Virtual ACT | Northpoint Counseling
Learn skills to manage life's challenges
What Is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, also known as “ACT” (pronounced just like the verb “act”), is a mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy that was developed by Dr. Steven Hayes, PhD in the mid-1980s. ACT is among the “third wave” of cognitive behavioral therapies (including dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT), which incorporate mindfulness and acceptance based strategies into existing cognitive and behavioral interventions.
How does ACT work?
ACT acknowledges that as we go through life, we will inevitably encounter difficult or painful experiences. According to ACT, thoughts, feelings, and urges in and of themselves are not the problem. Rather, it’s how we respond to them- either through avoidance or other “emotional control” strategies (e.g., trying to get rid of uncomfortable feelings or not think about distressing thoughts)- that ultimately creates or worsens psychological suffering.
ACT Can Help You create a rich and meaningful life
When working from an ACT perspective, you’ll learn to bring your attention and awareness to the present moment, allowing thoughts, feelings, and urges to come and go while engaging fully in whatever you’re doing at the time. You’ll also learn strategies for managing painful experiences more effectively so that they have less influence over you. Finally, we’ll identify what’s important to you (i.e., who you want to be, and what kind of life you want to have), and then use those values to guide your choices, helping you create the life you Seek.
FAQ's
When you click Book a Free Consultation, you’ll be scheduled for a free 20-minute phone consultation. This will be an opportunity for us to begin getting to know one another and to decide whether working together might be a good fit. I’ll be interested to hear a little bit about what brings you to therapy and what you’re looking for. We’ll also address any additional questions you have about the process.
If you decide to move forward, the next step will be to schedule your 90-minute intake session. This session will primarily be spent completing an assessment that will help me to get to know you better, including what brings you to therapy, your history, and any other factors that might be contributing to the issue of concern. We’ll also discuss your goals for treatment and work together to create a “treatment plan” or outline for how we’ll work together to achieve those goals.
After the initial 90-minute session, we’ll decide together how often you’d like to meet and how long you’d like each session to last. Typically, we’ll meet weekly for up to 50-minutes as we’re getting to know one another, but that’s open to change as we build rapport and begin making progress towards your goals.
If, at any point in this process, we decide that working together will not be a good fit, I’ll help you to find another resource or provider that might be a better fit for your needs.
For rates and help with insurance eligibility visit:
Great question! I’d like to be able to give you a straightforward answer, but it’s difficult to say for sure. That’s because every person and situation is so unique- while some people might only need 8-12 sessions, others might spend a year or more in therapy. It also depends on the style of therapy you’re looking for, whether that’s highly structured and goal-oriented or more exploratory and insight based.
What I can tell you is that we’ll discuss this further within the first session or two after I’ve had a chance to get to know you better. Typically, we’ll start with 12 sessions and reassess together from there. That being said, therapy typically “ends” when you feel that you’ve met your goals or gotten to the place that you came here for.
A “typical” session will vary slightly from individual to individual and largely depends on your goals and expectations for treatment. We’ll most often begin by checking in on how you’ve been feeling and coping between sessions, as well as reviewing any “homework” that may have been assigned in the previous session.
Then we’ll set an “agenda” for our session that day. As much as possible, I prefer to let clients take the lead on what they want to talk about or work on in a given session. Generally speaking, you’ll be asked to reflect, express your feelings, consider alternatives, and get comfortable with the uncomfortable! While this might feel new and intimidating at first, I’ll be there to support you along the way.
Online therapy looks much the same as in-person therapy, aside from the fact that we won’t be sharing a physical space. You can think of it kind of like meeting with your therapist over Facetime or Zoom, except that I’ll be using a HIPAA-compliant software that is secure and abides by health information and patient privacy laws.
In fact, the most recent studies to date suggest that online therapy is just as effective as in-person therapy, with several added benefits. For those who live in remote locations or have transportation concerns, online therapy helps to remove those barriers and promote access to care (not to mention the time saved commuting to and from your session or the freedom to join the session from the comfort of your own home).
That being said, online therapy is not a fit for every person and situation. We’ll discuss this further during your initial phone consultation to ensure that online therapy will be the right fit for you. If for whatever reason, it’s not, I’ll provide you with alternative resources for in-person therapy to better suit your needs.
When you schedule an appointment with me, that time is set aside just for you. With this in mind, I request at least 24 hours notice in advance of a cancellation. You may call 320-200-4190 to cancel your appointment, or send an e-mail to britt@northpointmn.com.
Missed appointments (i.e. “no-shows”) or appointments canceled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged at 50% of the full session fee. I allow a 15-minute “grace period” for late arrivals, after which point the session will be counted as a “no-show” and will need to be rescheduled. Since every session is allotted a specific time, I am unable to extend that time for late arrivals. Please be advised that late arrivals will end at the scheduled time, and will be billed the full 50-minute session fee.
