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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) at Quest Wellness Center is an evidence-based psychological treatment for stress, anxiety, depression, OCD, substance abuse, and alcoholism. Rather than fighting difficult emotions, ACT teaches you to accept them, step back from unhelpful thoughts, and take action guided by your values. We offer it in individual and group settings. We accept most commercial PPO plans with out-of-network benefits.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a psychological intervention designed to treat a wide range of conditions, including stress, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse, and alcoholism. Instead of trying to eliminate or avoid painful feelings, ACT encourages you to embrace your emotions, live in line with your personal values, and build greater mental flexibility. The goal is not to feel good all the time but to live a meaningful life even when difficult thoughts and feelings are present. That shift, from controlling emotions to working alongside them, is what makes ACT effective across so many conditions.
ACT uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies to guide you toward healthier coping. By practicing presence and acceptance, you learn to shift your relationship with pain and discomfort rather than being ruled by it. A central insight of ACT is that much of our suffering comes from resisting negative emotions or clinging to positive ones; by learning to coexist with emotions instead, you stop letting them dictate your actions. Distressing emotions can act as signals that point to unresolved experiences, and painful feelings often highlight thinking patterns that no longer serve you. Mindfulness is what makes this possible: it creates enough space between you and a difficult thought or feeling that you can notice it, accept it, and choose your response rather than react automatically. Working with those signals rather than running from them builds emotional resilience and frees you to make choices based on your values.
ACT places real emphasis on understanding how past experiences and learned associations shape present behavior. A simple example: a child who gets trapped in an elevator may grow into an adult who avoids elevators entirely, even though the original danger is long gone. That fear comes from an outdated association that keeps influencing behavior in the present. ACT techniques help you identify distorted thoughts and harsh self-judgments, and with that awareness you can interrupt maladaptive behaviors and self-sabotage before they take over. A therapist helps you face these emotions, decide whether to accept them, and then take action aligned with your values rather than your fears.
ACT is structured around six interrelated principles that work together to build psychological flexibility, the ability to stay present and act on your values even in the face of difficult thoughts and feelings:
Psychological flexibility is the outcome of all six working together. It is what allows you to respond to hard moments with intention rather than reacting out of fear or avoidance.
ACT is effective across a broad range of mental health and substance use conditions, which is part of why it is used so widely. At Quest, it supports clients dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, and OCD, and it is a strong fit for people working through addiction and alcoholism, where the skill of sitting with cravings and difficult emotions without acting on them is directly useful. Because ACT targets the underlying relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior rather than a single diagnosis, it works well for clients managing more than one condition at once, including co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
The goal of ACT at Quest is not to eliminate discomfort but to help you live a more meaningful and fulfilling life alongside it. By accepting emotions and practicing mindfulness, you gain the freedom to pursue what matters rather than being controlled by fear or avoidance. ACT sessions aim for more than short-term symptom relief; they build a foundation for lasting change, healthier relationships, and personal growth rooted in your own values. For many clients, that is the difference between managing symptoms and actually moving forward.
Quest Wellness Center accepts most commercial PPO plans with out-of-network benefits, and we verify your coverage before treatment begins. What you pay depends on your plan, deductible, and coinsurance. Call (818) 275-9810 or verify your insurance to get exact numbers for your plan.
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At Quest, ACT is delivered in both individual and group therapy, which makes it adaptable to each client’s needs. In individual sessions, you work one-on-one with a trained therapist to process specific events and emotions in a safe, supportive setting. In group settings, ACT skills are practiced alongside others working through similar challenges, which adds perspective and shared accountability. ACT is integrated into personalized treatment plans across our programs rather than offered as a stand-alone technique, so the acceptance and values work connects to the rest of your care. The benefits clients see include reduced symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and OCD, improved coping with addiction and substance abuse, stronger alignment with personal values, and greater resilience in everyday life.
ACT is an evidence-based therapy that teaches you to accept difficult emotions, step back from unhelpful thoughts, and take action guided by your values, building what is called psychological flexibility. It treats anxiety, depression, OCD, stress, and addiction.
They are acceptance, cognitive defusion, contact with the present moment, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action. Together they build psychological flexibility, the goal of ACT.
ACT is used for stress, anxiety, depression, OCD, substance abuse, and alcoholism. Because it targets the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior, it also works well for co-occurring conditions.
Both are evidence-based, but where CBT often focuses on changing or challenging unhelpful thoughts, ACT focuses on changing your relationship to them, accepting difficult thoughts and feelings while acting on your values. Many treatment plans use both.
Yes. ACT is well suited to addiction and alcoholism because it builds the skill of sitting with cravings and difficult emotions without acting on them, while reconnecting you to the values that support recovery.
Both. Quest delivers ACT in individual sessions and in group settings, and integrates it into personalized treatment plans across our programs.
Quest offers ACT in person at our facility and through secure online therapy. Call (818) 275-9810 to find out whether ACT fits your needs.
ACT is delivered within our therapy and outpatient programs, so it generally follows your plan’s behavioral-health benefits. Quest works with most PPO plans as an out-of-network provider and verifies your benefits before you start.
Call (818) 275-9810 or verify your insurance to start Acceptance and Commitment Therapy at Quest Wellness Center.
Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, MA
Medically reviewed by Verta Keshishyan, AMFT (Associate Marriage and Family Therapist), registered with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and supervised by Ari Labowitz, LMFT. Verta has three years of experience with the Department of Mental Health supporting low-income families and families in crisis.
We specialize in treatments for mental health issues and co-occurring disorders.
We concentrate on mental health treatments and co-occurring conditions.
We provide a personalized approach to care.
We possess many years of relevant experience and a strong track record of success.
Our partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs provide choices for morning, afternoon, or evening sessions.
We offer case management grounded in clinical evidence.
Experience a secure setting that allows you to concentrate on healing and maintaining a healthy way of life.
We provide opportunities to engage with individuals at every phase of recovery.
We accept most commercial PPO plans with out-of-network benefits. Coverage and costs vary by plan, and we verify your benefits before treatment.
ACT is a strong fit for adults who feel stuck in cycles of avoidance, worry, or self-criticism, and for those whose previous attempts to control or suppress difficult feelings have not worked. It helps people dealing with anxiety, depression, OCD, and chronic stress, and it is especially useful for clients in addiction recovery, where learning to sit with cravings and uncomfortable emotions without acting on them is a core skill. Because ACT is about building psychological flexibility rather than treating a single diagnosis, it suits people managing more than one challenge at once and those who want practical tools they can keep using after treatment ends. If you tend to judge yourself harshly or avoid situations that trigger discomfort, the acceptance and defusion skills at the heart of ACT are designed for exactly that.
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We accept most commercial PPO plans with out-of-network benefits. Coverage and costs vary by plan, and we verify your benefits before treatment.
