ACT Core Therapeutic Session Checklist Cross reference

Extended Y/N Brief

Therapist stance
Held yourself as in the same boat as client?      Demonstrated ‘down-withness’1

Modeled willingness to hold uncomfortable or

     Held contradictions
contradictory ideas, feelings?

Communicated and modeled compassion &

     Modeled compassion
humanity re client’s suffering?

Called attention to client’s experience as source

     Identified experience as arbiter
of authority?

Lectured, argued, ‘taught’, convinced client or

otherwise undermined their discovery      Argued or lectured
processes?

Explained metaphors or paradoxes, or otherwise

     Validated ‘insight’
reinforced “insight” or cheap understanding?

Appropriate & willing self-disclosure?      Self-disclosed appropriately

Interventions tailored to client’s culture and

     Fit interventions to client
needs vs. delivered mechanically?

Therapist strategies are applied flexibly in

response to client needs vs. develop a ‘theory’
     Applied interventions flexibly
and stick with it hoping the client proves you
right?

Interventions and exercises emerge from the

     Sourced from here/now
client’s unique presence in the session?

Recognized ACT relevant processes and

     Supported relevant processes
supported them in service of client’s growth?

Developing acceptance/willingness and undermining experiential control

Communicated unworkability of client strategies
     Denoted unworkability
vs. ‘defectiveness’ of client?

Helped client examine experience for presence

     Detected control strategies
of emotional control strategies?

1
The feeling of being ‘down with’ the client, in the same boat, not ‘one-upping’ the client by displaying greater
intellect, insight, peacefulness or emotional integrity.

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Extended Y/N Brief

Helped client contact paradoxical effects of

     Elicited paradoxicality
control strategies?

Emphasized workability as a criterion?      Emphasized workability

Encouraged client to experiment with willingness

     Encouraged experimentation
as alternative to control?

Highlighted vitality associated with willingness

     Linked vitality to willingness
when attempted by client?

Brought client into contact with secondary pain –

     Highlighted unwillingness costs
costs to vitality – of unwillingness?

Fostered client’s experience of qualities of

     Fostered willingness experiences
willingness (choice, discrete, not wanting)?

Structured steps to practice willingness in the

     Structured willingness
face of difficult experiences?

Modeled willingness in the therapeutic

     Modeled willingness
relationship?

Detected own struggles as they occurred,

stepped out and found opportunities to teach      Discerned own struggles
client the same skill?

Undermining cognitive fusion

Identified client’s barriers to willingness?      Identified willingness barriers

Contrasted ‘mind’s’ concept of what should work

     Distinguished ‘does/should work’
vs. experience of what is/is not working?

Split client from their conceptualized experience

using metaphors, language tools and experiential Distinguished real/conceptual experience
exercises?

Revealed hidden, paradoxical and counter-

productive properties of language (e.g. Milk,      Revealed language traps
Numbers, Don’t think of…)?

Helped client recognize ‘story’ and to distinguish

     Revealed arbitrary causality
arbitrary nature of its causal relationships?

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 Extended Y/N Brief

Helped client recognize inevitability of evaluative      Revealed relentless ‘mindness’2

functions and reason-giving?      

Detected and highlighted fusion in session and

     Taught fusion traps
taught client to detect it also?

Revealed flow of private experience?      Revealed private experience

Highlighted non-toxic nature of private

Revealed ‘mind’s’ harmlessness
experiences?

Contact with the present moment

Able to defuse from client content and direct
Unhooked from client
attention to the present?

Permitted own thoughts, feelings and self to be

Permitted therapist presence
present in therapeutic relationship?

Provided exercises to expand client’s sense of

Oriented client to self-as-process
self as ongoing process?

Tracked client’s content at several levels and

Tracked content levels/forms
emphasized present when helpful?

Modeled returning to the present? Modeled ‘presencing’3

Brought client away from past/future and back to

Present-focused the client
present?

Taught client to detect own shifts away from

Taught client unhooking
present?

Self-as-context vs. Conceptualized self

Differentiated evaluations of self from evaluating
self (e.g. Thank your mind, Who’s saying that?, Differentiated context/evaluations
label evaluations, etc.)?

Employed mindfulness exercises to help client

Directed client to sac
contact Self-As-Context?

Highlighted distinction between consciousness

Distinguished content/context
and its contents/products?

2
i.e. ‘mind’-given functions such as evaluative functions, reason-giving, explanation-seeking, labelling,
privileging understanding over experience, etc.
3
i.e. the process of being present and ‘unhooking’ oneself from ‘absenting’ processes like struggling with own
reactions and evaluations.

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Extended Y/N Brief

Gave client behavioral tasks to help client

Distinguished ‘self’ behaviorally
practice distinguishing private events from self?

Helped client understand the different qualities of

self-conceptualization, just noticing events and Contacted open awareness
simple open awareness?

Defining valued directions

Helped client clarify valued life directions? Clarified valued directions

Helped client formulate a personal stand for

Formulated client stand
valued life ends?

Brought own therapy-relevant values into

Modeled coherent values
conversation and modeled them?

Helped client distinguish values from goals? Distinguished values/goals

Distinguished between outcomes and

Distinguished outcome/process
processes?

Respected client’s values and if unable to

Supported client values
support them, provided options (e.g. referral)?

Building patterns of committed action

Helped client create goals and action plan? Developed goals

Fostered permission for client to “have” barriers,

Permitted barriers
yet still make and keep commitments?

Provided experiences and language tools to

uncover sources of interference to committed Revealed barriers
actions?

Encouraged client to take small steps and get in

Encouraged small steps
contact with the quality of committed action?

Kept client focused on developing larger and

Developed action patterns
larger patterns of committed action?

Integrated slips or relapses into the experiential

Integrated slips
base for future effective action?

Fostered continual action/attention

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