Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Portland, Maine

Moving toward what matters—even when life feels difficult

Many of us wait to feel better before moving forward.

You may wait for anxiety to disappear before trying something new, for confidence to arrive before making a decision, or for uncertainty to pass before having an important conversation. The problem is that difficult thoughts and emotions do not always leave on command.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps you develop a different relationship with those experiences. Rather than making the elimination of anxiety, sadness, fear, or uncertainty the goal, ACT focuses on helping you make room for what you are feeling while continuing to move toward the people, experiences, and values that matter to you.

I incorporate ACT into my work with adolescents and adults in Portland, Maine who are navigating anxiety, depression, burnout, perfectionism, life transitions, and patterns of avoidance or overthinking.

What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

ACT is based on the idea that struggling against every uncomfortable thought or feeling can sometimes create more suffering rather than less.

When something feels painful or uncertain, it makes sense to want relief. You may avoid a difficult situation, distract yourself, overthink every possibility, withdraw from a relationship, or postpone a decision until you feel more prepared.

These strategies can work in the short term. Avoidance often does make us feel better for a moment.

But when avoiding discomfort becomes the main way we make decisions, life can gradually become smaller.

You might find yourself thinking, I’ll do it when I feel more confident, I need to stop feeling anxious first, or I need to know exactly what will happen before I decide.

ACT helps you notice when thoughts and feelings are beginning to make those choices for you.

The question becomes less about “How do I get rid of this feeling?” and more about:

“What would I choose if I were willing to make room for this feeling and still move toward what matters?”

Acceptance Does Not Mean Giving Up

The word “acceptance” can be misleading.

Acceptance does not mean liking what is happening, agreeing with every thought you have, giving up on change, or remaining in a situation that is harmful.

It means recognizing what is already present without spending all of your energy trying to fight, suppress, or escape it.

An anxious thought can show up without automatically becoming a fact. Uncertainty can exist without preventing you from making a decision. A difficult emotion can be present without becoming the only thing that matters.

ACT helps create more space between what you experience internally and how you choose to respond.

That space can give you more freedom.

What Does ACT Look Like in Therapy?

ACT is practical and connected to everyday life.

We may begin by noticing situations where you consistently feel stuck. Maybe you know a conversation needs to happen but continue avoiding it. Maybe anxiety keeps you from doing things you care about. Maybe you spend so much time analyzing a decision that you never actually make one.

Together, we can look at what thoughts, emotions, or fears tend to show up in those moments and how you usually respond to them.

We may explore whether avoidance provides short-term relief but creates a longer-term cost. We can practice noticing thoughts without immediately believing or acting on them, clarify what matters to you, and identify realistic steps that move you in that direction.

The goal is not to force yourself through every uncomfortable situation.

It is to develop more psychological flexibility—the ability to experience difficult thoughts and emotions while still choosing how you want to respond.

ACT for Anxiety and Overthinking

Anxiety often tells us that we need certainty before we can act.

You might replay conversations, research every possibility, anticipate what could go wrong, or wait until you feel completely prepared.

Unfortunately, complete certainty rarely arrives.

ACT can help you notice anxious thoughts without organizing your entire life around them.

For example, if connecting with other people is important to you but social situations create anxiety, waiting for the anxiety to disappear may keep you isolated. ACT might instead help you ask what a small step toward connection could look like with some anxiety still present.

That might mean sending a message, accepting an invitation, staying at an event a little longer, or speaking honestly with someone you trust.

The goal is not to eliminate anxiety before participating in your life.

It is to help anxiety have less control over whether you participate.

ACT for Depression and Feeling Stuck

Depression can make meaningful action feel incredibly difficult.

You may feel disconnected from motivation, question whether anything will make a difference, or find yourself waiting to want to do something before doing it.

ACT does not ask you to pretend to feel differently.

Instead, we can explore what matters to you even when motivation is low and identify manageable actions that reconnect you with those values.

Sometimes meaningful action comes before motivation rather than after it.

A small step toward connection, movement, creativity, responsibility, or self-care may not immediately change how you feel. But it can begin shifting the relationship between how you feel and how you live.

ACT for Burnout, Perfectionism, and Life Transitions

ACT can also be useful when life looks functional from the outside but internally you feel exhausted, directionless, or trapped by expectations.

Maybe you are accomplishing a great deal but constantly feel as though you should be doing more. Maybe your career has become closely tied to your sense of worth. Or perhaps you are facing a transition where there is no obvious “right” answer.

In these situations, ACT can help separate what matters to you from the rules, expectations, or fears that may have accumulated around it.

Instead of asking only, What should I do?, we may also ask:

What kind of person do I want to be in this situation?

That distinction can be especially useful when there is no perfect decision.

Clarifying Your Values

Values are central to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

A value is different from a goal.

Goals are things we can accomplish: changing jobs, improving a relationship, completing school, or developing a new routine.

Values describe how you want to show up while you are doing those things.

You may value honesty, connection, curiosity, courage, compassion, responsibility, independence, creativity, presence, or growth.

For example, improving a relationship may be a goal. Showing up with honesty and care is a value.

Changing careers may be a goal. Creating a life with greater balance, purpose, or independence may reflect the values beneath it.

Clarifying those values can provide direction when you do not feel confident, when circumstances are uncertain, or when no option feels completely comfortable.

You do not have to know exactly what your values are before beginning therapy. That can be part of the work.

How I Use ACT in Therapy

I use ACT to help clients move from understanding a problem to responding differently in everyday life.

My style is active, collaborative, and direct. We may look closely at where fear, avoidance, self-judgment, perfectionism, or rigid thinking are limiting your choices. At the same time, we will explore what you actually want your life to stand for and what realistic movement in that direction might look like.

I do not use ACT to encourage people to ignore difficult emotions or replace them with positive thinking.

Instead, we work on increasing your capacity to experience discomfort without allowing it to control every decision.

ACT can also work well alongside other approaches I use. Internal Family Systems (IFS) can help us understand the protective parts that may be creating resistance or fear, while Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help us examine specific patterns of thought and behavior.

The approach should fit you—not require you to fit neatly into a particular therapy model.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Portland, Maine

You do not need to wait until you feel completely ready before making a change.

Confidence often develops after we begin, not before.

If anxiety, depression, burnout, perfectionism, overthinking, or uncertainty have been keeping you from participating in your life the way you want to, ACT can provide a practical framework for understanding what is getting in the way and moving toward what matters.

I offer Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Portland, Maine as part of my work with adolescents and adults, both in-person and remotely where appropriate.

We can begin with what feels difficult right now, clarify what matters to you, and find a workable next step.

Contact me to learn more about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or to schedule an initial conversation.