ACT Therapy in Los Angeles for LGBTQ+, BIPOC & Neurodivergent Communities
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based approach that helps you build a life rooted in what matters to you. Our ACT therapists Ariadna Armenta LCSW #102477 & Christina Harrison LCSW #99941 in Los Angeles provide affirming care for LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and neurodivergent adults.
supporting ACT's effectiveness
than comparison treatments(APA, 2016)
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What Is ACT Therapy?
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) has been found to be highly effective for anxiety, depression, substance use, chronic pain, OCD and dysmorphia. Unlike approaches that focus on eliminating painful thoughts and feelings, ACT teaches you to change your relationship to them. It helps you to build a life guided by your values rather than your fears. At Nokdu, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and ACT are some of the top down approaches we use to support you in gaining understanding and concrete tools to manage emotional pain.
The word "acceptance" in ACT is not about giving up or tolerating the intolerable. It means actively making room for difficult inner experiences without letting them control your choices. The word "commitment" refers to taking meaningful action in the direction of what matters most to you, even in the presence of discomfort.
At the heart of ACT is the concept of psychological flexibility. This is the ability to be present, open, and engaged with your life, regardless of what your mind is doing. This is a skill that can be learned and practiced, and research shows it produces lasting change across a wide range of mental health challenges.
At Nokdu Therapy, our Los Angeles ACT therapists bring a liberation-centered, culturally responsive lens to this work. For LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and neurodivergent clients, suffering is often shaped by systemic oppression, chronic invalidation, and intergenerational trauma. ACT offers tools to build a thriving life even within that reality. You can learn to hold pain without being consumed by it, while staying connected to what matters to you.
Make room for difficult thoughts, feelings, and sensations to pass instead of fighting or avoiding them.
Learn to observe your thoughts rather than fusing with them. See them as words, not necessarily as facts or reality.
Develop the capacity to be here and now. Lean into curiosity and openness, rather than feeling stuck in the past or future.
Connect to the part of you that observes all your experiences but is not defined by any of them.
Get clear on what matters to you. Develop your personal compass for how you want to move through the world.
Take meaningful steps toward living within your values, even in the presence of fear, pain, or uncertainty.
ACT for Anxiety, Depression & Beyond
ACT is one of the most broadly applicable therapeutic approaches available. Research supports its effectiveness for a wide range of experiences, particularly those rooted in experiential avoidance and disconnection from values.
Anxiety & Chronic Worry
ACT reduces anxiety not by eliminating it, but by changing your relationship to anxious thoughts so they no longer control your choices.
Depression & Low Mood
ACT helps you re-engage with life and meaning even when while you're in a depressive episode. Values-based action is itself part of the healing process.
Trauma & PTSD
ACT can complement trauma therapy by helping you hold pain without avoidance, and connecting to a sense of self that is not solely defined by your traumas.
OCD & Intrusive Thoughts
ACT's defusion techniques help reduce the power of intrusive thoughts without requiring you to eliminate or neutralize them.
Burnout & Life Transitions
ACT's values clarification is especially powerful for people navigating major transitions, identity questions, or a sense of being lost.
Racial Trauma & Systemic Stress
ACT's acceptance work is not about accepting injustice. It's about holding pain without being consumed by it, so you can keep building toward what matters.
ACT Through a Liberation-Centered Lens
Standard ACT was developed in a Western, predominantly white context, with concepts appropriated from our BIPOC communities. At Nokdu Therapy, we hold ACT's framework alongside a critical, anti-oppression lens. Psychological flexibility can look different when you are navigating racism, transphobia, xenophobia, or intergenerational trauma at the same time.
Affirming the Full Spectrum of Who You Are
ACT's values clarification work is especially powerful for LGBTQ+ clients learning to discern their own values from messages received from family systems, religions, and cultural contexts that may not have affirmed them.
Holding Collective and Individual Pain
For BIPOC folks, some of what ACT invites you to "accept" is based in the lived reality of navigating racism and marginalization. Our therapists hold that distinction. We help you build psychological flexibility while acknowledging the conditions we exist in.
ACT for Neurodivergent Adults
ACT's defusion techniques and mindfulness practices can be especially helpful for neurodivergent adults experiencing shame spirals, emotional intensity, or the exhaustion of masking. We adapt the approach to work with your needs, not against them.
Decolonizing the Values Process
Standard ACT values work can inadvertently center individualistic, Western notions of a "good life." At Nokdu, we recognize that values are often deeply relational, communal, and culturally shaped. We hold space for that complexity throughout the work.
