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Coaching approaches

Acceptance and commitment coaching

Acceptance and commitment coaching applies the model of acceptance and commitment therapy to goals and performance. It helps you make room for thoughts and feelings that get in the way, and act on what matters to you while they are still present. The parent therapy has meta-analytic evidence, including a meta-analysis of 39 randomised controlled trials. The coaching form has fewer trials. The closest controlled study, Ajayi et al. (2025), is a pilot randomised controlled trial of trauma-informed acceptance and commitment therapy delivered with peer coaching to college students.

What it is

Acceptance and commitment coaching takes the model of acceptance and commitment therapy into goal-focused, non-clinical work. Its core processes include accepting difficult thoughts and feelings rather than fighting them, clarifying what you value, and taking committed action toward it. Sessions tend to use metaphor and short experiential exercises to loosen the grip of unhelpful thoughts.

It is delivered mainly by coaches trained in the model, and it borrows much of its evidence from the therapy it comes from. Its own developers describe it as a coaching application of that therapy (Blonna and Anstiss, 2018; Anstiss, 2020), and the coaching form has less controlled evidence than the parent therapy.

Where it comes from

The model comes from Steven C. Hayes and colleagues, who set out its processes and outcomes in 2006. Tim Anstiss and Richard Blonna adapted it for coaching, and Anstiss's chapter Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (2020) is one of the main coaching descriptions.

The therapy's underlying model is relational frame theory, an account of how language makes thoughts feel literally true. The coaching adaptation keeps the same processes and applies them to goals and performance.

The principles underneath

Make room, do not fight

Difficult thoughts and feelings are noticed and allowed rather than fought, since fighting them often keeps them in charge.

Thoughts as thoughts

Thoughts are treated as mental events you can observe, not as literal facts you must obey.

Values give direction

Clarifying what matters gives direction that does not depend on feeling ready.

Committed action

Small actions in line with your values are taken while discomfort is still present.

How a session runs

  1. Clarify the goal and, beneath it, what you value and want the goal to serve.
  2. Notice the thoughts and feelings that show up when you move toward that goal.
  3. Practise seeing those thoughts as thoughts, using a short exercise or metaphor, rather than arguing with them.
  4. Practise making room for an uncomfortable feeling while you keep hold of the next action.
  5. Agree one committed action to take before the next session, and review what happened.

When it tends to fit

  • You know what you want, but a strong feeling or worry keeps putting the next step on hold.
  • You find yourself fighting the same thought over and over, and the fight is taking most of your energy.
  • A value has been slipping, such as time with people you care about, and you want to act on it even when it is hard.

What the research shows

Evidence: Randomized trials or meta-analyses

For the parent therapy, a meta-analysis of 39 randomised controlled trials (1,821 patients) found that acceptance and commitment therapy outperformed control conditions, with a Hedges g of 0.57 at post-treatment and follow-up, and that it was not significantly different from cognitive behavioural therapy in the comparison reported (A-Tjak et al., 2014). The model, its processes and its outcomes are set out in Hayes et al. (2006). For the coaching form, the controlled evidence is thin. The closest study is a pilot randomised controlled trial of trauma-informed acceptance and commitment therapy delivered with peer coaching to college students (Ajayi et al., 2025). It tests therapy with a peer-coaching component, so it is not a controlled study of coaching alone. A published comment on the 2014 meta-analysis (Hertenstein and Nissen, 2015) should be read alongside the meta-analysis.

Where the evidence is thin: The trials in the meta-analysis involved patients with mental disorders or physical health problems, not coaching clients. The coaching-specific evidence is small and mostly pilot-level. The published comment on the meta-analysis should be weighed alongside its findings.

Sources

  1. Hayes, S. C., et al. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
  2. A-Tjak, J. G. L., Davis, M. L., Morina, N., Powers, M. B., et al. (2014). A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Clinically Relevant Mental and Physical Health Problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
  3. Hertenstein, E., & Nissen, C. (2015). Comment on 'A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Clinically Relevant Mental and Physical Health Problems'. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
  4. Ajayi, A. A., Schachter, J., Goblirsch, N., & Zhou, R. (2025). Trauma-informed acceptance and commitment therapy with peer coaching for college students: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Journal of Counseling Psychology.
  5. Blonna, R., & Anstiss, T. (2018). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-Based Coaching. In Professional Coaching.
  6. Anstiss, T. (2020). Acceptance and Commitment Coaching. In The Coaches' Handbook.

Where it stops

This is not a treatment for anxiety, depression, trauma or other conditions. If any of those is active, see a qualified clinician; acceptance and commitment therapy is an evidence-based therapy in its own right, delivered by trained therapists.

Acceptance can be mistaken for giving up. If someone is accepting a situation that is unsafe for them, a coach should stop and point them toward appropriate help.

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