Acceptance and commitment coaching

1. Introduction

Version followed: Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (ACC) as set out by Jon Hill and Joe Oliver, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching: Distinctive Features (Routledge, 2019). I used its published structure (30 chapters, six core processes, a six-session model). For how each process is used in coaching I followed Passmore & Leach (2022/2023) and Skews & Palmer (2016); for the ACT Matrix, the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) pages by its developers. The book's chapter text is not openly available, so wherever this guide gives procedure inside a chapter heading, it is marked [synthesis] or [uncertain].

What it is. ACC applies Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and its theory to coaching. Coaching here means work with generally well-functioning people on performance, development, well-being and resilience [source: Routledge book page; ICF referral guide]. It is a coaching model, not a psychotherapy. Its developers address coaches, coaching psychologists, executive coaches and "ACT practitioners" moving into coaching. That makes it directly relevant to a psychotherapist who also coaches, but it does not license treating disorder under a coaching contract [source: Routledge/Taylor & Francis book pages; see the boundary section below].

Core idea of change. ACC blends mindfulness and acceptance processes with committed, values-based action so coachees can make meaningful changes [source: Routledge description]. The target is psychological flexibility. In Oliver's own description, ACT is "developing, and fostering its concept called psychological flexibility" [source: Association for Coaching podcast page]. Flexibility here means staying in contact with the present, holding thoughts and feelings lightly, and continuing to act on chosen values. ACC goes after the contextual/psychological barriers to goal pursuit, such as fused thinking, experiential avoidance and loss of contact with values. It works on these while staying goal-focused rather than symptom-focused [source: Passmore & Leach 2023, citing Moran 2011 and Skews & Palmer 2016]. The theoretical base is functional contextualism and Relational Frame Theory, each of which has its own chapter in Hill & Oliver [source: Routledge table of contents].

Who the developers are. Jon Hill is an executive coach and corporate trainer (Blueprint Coaching and Training). Dr Joe Oliver is a consultant clinical psychologist, founder of Contextual Consulting, a UCL course director and a peer-reviewed ACT trainer [source: Routledge, Google Books, AC podcast pages]. Earlier ACC writing includes Anstiss & Blonna (2014), a chapter in Passmore (ed.), Mastery in Coaching. It is not drawn on here [uncertain].

2. Framework

The six core processes (Hill & Oliver chapters 6–11 and 18–23; coaching meanings per Passmore & Leach) [source: Routledge ToC; Coaching at Work]:

Practical sequence in the book (Part 2 chapter order) [source: Routledge ToC]. 1) What ACC conversations are about. 2) Assessment. 3) The Matrix. 4) Formulation. 5) The Workability Game. 6) Use of metaphor. 7) Process work in this order: defusion → struggle to acceptance → present moment → self as context → values → committed action. 8) Persistence and habit. 9) Mindfulness on the move. 10) Special populations and difficulties: high performers, tricky moments, "six mistakes". 11) A simple six-session ACC model. 12) Group coaching and training.

Typical session count and format. The authors publish a six-session model (chapter 29). Its session-by-session content is [uncertain]. The outline below is my [synthesis]. It follows the book's chapter order and standard coaching contracting, and should not be cited as Hill & Oliver's protocol:

Sessions are usually individual, one-to-one, face-to-face or online. Hill & Oliver also cover group coaching, training and development [source: Routledge ToC]. Session length and spacing are not specified in the published sources [uncertain]. In coaching practice they are commonly fortnightly, 60–90 minutes [synthesis].

Criteria for moving on. Not published in the sources used [uncertain]. Use process-based checks rather than time-based ones [synthesis]: can the coachee notice the process in vivo, use it in session, and apply it between sessions in the service of the stated goal?

The coaching–psychotherapy boundary, as the bodies publish it.

