ACTive Flexibility
We use the science of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) to motivate kids and teens into ACTion.
ACT teaches kids and teens how to develop their psychological flexibility and improve their sense of wellness.
ACT is interactive and experiential and uses different exercises and ACTivities to teach kids and teens using language that makes sense to them. Before kids and teens can really benefit from all aspects of the instructional environment when learning about psychological flexibility, there are several component skills that must be present. This is why we sequence these ACTivities with Fluency-Based Instruction to teach relational and cognitive skills.
As an approach to wellness, ACT is grounded in an awareness that suffering is a typical part of the human experience, and that attempts to avoid or control it ultimately lead to more distress. We have all experienced feelings of stuck-ness, caught in a mental loop and inhibited by unwanted thoughts. Without early psychological flexibility education, all kids will eventually experience unwanted thoughts and feelings that they try to avoid, control or escape from experiencing.
ACT teaches kids and teens that feelings of worry, anger, frustration and confusion don’t have to get in their way. Instead, they can learn to interact with their unwanted thoughts and feelings with flexibility so that they can commit to the ACTivities that bring them value.
To do this, we teach kids and teens the six core processes of psychological flexibility, affectionately called the Hexaflex.
Each of the Hexaflex components are interconnected:
Present Moment Awareness: this involves bringing attention to the here and now, rather than there and then.
Acceptance: this involves accepting thoughts and feelings for what they are: impermanent and in motion.
Defusion: this involves noticing thoughts and feelings rather than being defined by them or stuck.
Values: this involves identifying what’s important and using these qualities as a guide for setting goals and making decisions.
Committed Action: this involves doing things that match identified values, especially when unwanted thoughts and feelings arise.
Self-as-Context: this involves being aware that there is the ‘observing self’ who can contextualize our experiences without becoming identified with them.