralistic counselling, there’s no single “right way”, the work is guided by what works best for you.
Sometimes that means combining ACT strategies with CBT tools for managing specific patterns of thought, or using narrative techniques to help reframe how a story is told and understood. ACT is just one of the frameworks within our toolkit,
If that sounds like an approach you’d like to explore, get in touch to arrange a consultation and we can chat about working together.