• ICF [source: ICF, Referring a Client to Therapy]. Coaching focuses on vision, success, the present and the future. Therapy focuses on psychopathology, emotions and the past. Coaching aims at performance, learning or development, for generally well-functioning people. Therapy often addresses deep emotional issues, healing or trauma recovery, for people with some dysfunction or disorder. Coaches do not diagnose or treat. They refer when needs fall outside their qualifications, experience or contract. ICF's analogy is an athletic trainer who refers to the team doctor when injury is suspected. ICF treats mental health as a spectrum, so coaching and counselling can run concurrently. Its model scope statement includes the line "Coaching is not therapy."
• EMCC and Association for Coaching (both signatories to the Global Code of Ethics, with APECS, AICP and the UNM Mentoring Institute) [source: Global Code of Ethics page]. The Code requires thorough, open contracting, clarity about the limits of confidentiality, practising competently and only when fit to practise, referral to other professionals "should the need arise", and ongoing supervision. The summary page does not state an explicit coaching/therapy distinction [uncertain].
• Model authors. In their published description and contents, Hill & Oliver present ACC as coaching for coachees, with an Assessment chapter that precedes intervention. Skews & Palmer describe it as goal-focused work on psychological barriers to performance and on stress. Where Hill & Oliver place the line between coaching and therapy is [uncertain]. If you are a psychotherapist, treat the ICF and Global Code standards as the operative boundary [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

[source: Routledge description and ToC; Passmore & Leach 2023; Oliver values workshop page; ICF guide; Global Code. One-line practical meanings are synthesis unless cited.]

• Psychological flexibility is the target, not symptom reduction. Ask "what helps you move toward what matters?", not "how do we get rid of the anxiety?"
• Functional contextualism / workability (book chapters 5 and 16). Judge a thought or strategy by whether it works for the coachee's chosen direction, not by whether it is true or rational. Do not dispute content.
• Acceptance over control. Struggling with or avoiding inner experience often keeps people stuck. Psychoeducation about the cost of avoidance helps (Anstiss & Blonna 2014, as cited by Passmore & Leach). Invite willingness to have the experience while acting.
• Values are chosen directions, not goals or rules. Values are personal, ongoing and never "completed" (Passmore & Leach). Harris's advice to "pursue your values vigorously, but hold them lightly" is quoted there. Don't let values harden into new "shoulds".
• Values must be the coachee's own. Oliver's workshop page flags values that are what clients think they should care about, or that come from compliance or a wish to please. Listen for "should", and check who the value is for.
• Goal focus is kept. ACC stays goal-focused while addressing barriers (Skews & Palmer 2016, via Passmore & Leach). Every process exercise is tied back to the live coaching goal.
• Experiential over didactic. The book gives whole chapters to metaphor and to experiential process work [source: ToC]. Demonstrate in the room and debrief, rather than lecturing.
• Same processes apply to the coach [synthesis]. Notice your own fusion (e.g. "I must fix this") and your own avoidance of hard conversations such as referral.
• Contract clearly and stay within competence (Global Code; ICF). Write down scope, confidentiality limits and referral conditions before process work starts.
• Supervision (Global Code). Take ACC cases to coaching supervision, and boundary questions to clinical supervision too if you also practise as a therapist.
• Look for clusters, not single signs, when judging whether something exceeds coaching (ICF). Review functioning, duration and intensity, not just distress in session.

4. Intervention inventory

Scope note. Hill & Oliver's practical chapters are named in the published table of contents, and each heading below is keyed to one of them. The chapter text is not openly available. Where steps go beyond what a cited source states, they are my own [synthesis], drawn from general ACT practice and not attributed to Hill & Oliver. Where a tool comes from the wider ACT literature and its original procedure is not in the sources used, it is marked [uncertain]. All example language is illustrative and written by me.

