ACT for Treating Children: The Essential Guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Kids

More than ever, clinicians need customizable approaches for treating children with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Written by an experienced educational psychologist, ACT for Treating Children offers clear, practical, brief, and developmentally appropriate strategies grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help children ages 5 to 12 learn effective coping skills, manage emotions, and bounce back from life's difficulties.

A brief 6-10 session protocol. Clear, practical, and developmentally appropriate strategies to help children ages 5 to 12 learn effective coping skills, manage emotions, and bounce back from life's difficulties.If you treat children struggling with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, you know that approaches designed for adults do not work with younger clients. ACT for Treating Children presents skills grounded in evidence-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help children regulate emotions and cope with the inevitable ups and downs of life, and is suitable for clinicians with no prior knowledge of or training in ACT, as well as seasoned ACT clinicians. Written by an experienced educational and developmental psychologist, this practical clinician's guide outlines a simplified version of the ACT Hexaflex-a key component of this treatment model-called the Kidflex, to help young clients build resilience and psychological flexibility. You'll also find detailed case studies, transcripts, activities, experiential exercises, worksheets, and session plans to help you develop the skillset you need to help children overcome disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression. Finally, you'll find strategies for involving parents in treatment when appropriate, and enlisting them as 'ACT coaches' in the child's therapy.It can be difficult to know where to start when using ACT for individual therapy with children. That's why the skills in this go-to guide are practical and easy-to-implement, can be done with children in both face-to-face therapy and online sessions, and are simple enough for children to put into practice in any setting-whether it's at home, in school, or out in the world.

Dr Russ Harris, M.B.B.S., is a physician and psychotherapist, working in private practice in Melbourne, Australia.

He was born in England in 1966, and graduated in medicine from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in 1989. He emigrated to Australia in 1991, where he began working as a GP. He became increasingly interested in the psychological aspects of health and wellbeing, and this interest led to a career change - from medical practitioner to therapist.

Since 2005, Russ has provided training in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) for over 80,000 health professionals around the globe. He has authored four ACT textbooks, and six ACT-based self-help books. His best-known book, The Happiness Trap, has sold over one million copies worldwide, with translations into over thirty languages.


In 2015 Russ created an ACT protocol for the WHO (World Health Organization), for use in refugee camps. The WHO have now researched and published three trials based on this protocol, showing that it not only significantly reduces depression and PTSD but also prevents the onset of mental health disorders in those at high risk. Russ also wrote and designed a cartoon-based book for the WHO (based on ACT) called Doing What Matters In Times of Stress - and this is now the most commonly downloaded mental health resource on the WHO website.