Ep. 54: ACT for Occupational Therapists - Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Any OT Setting

ACT for Occupational Therapists: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Any OT Setting

Have you ever worked with clients who seem stuck? The ones who don't follow through on goals they set themselves, the ones often labeled with judgy terms like "non-compliant" or "unmotivated"? As occupational therapists, we're often called in when all else has failed. But when psychosocial barriers keep people from engaging in meaningful occupations, we need tools that work with the internal experiences creating those obstacles.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers occupational therapists a powerful, trauma-informed framework for helping clients unhook from difficult thoughts, feelings, and sensations so they can move toward the occupations that matter to them. Whether you practice in physical rehab, pediatrics, mental health, persistent pain, or community settings, ACT can integrate into your OT approach.

In This Episode, I Discuss:

- The experience of clients being "hooked" and moving away from meaningful occupations despite having goals they care about
- The ACT choice point model: toward moves versus away moves and what that means for occupational engagement
- How the six core processes of ACT break down into mindfulness-based tools and values-based action (aka meaningful occupation)
- The four ACT processes that help clients be more flexibly responsive to difficult internal experiences
- Why ACT feels aligned with trauma-informed, humanistic, collaborative approaches to occupational therapy practice
- How "open up, be present, do what matters" translates to occupational therapy
- Practical ways ACT fits into OT sessions across different practice settings

About My Practical ACT for OTs Course

The Practical ACT for OTs Course is clinical education designed specifically for occupational therapists who want to integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into their practice. It is a psychosocial skill for any area of practice.

The course includes:

• Eight asynchronous video modules (approximately 4.5 hours of content with limitless access)
• Optional live group calls twice a month to discuss clinical applications and nuance
• Online community of OT peers learning and applying ACT
• Resource library with tools you can use immediately in practice
• Support for applying ACT across all OT settings

More than 150 occupational therapists have taken this course, and it's designed to help you add ACT tools to your clinical toolkit without feeling overwhelmed.

Learn more and register today for our February 1, 2026 cohort: www.balanceworks.online/act-for-ots
If you're listening at a later time, please check the website to see if we're actively accepting registrations for an upcoming cohort.

Connect With Carlyn

All my links

About The BRAVE OT Podcast

The BRAVE OT Podcast features occupational therapists doing innovative work and navigating the challenges of building meaningful careers in OT. Host Carlyn Neek is an occupational therapist, educator, and coach who works with OTs through clinical education, business coaching, and community support.