Your Path to ACT Therapy in LA
ACT therapy at Nokdu Therapy is collaborative, flexible, and tailored to you. Here's what to expect.
Free 20–30 Minute Consultation
Connect with one of our Los Angeles ACT therapists at no charge. We'll hear what's bringing you in, share how we work, and confirm whether we're a good fit. It's no pressure, just a real conversation.
Intake, Assessment & Getting to Know You
Your therapist will take time to genuinely understand your history, your patterns, what you've already tried, and what matters most to you. We'll talk about what you want to get out of therapy and how to make that happen.
Psychoeducation & Building the Foundation
You'll develop a clear understanding of how ACT works and why the struggles you've been having make complete sense. This phase often brings its own relief by finally having language for what's been happening.
Active Skills Work & Values Exploration
Sessions incorporate the six core ACT processes in a way that is grounded in your lived experience. This includes the specific contexts of your identities, your history, and the systemic realities you navigate.
Committed Action & Integration
As therapy deepens, the focus shifts toward taking consistent steps toward a values-aligned life. Telehealth options are available throughout Los Angeles and all of California.
Meet Our ACT-Trained Therapists
Our ACT therapists in Los Angeles bring clinical training, lived experience, and deep commitment to working with BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent communities.
Ariadna Armenta (she/her), LCSW #102477
Ariadna identifies as a first-generation Latine bisexual, femme therapist who is trained in ACT, DBT and EMDR. She uses mindfulness to foster self-compassion and commitment in the service of living a life aligned with your values. Ariadna brings an intersectional lens to her work with adults navigating depression, anxiety, trauma, poly, and identity.
Christina Harrison (they/them; she/her), LCSW #99941
Christina is a first-generation, queer, Filipinx-Jamaican American femme therapist who is trained in ACT, DBT, CBT and IFS. Christina centers mindfulness, self-compassion, and commitment to self in the service of living a full life even with the discomfort and challenges that come with it.
ACT Therapy Across Greater Los Angeles
We serve clients via telehealth anywhere in California, and in person in West LA.
Common Questions About ACT in LA
What is the difference between ACT and CBT?
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) primarily works by identifying and changing unhelpful thought patterns. The goal is to develop more "accurate" cognitive frameworks. ACT takes a slightly different approach. Rather than changing the content of thoughts, it changes your relationship to them. ACT doesn't ask whether a thought is true or false. It asks whether that perspective works for you. Both are evidence-based, and our therapists are trained in both approaches and can integrate them when helpful.
Is ACT effective for anxiety and depression?
Yes! ACT has strong research support for both. For anxiety, ACT helps by reducing experiential avoidance: the pattern of organizing your life around avoiding anxious feelings, which paradoxically keeps anxiety central. For depression, ACT's values clarification and committed action work can help you begin re-engaging with life to get out of stuck patterns.
How is ACT different from mindfulness-based therapy?
ACT includes mindfulness as one of its core components. Mindfulness in ACT is in service of building psychological flexibility and taking committed action toward your values. ACT adds cognitive defusion, acceptance, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action as distinct practices. Think of mindfulness as one practice inside a larger, values-directed framework.
Does ACT work via telehealth?
Yes. Telehealth ACT therapy is highly effective and allows you to practice skills in the same environment where challenges typically arise. We offer secure video sessions to clients throughout Los Angeles and all of California.
Can ACT help with racial trauma and systemic stress?
Yes! This is an area that Nokdu is deeply committed to. ACT's acceptance work is not about accepting injustice or systemic harm. It's about learning to hold the pain that comes from those realities without being consumed by it, so you can build a life that works for you. Our therapists bring a liberation-centered, anti-racist framework to ACT, and understand the difference between adaptive acceptance and the harmful pressure to simply be okay with things that are not okay.
Is ACT covered by insurance?
We are not in network with any insurance companies. If your PPO plan confirms they will reimburse you for out-of-network services, you will automatically receive a superbill at the beginning of each month to submit to your insurance. We also have limited sliding scale spots available for those for whom finances are a barrier. Please ask about this during your free consultation.
How long does ACT therapy typically take?
The length of treatment depends on the complexity of what you're bringing and what you're working toward. Some clients find significant shifts in 12–16 sessions. Others work with us for longer, especially when processing complex trauma, identity-related pain, or patterns with deep roots.
Ready to Begin ACT Therapy in Los Angeles?
Schedule a free 20–30 minute consultation with one of our ACT therapists. Telehealth available statewide throughout California.