Helping Patients to accept themselves and their circumstances without judgement

At Mind over Matter Behavioral Services, we offer Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help boost your psychological flexibility and align your actions with what really matters to you, all within the framework of ABA. We use the AIM (Accept, Identify, Move) and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) curriculum to help teach and promote the use of 6 major skills which include: 

1. Acceptance: Instead of fighting against your feelings or thoughts, you learn to accept them without judging yourself. It’s like saying, “Okay, this is how I feel right now.”
2. Cognitive Defusion: This skill helps you step back from your stressful or encompassing or persistent thoughts that take you out of the present moment. We help individuals learn to see them as just thoughts, not facts. It’s like putting a little distance between you and your mind chatter.
3. Present Moment (Mindfulness): ACT uses mindfulness to help you focus on the here and now. You learn to pay attention to what’s happening around you and inside you without getting caught up in worries about the past or future. This can help individuals experience life more fully and engage with the word around them without as much mental distraction or stress. 
4. Self as Context: This skill is about seeing yourself from a bigger perspective. It’s like being the observer of your thoughts and feelings, rather than being totally wrapped up in them. We promote positive self talk and self love strategies to help establish this perceptive in and outside the treatment setting. 
5. Values: ACT encourages you to figure out what really matters to you in life. Once you know your values, you can set real and measurable goals that align with those things that matter most to you. 
6. Committed Action: This skill focuses on taking your values and putting them into action. ACT is focused on making true behavior changes in your life, not just talking or planning what could be. This skill is centered on you taking steps toward your goals, even when it’s tough. It’s about making choices based on your values, not just what’s easy or comfortable.

By practicing these skills, ACT helps you become more flexible in how you handle challenges and make choices. It’s about living a richer, more meaningful life based on what’s important to you, even when life throws curveballs.