How We Treat
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with licensed clinicians, in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a practical, evidence-based approach built on a simple shift: instead of spending your energy trying to control or get rid of difficult thoughts and feelings, you learn to make room for them and put your energy into living the way you want to live. You clarify what matters to you, then take steps toward it even when discomfort shows up. The aim is psychological flexibility, the ability to stay present and keep moving toward your values.
ACT has strong research support across a wide range of concerns. These are some of the conditions our clinicians use it for.
Make room for difficult feelings while you take steps back toward the things that matter.
Often alongside Exposure and Response Prevention, to loosen the grip of intrusive thoughts.
Relate differently to painful memories and reactions, so they pull you off course less often.
Reduce the suffering and life disruption that come with pain, even when the pain is still present.
Sessions are experiential, not just talk. You and your therapist work through the same few moves, at a pace you can manage.
You and your therapist name what you want your life to stand for and notice where you feel stuck.
You practice mindfulness skills that help you unhook from a difficult thought rather than wrestle with it.
You learn to let hard feelings be present without letting them run the show.
You plan a small step that moves you toward what matters, then carry it into daily life between sessions.
Several Coastwise clinicians use ACT as a core approach, often alongside CBT or DBT depending on what you need. When you reach out, we match you to a therapist whose training fits your goals.
ACT works well both in the room and over secure video. See us in San Pedro or work with a clinician anywhere in California.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps with anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, and stress. Rather than fighting to get rid of every difficult thought or feeling, it helps you make room for them while you take action toward what matters to you.
Both are practical and evidence-based, but the goal is a little different. CBT often works to change unhelpful thoughts directly, while ACT focuses on changing your relationship to those thoughts so they have less pull, then helping you move toward your values even when discomfort is present.
Psychological flexibility is the ability to stay present, make room for hard thoughts and feelings, and still do what matters to you. Building it is the core aim of ACT, and it tends to help across many different concerns.
Yes. ACT is well supported for chronic pain. It does not promise to erase pain, but it helps reduce the suffering and life disruption that often come with it, so you can do more of what matters even when pain is present.
Yes. ACT works well over secure video. We offer it in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
Call us for a free consultation and we will match you to a clinician trained in ACT.
Call (424) 536-3002 Get Started