Therapy
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
A modern, mindfulness-based therapy that helps you live well alongside difficult thoughts and feelings.
ACT is one of the most significant developments in therapy over the past two decades. It takes a fundamentally different approach to difficult thoughts and feelings — rather than trying to challenge, eliminate or argue against them, ACT teaches you to relate to them differently, so they have less power over what you do. The goal isn't to feel better. It's to live better — in line with what genuinely matters to you, even when life is hard.
If you're looking for ACT therapy in Newcastle, Tynemouth, Jesmond or anywhere across the North East, our accredited therapists offer both face-to-face and online sessions.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
ACT — pronounced as the word "act" — was developed by psychologist Steven Hayes and is part of what's known as the third wave of cognitive behavioural therapies. It combines mindfulness skills with a focus on personal values and committed action.
The approach is built on a core insight: that trying to suppress, avoid or fight difficult thoughts and feelings often makes them stronger. We spend enormous energy trying not to feel anxious, not to think about something, not to feel sad — and that struggle itself becomes exhausting and limiting. ACT invites a different relationship with inner experience — one of openness and curiosity rather than resistance.
At the same time, ACT is deeply practical. A central part of the work is getting clear on what genuinely matters to you — your values — and taking meaningful steps towards living in line with them, even in the presence of discomfort.
How ACT differs from CBT
CBT and ACT share common roots but take different approaches to thoughts and feelings. CBT typically works to identify and change unhelpful thinking patterns — examining whether a thought is accurate and replacing it with a more balanced one. ACT takes a different stance: rather than asking "is this thought true?", it asks "is engaging with this thought helpful, or is it getting in the way of living the life I want?"
Neither approach is better — they suit different people and different problems. Your therapist will help you understand which is the right fit, and some therapists draw on both.
The six core processes of ACT
ACT works through six interconnected skills — acceptance, defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values and committed action. Together these build what ACT calls psychological flexibility — the ability to stay open, present and grounded even when things are difficult, and to keep moving towards what matters.
These aren't abstract concepts. They're practised skills, developed through exercises, metaphors and real-life experiments that make them tangible and applicable to everyday life.
Who it helps
If you're looking for acceptance & commitment therapy (act) in Newcastle or across the North East, this approach is well evidenced for:
- ✓ Anxiety
- ✓ Chronic stress
- ✓ Low mood
- ✓ Long-term health conditions
- ✓ Burnout
What sessions look like
ACT sessions are experiential — meaning you'll be actively engaged in the work, not just talking about it. Your therapist might use guided mindfulness exercises, values clarification work, or metaphors and experiential exercises drawn from the ACT model to help you develop a different relationship with your inner experience.
Sessions often feel quite different from what people expect therapy to be. There's a quality of curiosity and openness to the work — exploring what you're carrying, what you're avoiding, and what you actually want your life to look like.
A significant part of ACT involves clarifying your values — not goals, but the qualities of person you want to be and the directions you want to move in. From there, the work becomes about taking committed steps in those directions, even when anxiety, self-doubt or difficult feelings show up alongside.
Many people find ACT genuinely reorienting — particularly those who have tried other approaches and found that working directly on thoughts and feelings hasn't been enough.
Session length and course duration
50 minutes weekly, typically 8–16 sessions.
Cost
Please contact us for pricing
ACT therapy in Newcastle, Tynemouth & the North East
We offer ACT therapy at House Seven in Tynemouth and The Lamp House in Jesmond, Newcastle — as well as online for clients across the UK. Same-week appointments are often available. Use our Match Quiz to be paired with an ACT therapist in less than 30 seconds — confidential and no obligation.
What it helps