ACT Coaching on the Sunshine Coast
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles explained in plain language
- Values, mindfulness and noticing unhelpful thinking patterns
- ACT-related professional development documented from 2016 to 2026
Notice Your Thoughts & Choose Your Actions
A difficult thought need not determine what happens next. In ACT coaching with Lesley Sayers & Associates on the Sunshine Coast, I introduce ideas drawn from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, including noticing thoughts, making room for feelings and identifying values. We discuss how you relate to experiences and choices. You decide which part to explore further.
ACT principles can be useful topics for a coaching conversation when life feels dominated by worry, avoidance or self-criticism. This is coaching rather than an offer to diagnose or treat a clinical condition. If a practical life decision is your central concern, life coaching may provide a broader starting point for discussion.
Call 0419 845 203 to ask about a free introductory session, or send an enquiry.
Acceptance, Awareness & Values
ACT examines thoughts, feelings and choices. In coaching, I explain its principles in approachable language, considering common everyday situations together:
- Noticing thoughts: We explore how thoughts show up during everyday situations. A thought can be acknowledged without automatically treating it as an instruction.
- Making room for feelings: ACT includes acceptance of difficult internal experiences rather than a constant effort to remove them. We can discuss what that idea means within your own circumstances.
- Values & direction: Values describe what matters to someone across areas such as relationships and work. I ask questions about how your choices relate to the values you identify.
- Mindful attention & action: Present-moment attention can form part of ACT exercises. We then discuss possible actions without promising a particular emotional or health outcome.
What ACT-Informed Coaching Involves
I begin by asking what brings you to coaching and which areas of life you would like to discuss. During the free introductory session, we cover the coaching process and the information you may choose to share. I then provide a Client Profile about your circumstances and contact details. Before continuing, we review a client agreement and confidentiality statement.
In later sessions, I may explain ACT concepts such as acceptance, noticing and cognitive defusion, a term for changing how we respond to thoughts rather than trying to erase them. We can consider exercises or reflection tasks between sessions and return to what you noticed at the next appointment. You can ask questions about those exercises before deciding whether to try them. If your concerns involve ADHD, trauma, insomnia, depression or anxiety, a healthcare professional remains the appropriate contact for diagnosis and clinical treatment.
FAQs
ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, an approach that explores thoughts, feelings, values and action. ACT-informed coaching draws on selected principles without necessarily providing clinical therapy.
Cognitive defusion means learning to observe a thought as a thought rather than treating it automatically as a fact or command. Exercises may involve naming or noticing thoughts while considering what matters in the situation.
No, coaching is not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment of these conditions. A suitably qualified healthcare professional can advise on clinical assessment and treatment options.