Not about thinking positive. About living deliberately.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy isn't symptom management. It's a framework for getting honest about what matters to you, and building your life around that, instead of around whatever your anxiety, your history, or your inner critic says you should be doing.
Schedule a Free ConsultationWhat Acceptance and Commitment Therapy actually is
Most approaches to mental health are about changing how you feel, or changing the thoughts that cause the feelings. ACT starts from a different place: the problem isn't that you have difficult thoughts and feelings. The problem is that you've organized your life around avoiding them. That avoidance is what's keeping you stuck.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is built around two core moves. First: stop fighting your inner experience. Make room for it without letting it make all your decisions. Second: get clear on what you actually value. Not what you think you're supposed to value, not what looks good, not what your parents expected. Start moving toward that, consistently, even when it's uncomfortable.
That's it. The name tells you: accept what you can't control, and commit to what you can. ACT therapy for anxiety, depression, ADHD, or burnout all work through the same mechanism. The symptoms look different. The underlying pattern, a life organized around avoidance rather than values, is usually the same.
Six moves. No jargon.
ACT has a formal model with technical names. Here's what those actually mean in plain language.
- Make room for what you feel
Not "think positive." Not "just accept it." More like: stop spending all your energy fighting the feeling, and let it be there without it running the show. Anxiety doesn't have to mean paralysis. Grief doesn't have to mean shutdown.
- Notice thoughts as thoughts, not facts
"I'm a failure" is a sentence your mind produces. It's not a verdict. "This will never work" is a prediction, not a forecast. ACT builds the ability to see thoughts as mental events rather than truths you're obligated to act on. That's more useful than arguing with them.
- Come back to now
Anxiety lives in the future. Rumination lives in the past. Neither place is where your life actually happens. Building the ability to be here, in the conversation, in the decision, in the moment, is a skill, not a personality trait.
- You are not your thoughts
You're the one watching the thoughts, not the sum of them. This sounds abstract until it isn't. When you've been called anxious, or depressive, or a workaholic for long enough, it starts to feel like an identity. ACT distinguishes the observer from the observed.
- Get honest about what matters
Not what should matter. Not what looks good. What actually matters to you, in this life, now. For a lot of people, this is harder than it sounds. Values clarification is real work, especially when your answers don't match the ones you've been performing.
- Do the things, even when it's hard
ACT is not a passive approach. Between sessions, you make real-world commitments that align with your values, not because you feel ready, but because the action itself is what builds the life you want. Insight without behavior change is just expensive self-awareness.
ACT therapy for professionals and people who've already tried thinking through the problem
- People who've been in therapy before and felt like it didn't go deep enough
You did the talking. You have insight. You understand your patterns. And yet the same things keep happening. ACT is structured differently than traditional talk therapy. It's less about understanding why you are the way you are, and more about what you're going to do about it.
- Professionals and analytically wired people
If you've read the books, researched the approaches, and tried to logic your way out of the anxiety or the burnout. You already know that doesn't work at scale. ACT therapy for professionals is built for people who are good at thinking and have hit its limits. There's a practical, skills-based structure that doesn't require you to suspend your intellect.
ACT for professionals - People rebuilding values after religious deconstruction
When the framework you used to answer "what matters?" is gone, ACT provides a secular, grounded way to rebuild from scratch, not from doctrine, but from what you actually notice yourself caring about when you slow down enough to look. Values-based therapy without the baggage.
ACT for religious deconstruction - ADHD adults who need structure and meaning, not just coping tools
ADHD makes it hard to act consistently on the things you say you care about. The gap between who you are and who you want to be becomes its own source of shame. ACT doesn't add more coping mechanisms. It addresses the values-behavior disconnect directly, which is often what's underneath the frustration.
ACT for ADHD
ACT sessions are not passive
ACT therapy with me is not a lot of open-ended talking. You'll do exercises: values clarification work, defusion techniques, mindfulness exercises that are actually practical rather than aspirational. You'll leave most sessions with a real-world commitment: something small and specific you're going to do before next time that moves you toward what you said you care about.
That doesn't mean it's rigid. The ACT framework gives us structure, but sessions follow what you bring. If there's something happening, like a decision you're avoiding, a relationship that's fraying, or a version of yourself you keep falling back into, we work on that, with the ACT tools in the background rather than the foreground.
The tone is direct. I won't mirror your feelings back at you for an hour. If I see a pattern, I'll name it. If you're doing the thing ACT is trying to address, whether fusing with a thought, avoiding a feeling, or acting from fear instead of values, I'll say so. The goal is honest, useful conversation that moves things.
How ACT telehealth works in Illinois
We start with a free 30-minute consultation. You tell me what's going on, I answer your questions, and we decide together if this is the right fit.
Sessions are 50 minutes via secure video. Available to anyone in Illinois: Chicago, the suburbs, Downstate, or anywhere else in the state. No commute.
In-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO in Illinois. Most sessions covered at your standard specialist copay. Superbills available for other plans.
Ready to start ACT therapy?
Free 30-minute consultation. No commitment. Telehealth anywhere in Illinois.
Book a Free ConsultationCommon questions about ACT therapy in Chicago
- What is ACT therapy and how does it work?
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a research-backed approach built around two things: getting clear on what actually matters to you, and taking action from there, even when your mind is making it difficult. It doesn't try to change the content of your thoughts. It changes your relationship to those thoughts so they stop running your life. ACT has strong evidence for anxiety, depression, ADHD, burnout, and major life transitions.
- How is ACT different from CBT?
- CBT tries to change the content of your thoughts: identify distorted thinking, replace it with something more accurate. ACT doesn't argue with your thoughts at all. It helps you notice thoughts as thoughts, not facts, and then choose how to respond. The goal isn't fewer negative thoughts. It's less domination by those thoughts. For people who've tried CBT and found the thought-challenging work exhausting or not quite right, ACT is often a better fit.
- Do you take insurance for ACT therapy?
- Yes. I'm in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO in Illinois. Most clients with BCBS PPO coverage pay only their standard specialist copay. For other insurance plans, I can provide a superbill you can submit for potential out-of-network reimbursement.
- Is acceptance and commitment therapy available via telehealth in Illinois?
- Yes. All sessions are via telehealth, so ACT therapy is available to anyone in Illinois, Chicago or otherwise. You don't need to be near a physical office. You attend from wherever you have a private space and a stable connection.
- Who is ACT therapy a good fit for?
- ACT tends to work especially well for people who are analytically wired and have already spent significant time trying to think through their problems. It's effective for anxiety, depression, ADHD, burnout, and major life transitions. It's also particularly useful for people rebuilding their values from scratch, after a significant career change, loss of religious faith, or another identity shift that left the old framework behind.
An ACT therapist in Chicago, IL. Let's talk.
Free 30-minute consultation. No commitment. Telehealth anywhere in Illinois.
Schedule a Free Consultation