Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) · Brisbane CBD & Online

You don’t have to struggle against your thoughts and emotions.

With ACT, change how you respond to them, and get clear about what actually matters.

Registered psychologist providing ACT-based support for professionals in Brisbane CBD and online.

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Learn to Respond Flexibly

You might have come across ACT in a session with me, in something you’ve read, or because someone recommended it. It may be useful across a range of challenges. It’s as relevant to performing well as it is to feeling well.

ACT is an evidence-based approach built around a single idea: that a lot of the difficulty people experience isn’t from having hard thoughts and feelings (we all have them) but from the effort of fighting against them. The pressure to think positively. The energy that goes into pushing down nerves before a presentation. The internal argument with the thought that you’re not good enough.

The main aim with ACT is to help you develop psychological flexibility. It’s the capacity to experience uncomfortable thoughts and emotions without being caught up by them; choosing how to respond (rather than simply reacting) and to keep moving toward the things that matter most.

social anxiety at work event

ACT Supports You to develop six core skills

Make room for what’s difficult

This is about acceptance, not giving up or pretending things are fine. It’s the practice of allowing a difficult thought or feeling to be there. This means you aren’t wasting energy trying to fix, suppress or distract yourself from them.

Gain distance from thoughts and emotions

When our internal experiences arrive loudly, it’s hard not to get caught up in them. Defusion is a set of practical techniques that helps you step back from your experiences and gain the space that you need before acting on them.

Be present at home and work

Most of the pressure people carry lives in their worry about the future or replaying of the past. Mindfulness skills in ACT are about being able to bring your attention back to what’s in front of you, whether you’re in a meeting or with your family.

Connect with the observing self

There’s a part of you that notices your thoughts and emotions. This observing part of you doesn’t change when your experiences do and it’s always there. Connecting with it can provide a sense of steadiness when things get tough.

Know what actually matters

Values are the qualities you want to bring to your work and your personal life. They act like a guide, or a compass. They make hard decisions clearer, help you to know what to focus on, and just as importantly what to let go of.

Take meaningful actions

ACT is about more than just talking. The real work is translating the things that matter to you into things you actually do. Connecting your actions with your values helps you persist when things are hard. Often, the actions start off small, gradually building over time.

These aren’t six steps to work through in order — they reinforce each other, work together, and they’re what psychological flexibility is made of. These skills support you to make room for whatever you’re thinking and feeling, and work towards what matters most.

When might ACT be helpful?

ACT isn’t for one thing. It’s as relevant to performing well as it is to feeling well.

When things are hard

Anxiety, burnout, low mood, or the sense that you’re holding it together at work and not much else. ACT helps you gain insight into your personal patterns, change the relationship with your thoughts and emotions, and choose how you respond to them.

When things could be better

You’re performing but the cost is high, or you feel like you might be getting in your own way. Our mindset and the way we process emotions can make performing harder than it needs to be. ACT can help you uncover what’s getting in the way and build sustainable ways to perform.

When your career is changing

A restructure, a new role, or a decision no amount of thinking resolves. Change sometimes asks you to act before you feel certain or confident. ACT helps clarify the way forward, and teaches you skills to move forward while the discomfort is still there.

Working with a psychologist who understands professional life.

I’m Adam Sadd, a registered psychologist and the founder of Uplift Psychology. With 17 years of combined experience across psychology, coaching, HR, and leadership, I have a practical understanding of how workplace pressure affects how we think, feel, and perform.

I work with professionals navigating anxiety, burnout, self-doubt, and career challenges — people who take their work seriously and want practical support that’s grounded in psychology. My approach is warm, inclusive, and focused on how you think and work.

Registered
Psychologist (AHPRA)

17+ years
combined experience

Board approved
Supervisor

Background in
Psychology, HR & Leadership

→ Learn more about Adam and his approach

Rates and Rebates

Session Type

Fee

After Medicare Rebate**

Initial session (50 min)*

$320

$218.45

Subsequent sessions (50 min)

$275

$173.45

*Initial session includes onboarding, psychological assessment, and developing a customised plan

**Medicare rebate available with a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP. Private health insurance rebates may also apply depending on your level of cover — I can process most funds at time of payment.