4.1 Contracting and scope-setting

• Purpose / when: First session, before any process work. Fix scope, confidentiality limits, referral conditions and, in organisational coaching, the sponsor's role [source: Global Code; ICF guide].
• Steps: 1) Agree the purpose and expected outcomes of coaching. 2) Say plainly that coaching is not therapy, and what that means in practice: no diagnosis or treatment, and a focus on present and future goals. 3) Set out confidentiality and its limits, including risk of serious harm, and in three-way contracts what the sponsor will and won't hear. 4) Name the conditions under which you would suggest a referral, and that you might suggest pausing coaching. 5) Put all of this in writing [source: ICF guide for steps 2–5; ordering is synthesis]. 6) If you are also a psychotherapist, state which role you are in. Don't switch to therapy with the same person without a new, explicit contract and a check for conflict of interest [synthesis].
• Example language (illustrative): "This is coaching: we'll focus on where you want to go and what gets in the way. If something comes up that needs a different kind of help, I'll tell you, and we'll decide together what to do."
• Watch for: Requests that really describe a disorder or crisis. A sponsor expecting reports on the coachee. A coachee who chose you because you are a therapist and wants therapy at coaching rates [synthesis].

4.2 Assessment (Hill & Oliver ch. 13)

• Purpose / when: Session 1 and ongoing. Identify goals, the barriers to them (fusion, avoidance, values disconnection), and whether coaching is the right service [source: ToC for the chapter; content synthesis].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) Goals: what the coachee wants to be different, and how they will know it is. 2) Stuck points: situations where they don't do what they intend. 3) Inner experience in those moments: thoughts, feelings, urges. 4) What they do with that experience (avoid, distract, over-prepare, push harder) and what it costs. 5) Values glimpses: why the goal matters. 6) Referral screen: daily functioning (self-care, work, home, leisure), plus duration, frequency and intensity of any distress, and the ICF indicator clusters in Section 5 [source for step 6: ICF guide]. 7) A brief standardised measure of psychological flexibility may be used. Hill & Oliver include a research chapter, but which measures they recommend was not verified [uncertain].
• Example language (illustrative): "Think of the last time you meant to do this and didn't. What showed up in your head just before you pulled back?"
• Watch for: Distress that has lasted weeks and is affecting daily functioning (ICF). If that is present, move to the referral process (4.17) before any process work.

4.3 The Matrix (Hill & Oliver ch. 14)

• Purpose / when: A one-page visual map of the coachee's situation, used early to orient both of you and later to sort behaviour. Hill & Oliver give it a full chapter [source: ToC]. The ACT Matrix was developed by Kevin Polk, Jerold Hambright and Mark Webster and is used outside clinical settings, including education and the workplace [source: ACBS ACT Matrix page]. Its developers introduce it as the session's "psychological flexibility point of view", usually early, though many bring it in later; it is simple at first and only becomes complex when needed [source: Polk & Schoendorff, ACBS Q&A]. Hill & Oliver's chapter content is [uncertain].
• Steps [structure from the Matrix developers; quadrant order and coaching detail are synthesis]: 1) Draw a cross. The vertical line separates direct five-senses experience (what can be seen or heard from outside, at the top) from inner, mental experiencing (thoughts, feelings, at the bottom). The horizontal line sorts behaviour into moving toward what matters (right) and moving away from unwanted inner experience (left) [source: ACBS ACT Matrix page; Polk & Schoendorff, ACBS Q&A]. 2) Bottom-right: who and what matter to the coachee. 3) Bottom-left: inner experiences that get in the way. 4) Top-left: what they do to get away from those experiences. 5) Top-right: what they do, or could do, to move toward what matters. The developers ask the four categories in a set order [source: ACBS ACT Matrix page]; the order given here is the writer's [synthesis]. 6) Ask whether each away move works for the coachee's stated purpose in this context, short-term and long-term [source: Polk & Schoendorff, ACBS Q&A, on workability; time frames synthesis]. 7) Have them practise noticing the difference: which way they are moving, and whether they are in sensory or mental experience; the developers treat this noticing as the core, largely non-verbal skill [source: Polk & Schoendorff, ACBS Q&A; ACBS ACT Matrix page].
• Example language (illustrative): "When that 'I'll look stupid' thought shows up, what do you do next? Does that take you toward the kind of leader you want to be, or away from the discomfort?"
• Watch for: The coachee sorting "good" and "bad" people or feelings rather than functions of behaviour. The same act, for example preparing slides, can be a toward move or an away move [synthesis].

