Optimism. Hope. Gratitude. Strengths. Happiness. Compassion. These are some of the topics explored by the field of positive psychology. But they are rarely words spoken by a client during a typical intake session. Why is that? Most people enter therapy because something in their life is not as they wish it would be. Whether in

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Societal attitudes towards the topics of mental health and psychotherapy are seemingly shifting. There is a growing awareness of and support for the value of mental health services. This is a welcome development. But a good deal of stigma still exists, and may be one of the major barriers people face when considering therapy. Part

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Supporting a client in connecting with their values is at the core of my therapeutic work. But through the lens of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), values aren’t simply a list of what’s most important in life. Nor are they goals to be achieved or a set of rules to live by. To be most

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Posted by Dr. Jonathan Shedler, and adapted from guidelines developed by Dr. Todd Essig and Dr. Gillian Isaacs Russel, here are 9 tips for having a good experience with online therapy/teletherapy: The most important thing is privacy. When meeting in an office, it’s the therapist’s responsibility to provide a private setting. When meeting remotely, it’s

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It’s the first word of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), it’s a foundational piece of psychological flexibility, and it’s vital to how I see the change process and how I try to help clients. Before you can effectively act to better yourself in meaningful ways, you must accept. Accept the inevitability of negative emotions alongside

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My counselling and psychotherapy practice is influenced heavily by an approach known as ACT. But what is it? ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly spoken simply as the word “act”. ACT is the process of learning skills to relate to the mind in a new way. ACT is a process-based therapy, where the

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