How You Can Get Started

Step 1
Book a 15-Minute Intake Call

I’ll call you for a relaxed 15-minute conversation. Ask questions, share what you’re looking for, and decide whether Uplift Psychology feels like the right fit for you. There’s no pressure, and no obligation to commit.

Step 2
Begin With a Clear Plan

In your first session, we’ll clarify your goals, explore what’s happening for you, and introduce evidence-informed approaches. Whether short-term or ongoing, your plan will be tailored to how you think and work.

Step 3
Practical, focused sessions

Focused on what’s important to you. Each session is practical, psychology-backed and solutions-oriented. You’ll leave with insight, strategies, and a clear sense of where to direct your energy.

Initial session $320  ·  Subsequent sessions $275  ·  Medicare & Private Health Rebates Available

A 15-minute conversation. No obligation.

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→ check availability and rates

You don’t have to feel ready to take the first step

A free 15-minute intake call is all it takes to get started. There’s no pressure, and no obligation to commit.

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FAQs

No referral is needed to book an appointment with me. You can get started by booking an intake call through the client portal.

If you’d like to access a Medicare rebate for your sessions, you will need a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP. It’s worth noting that your GP will need to provide a referral as part of this process.

That depends on your goals and what you’re working on. Some people come with a specific challenge or decision and find clarity in a handful of sessions. Others prefer ongoing support to build momentum, develop skills, and work through multiple areas over time.

In your first session, we’ll discuss your goals and work out an approach that suits where you’re at — whether that’s something targeted and short-term, or a longer-term plan. There’s no set formula, just a structure that works for you.

As we work together, I can provide guidance on what frequency and duration makes sense based on your progress and goals.

Yes, and it’s one of the more common reasons people get in touch.

ACT isn’t a treatment for a diagnosis. It’s a set of skills that helps you develop psychological flexibility. It’s relevant to performance capacity as it is to your wellbeing — which is why ACT is used in workplace and performance settings as well as clinical ones. You don’t need something to be wrong to get something out of it.

Paying attention to what’s happening right now — including what you’re thinking and feeling — without immediately judging it or trying to make it different.

It isn’t: emptying your mind or relaxing. A quiet mind or calm emotional state isn’t the aim, and the practice still works when your attention is all over the place or you’re feeling pressure. Noticing when these things are happening, without struggling against them is the skill.

In ACT, mindfulness is one of six skills rather than the whole approach. It sits alongside values work and behaviour change.

Yes. ACT has been studied extensively and is supported by a substantial research base across anxiety, depression, chronic stress, and workplace wellbeing, among other areas. It’s recognised as an evidence-based approach by the Australian Psychological Society.

It’s an active, conscious choice to engage with reality as you find it, rather than fight against it. Not tolerance, not approval, and not pretending you feel fine about it — you can accept a situation and be angry about it at the same time. The paradox is that acceptance tends to leave people feeling more able to act and make change, not less.

A fair amount, and that’s by design. ACT is a behavioural approach, so much of the change happens in the situations where you actually live and work. We’ll usually agree on something specific and small between sessions — a practice to try, a conversation to have, a situation to stop avoiding — and then review how it went.

No. I’ll ask about your background as far as it’s useful for understanding what’s happening now, but ACT doesn’t require months of going through your past before anything changes. The focus is on what’s keeping you stuck currently and what you want to be different.

Both are evidence-based, both are practical, and both involve changing what you do rather than only how you think about things.

The main difference is in their approach to thoughts and emotions. CBT generally aims to reduce emotional distress by changing thoughts — examining thinking that’s become unhelpful, testing it against reality, and then changing the patterns of behaviour that keep a problem going.

ACT doesn’t directly set out to reduce difficult thoughts and feelings. It starts from a place of accepting that we all have uncomfortable thoughts and emotions, and that it’s how we engage with them that causes distress. ACT helps to change how you experience thoughts and emotions, and enables you to move towards the things that matter most.