4.4 Formulation (Hill & Oliver ch. 15)

• Purpose / when: After assessment. Build a shared, process-level account of what keeps the coachee stuck, and use it to pick which processes to target [source: ToC; content synthesis].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) Summarise the coachee's goal and the values behind it. 2) Name the main fused thoughts (stories, rules, self-labels). 3) Name what they are avoiding and how. 4) Note how present-moment awareness, self-perspective and committed action are or aren't working. 5) Reflect it back in the coachee's words and check the fit. 6) Agree two or three processes to prioritise.
• Example language (illustrative): "So the pattern seems to be: a big pitch matters to you because you value contributing; the 'not ready yet' story shows up; you go back to research; the pitch slips. Does that fit?"
• Watch for: A formulation that reads like a diagnosis. Keep it functional and goal-linked, not pathologising [synthesis].

4.5 Workability questioning and the Workability Game (Hill & Oliver ch. 16)

• Purpose / when: Throughout. Shift the coachee from asking whether a thought or strategy is true to whether it works for what they want [source: ToC; workability step from Passmore & Leach]. The "Game" format itself is [uncertain].
• Steps: 1) Notice the thought or strategy. 2) Name it. 3) Ask: in the long run, does acting on this move you toward the life or goal you want? [source: Passmore & Leach]. 4) [synthesis] List the strategies already tried and rate the short-term relief against the long-term cost for each, so the coachee sees for themselves the limits of control-based strategies.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's not argue about whether it's true. If you let that thought run the meeting, where does it take you?"
• Watch for: A coach who slips into disputation, which is a CBT move and not ACC. A coachee who hears "unworkable" as "you're doing it wrong". Validate the sense in the strategy first [synthesis].

4.6 Use of metaphor (Hill & Oliver ch. 17)

• Purpose / when: To convey ACT processes experientially rather than by explanation [source: ToC]. Passmore & Leach name three metaphors used in coaching: passengers on a bus, leaves on a stream, and sky and weather [source: Coaching at Work].
• Steps (general) [synthesis]: 1) Pick a metaphor that matches the process and the coachee's world. 2) Tell it briefly. 3) Link it to their specific situation. 4) Ask what they notice. 5) Turn it into a phrase they can use as shorthand later ("the passengers are loud today").
• Watch for: Over-explaining, or a pile of metaphors stacked in one session. Using a metaphor as a lecture rather than an invitation [synthesis].

4.7 Passengers on a bus

• Purpose / when: To help coachees see unhelpful thoughts as thoughts, step back from them, and act by choice while still acknowledging them. Passmore describes this as building "choicefulness" [source: Passmore 2025 article page, abstract]. Passmore's full procedure is [uncertain].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) The coachee is the driver of a bus heading in a valued direction. 2) Passengers (critical or anxious thoughts and feelings) shout directions and threats. 3) Explore what the coachee has done to quieten them, such as stopping, turning or bargaining, and where the bus has ended up. 4) Invite them to keep driving toward their chosen destination with the passengers aboard and still talking. 5) Ask them to name their own loudest passengers and their typical lines.
• Example language (illustrative): "What's the loudest passenger saying about this promotion? And where would you drive if they could shout but not steer?"
• Watch for: The coachee trying to throw passengers off the bus, which is a control agenda. Reflect it as another detour [synthesis].

4.8 Facilitating cognitive defusion (Hill & Oliver ch. 18)

• Purpose / when: When rigid thoughts, rules or self-stories dictate behaviour, for example "I'm not a natural leader" or "I must be perfect" [source: ToC; Passmore & Leach].
• Steps: 1) Notice the thought. 2) Name it, in a form such as "I'm having the thought that…". 3) Assess its workability (4.5) [source: Passmore & Leach]. 4) [synthesis] Optional distancing practices: name the recurring "story" ("the impostor story"), write it down and hold it at arm's length, or say it slowly or in a different voice. 5) Leaves on a stream [source: named in Passmore & Leach; procedure synthesis]: for 2–3 minutes the coachee imagines placing each thought on a leaf and watching it float by, then debriefs on when they got pulled in.
• Example language (illustrative): "Try adding 'I'm noticing the thought that' in front of it. What changes, even slightly?"
• Watch for: Defusion used to get rid of thoughts, which is another control move. A coachee who feels mocked by playful techniques. Working well: the coachee says things like "there's that story again" and acts anyway [synthesis].

