Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Denver
A values-led approach for making room for difficult feelings while moving toward what matters.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you relate differently to painful thoughts and emotions while taking meaningful steps toward the life you want. Instead of fighting every feeling, ACT supports flexibility, clarity, and values-based action.
ACT may help when you are navigating:
- Anxiety, worry, or intrusive thoughts
- Depression, stuckness, or loss of motivation
- Avoidance, perfectionism, or fear of failure
- Life transitions, identity questions, grief, or burnout
Values-based support
A way forward that does not require every feeling to disappear first.
Many people wait to act until anxiety, sadness, fear, or uncertainty goes away. ACT offers a different path: learning how to make space for difficult inner experiences while moving toward what matters.
This does not mean ignoring pain or forcing yourself through it. It means building psychological flexibility so thoughts and feelings have less control over your choices.
ACT can be a helpful fit when you want therapy that is practical, mindful, compassionate, and connected to your values.
Common reasons people choose ACT
You can move toward meaning, even when discomfort is present.
ACT supports clients who feel stuck in avoidance, overthinking, self-criticism, or choices that no longer align with the life they want.
Avoidance
You avoid discomfort, uncertainty, conversations, or decisions, even when avoidance keeps life smaller.
Anxiety and worry
Thoughts feel loud, urgent, or convincing, and they pull you away from what matters.
Depression and stuckness
You feel disconnected from meaning, motivation, pleasure, or direction.
Perfectionism
Fear of mistakes, judgement, or failure keeps you from taking meaningful steps.
Life transitions
Change has raised questions about identity, priorities, grief, or what comes next.
Burnout
You feel depleted and unsure how to reconnect with values, rest, and boundaries.
Self-criticism
Your inner dialogue is harsh, rigid, or focused on not being enough.
Relationship patterns
Fear, people-pleasing, resentment, or avoidance affects connection and communication.
How therapy can help
ACT helps you build flexibility around thoughts, feelings, and choices.
An ACT-informed therapist can help you notice painful thoughts without being ruled by them, make space for emotions without getting swallowed by them, and identify values that can guide your next steps.
Notice the hook
Learn to recognize thoughts, feelings, and urges that pull you away from your values.
Make room
Practise acceptance and mindfulness skills so discomfort does not have to control every choice.
Choose values
Clarify what matters and take doable steps toward a more meaningful life.
Our approach
Mindful, compassionate, values-led care.
ACT at Denver Mental Health Collective is practical and reflective. Your therapist can help you understand where avoidance, fear, or self-protection makes sense while also helping you reconnect with values and choice.
ACT may be integrated with CBT, mindfulness, DBT skills, trauma-informed care, or relational work depending on your needs. The work is not about getting rid of every painful thought. It is about building a life that has room for meaning, connection, and courage.
Values-led
Therapy connects coping and change to what matters most to you.
Mindfulness-based
You learn to notice thoughts and feelings without automatically obeying them.
Flexible
ACT supports new responses when old strategies keep you stuck.
Compassionate
The work respects why avoidance developed while helping you choose something different.
Meet Our Denver ACT Therapists
Our Denver therapists offer ACT-informed support for anxiety, depression, burnout, identity, grief, life transitions, avoidance, and values-based change.
Austin Papini
Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate
Supports clients with mindfulness, emotion regulation, communication, distress tolerance, and values-based change.
Amanda Giltz
Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate
Supports adolescents, adults, and older adults navigating burnout, anxiety, life transitions, relationships, and stress.
Rachel Greear
Licensed Provisional Counselor Candidate
Supports adolescents and adults with anxiety, identity, relationships, school stress, and emotional growth.
Jamie Kinley
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Offers trauma-informed, relational care with a thoughtful approach to identity, emotion, and meaningful change.
WHAT TO EXPECT
A grounded process for starting ACT-informed care
Starting ACT-informed therapy does not require you to have everything figured out. The first step is a conversation about what you need, what feels difficult, and which therapist may be the right fit.
Start with a consultation
Use the free consultation to ask questions, share what brings you in, and see whether this approach may fit.
Clarify the focus
Your therapist helps you identify goals, patterns, strengths, and the kind of support that feels useful.
Begin with support
Together, you build a steady process that can include insight, skills, practice, and reflection between sessions.
Questions
Common questions about ACT.
Does ACT mean accepting things I do not like?
No. Acceptance in ACT means making room for difficult inner experiences so they do not control your choices. It does not mean approving of harmful situations or giving up on change.
Is ACT practical or reflective?
It can be both. ACT includes mindfulness, values clarification, and practical action steps that connect therapy to daily life.
Can ACT help with anxiety?
Yes. ACT can help you relate differently to anxious thoughts and feelings while continuing to move toward meaningful goals.
What are values in ACT?
Values are qualities or directions that matter to you, such as connection, honesty, creativity, courage, care, learning, or presence.
Can ACT be combined with other therapies?
Yes. ACT can be integrated with CBT, DBT, mindfulness, trauma-informed care, and relational therapy.
How do I know if ACT is the right fit?
A free consultation can help you talk through your goals and whether ACT-informed therapy may match what you need.
Related support
You may also be interested in
If this approach is not the exact fit, these related services may also support your next step in therapy.
Individual Counseling
One-on-one support for anxiety, depression, trauma, identity, transitions, and stress.
Family Counseling
Support for families navigating communication, conflict, parenting stress, transitions, or repair.
Teen Therapy
Support for adolescents navigating emotions, identity, school stress, family dynamics, and mental health concerns.
EMDR Treatment
Structured support for trauma, distressing memories, anxiety, and experiences that feel hard to process.
You do not have to wait until every hard feeling disappears before moving forward. ACT-informed therapy can help you take the next step with more clarity and care.