Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Stratford & Online Across Ontario

Learn to sit with what’s hard—while still moving toward what matters.

If you’ve been doing everything you can to avoid your thoughts, numb your feelings, or outrun your anxiety, it might feel like you’re stuck in a cycle you can’t break.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers a new approach—not by trying to fix or erase your inner struggles, but by helping you make peace with them and live more fully alongside them.

What is ACT?

ACT (pronounced “act,” not A-C-T) is an evidence-based therapy that blends mindfulness, acceptance strategies, and values-based action.
Instead of fighting against painful thoughts and emotions, ACT helps you:

  • Accept what’s out of your control

  • Defuse from unhelpful mental stories

  • Reconnect with your values

  • Commit to actions that move you toward a more meaningful life

It’s not about forcing positivity—it’s about building psychological flexibility, so you can show up for your life, even when things feel hard.

What Can ACT Help With?

ACT is a powerful approach for many struggles, including:

  • Anxiety and panic

  • Depression and low mood

  • Trauma and PTSD

  • OCD and intrusive thoughts

  • Chronic pain or illness

  • Perfectionism

  • Life transitions and decision paralysis

  • Grief and loss

  • Burnout and emotional exhaustion

If your mind feels like your worst enemy, or you’re constantly wrestling with self-doubt, ACT helps you unhook from those thoughts and reconnect with the things that truly matter to you.

How ACT Works in Therapy

In ACT, therapy isn’t about digging endlessly into the past or fixing what's “wrong” with you. Instead, you’ll learn how to:

  • Notice and name your inner experience without judgment

  • Create distance from unhelpful thoughts (so they don’t run the show)

  • Ground yourself in the present moment using mindfulness-based tools

  • Clarify your values—what really matters to you, even in the messiness

  • Take meaningful action toward those values, one small step at a time

It’s a deeply empowering, forward-focused approach that meets you where you are and helps you build a life that feels real and aligned.

Why ACT at Reclaim & Rise?

We get that trying to "think your way out of it" hasn't worked. And we know that pretending everything's fine only adds to the weight.

At Reclaim & Rise, our ACT-trained therapists help you gently shift how you relate to your thoughts and emotions—so you can stop the inner war and start moving forward again.
We hold space for the hard stuff, without judgment—and walk with you as you reconnect to the version of life you actually want to live.

You Don’t Have to Wait for the Fear to Go Away First

If you’ve been waiting until you feel ready, brave enough, or “healed” enough to make a change—this might be your moment.

ACT teaches you how to bring compassion to your pain and take action anyway—anchored in your values, not your fears.

Book your free consultation below. Let’s get you unstuck—not by fighting yourself, but by moving forward together.