4.9 From struggle to acceptance (Hill & Oliver ch. 19)

• Purpose / when: When the coachee is avoiding or fighting anxiety, doubt or frustration in ways that block goals [source: ToC; Passmore & Leach].
• Steps: 1) Psychoeducation: explore how avoidance has held them back (Anstiss & Blonna 2014, as cited by Passmore & Leach). 2) [synthesis] Map the cost of struggle: time, energy, missed opportunities. 3) Introduce willingness: making room for the feeling in the service of something that matters. 4) In-session practice: recall a mild trigger, then notice, locate and describe the sensation, breathe around it, and allow it to be there for a minute. 5) Agree a small willingness experiment for the week.
• Example language (illustrative): "If this nervousness came along to the presentation, could you let it ride along and still deliver what you care about?"
• Watch for: Acceptance heard as resignation, or as accepting bad working conditions. It is about inner experience, not tolerating mistreatment [synthesis]. With trauma-related feelings, intense panic or overwhelm, stop and consider referral (Section 5).

4.10 Be here now: contact with the present moment (Hill & Oliver ch. 20)

• Purpose / when: When attention is caught in future worry (which brings anxiety) or past rumination (which brings guilt or shame), and performance in the moment suffers [source: ToC; Passmore & Leach. Passmore & Leach describe no specific exercise].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) A brief anchoring practice, 1–3 minutes: notice five things you can see or hear, feet on the floor, and the breath. 2) Debrief: what pulled attention away, and how did you bring it back? 3) Link it to a live situation, such as the first minute of a meeting or a difficult conversation.
• Example language (illustrative): "Just for now, notice the weight of your feet on the floor... and what you can hear in this room."
• Watch for: Mindfulness experienced as relaxation-or-failure. Distress or dissociation during inward-focused practice [synthesis]. In that case switch to external, eyes-open anchors and review suitability (Section 5).

4.11 Mindfulness on the move (Hill & Oliver ch. 25)

• Purpose / when: Busy coachees who won't do formal practice. Builds present-moment skills into the working day [source: ToC; content synthesis].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) Choose two or three daily anchors: a doorway, the first sip of coffee, the moment before opening email. 2) At each anchor, take one breath and notice what is here now. 3) Review at the next session what was noticed, not whether it was done perfectly.
• Example language (illustrative): "Which moment in your day could become a 10-second check-in?"
• Watch for: Practice turning into a box-ticking rule. Keep it light and tied to values [synthesis].

4.12 Introducing self as context; flexible perspective-taking (Hill & Oliver ch. 21)

• Purpose / when: When the coachee is fused with a self-label ("I'm an introvert so I can't network"), or stuck in their own perspective in conflicts [source: ToC; Passmore & Leach].
• Steps: 1) Flexible perspective-taking: ask the coachee to take another person's viewpoint. Passmore & Leach give the example question "If you were in his shoes, how would you feel?" [source: Coaching at Work]. 2) [synthesis] Shift time and place: "What would you, five years on, say to you now?" 3) [synthesis] Observer stance: notice that there is a "you" who notices thoughts and feelings and is not the same as them. Sky and weather (named by Passmore & Leach; procedure synthesis): you are the sky, thoughts and feelings are the weather passing through. 4) Bring in compassion for self and others, which Passmore & Leach include under this process.
• Example language (illustrative): "The weather today is 'I'm out of my depth'. Can the sky hold that and still let you show up?"
• Watch for: Abstract philosophising. Keep it brief and experiential. Coachees with unstable identity or depersonalisation are a reason to think about referral, not about deepening this work [synthesis].

4.13 What really matters: values clarification (Hill & Oliver ch. 22)

• Purpose / when: Early (in the formulation) and before committed action. Gives direction and makes discomfort worth having [source: ToC; Passmore & Leach; Oliver values workshop page].
• Steps: 1) Distinguish values (qualities of action, ongoing) from goals (achievable outcomes) [source: Passmore & Leach]. 2) Elicit values with simple prompts or more experiential techniques [source: Oliver workshop page, which does not name the exercises]. 3) [synthesis] Example prompts: "When work has felt most worthwhile, what were you doing and how?"; "What do you want colleagues to say you stood for?"; a values compass across life domains (Passmore & Leach use the compass image). 4) Make vague values concrete and actionable [source: Oliver workshop]. 5) Check whether values are genuinely chosen or come from "should", compliance or a wish to please the coach [source: Oliver workshop]. 6) Explore values conflicts, and values that seem asocial or harmful to relationships [source: Oliver workshop; how to handle them is synthesis]. 7) Hold values lightly (Harris, quoted in Passmore & Leach).
• Example language (illustrative): "If no one would ever know you chose this, would it still matter to you?"
• Watch for: "I don't know my values", pain or regret showing up during values work, and outcome-fixated coachees. Oliver's workshop names all three as common challenges (responses in Section 5).

4.14 Helping coachees take committed action (Hill & Oliver ch. 23)

• Purpose / when: Turning values into purposeful behaviour change, especially choosing actions that serve long-term aims over easier short-term avoidance [source: Passmore & Leach; ToC].
• Steps [synthesis for detail]: 1) Choose a value and a goal that serves it. 2) Break it into specific, small, scheduled actions (what, when, where). 3) Predict the likely inner barriers (thoughts, feelings) and decide in advance which defusion or acceptance skill to use. 4) Agree on willingness: "Am I willing to have X in order to do Y?" 5) Review at the next session as an experiment, not pass or fail.
• Example language (illustrative): "What's the smallest step this week that would be an act of [value]? What will your mind say when you go to take it?"
• Watch for: Goals set to please the coach or the sponsor. Actions too big. Committed action used as relentless striving at the expense of other values [synthesis].

4.15 Persistence and the power of habit (Hill & Oliver ch. 24)

• Purpose / when: Sessions 5–6 and the close. Sustaining change after coaching ends [source: ToC; Routledge description mentions helping coachees sustain positive change].
• Steps [synthesis]: 1) Link new behaviours to stable cues (habit stacking). 2) Expect lapses, and treat a lapse as information to notice and recommit from, not proof of failure. 3) Write a one-page "flexibility plan": values, key actions, typical hooks, the skill to use for each. 4) Agree how the coachee will review it alone.
• Watch for: Perfectionist self-criticism after a lapse. Treat it as more passenger chatter (4.7) [synthesis].

4.16 Working with high performers (Hill & Oliver ch. 26)

• Purpose / when: Executives and athletes, for whom the pressing problems are often fusion with achievement rules, over-control and difficulty with acceptance [source: ToC; content synthesis; Oliver's workshop page names "outcome-oriented" clients as a values-work challenge].
• Steps [synthesis]: Frame ACC skills as performance skills (focus, recovery, composure under pressure). Use workability on "what got you here" strategies that now cost too much. Bring in values beyond results, such as relationships and health.
• Watch for: Burnout, substance use or sleep loss hidden behind high performance. These are ICF referral indicators (Section 5).

4.17 Group coaching, training and development (Hill & Oliver ch. 30)

• Purpose / when: Teams and workplace programmes [source: ToC]. Oliver also discusses teams and group interventions in the AC podcast [source: AC podcast page].
• Steps [synthesis]: Short didactic input on the six processes, then paired or small-group experiential exercises (the Matrix, values, a metaphor), then individual action commitments, with follow-up sessions to review.
• Watch for: Disclosure pressure in work groups. Let people do exercises privately and share only if they choose. Agree group confidentiality and screen for distress [synthesis].

4.18 Referral conversation (cross-cutting)

• Purpose / when: When the indicators in Section 5 appear [source: ICF guide].
• Steps [source: ICF guide]: 1) Prepare: a private, unhurried time, with a list of trusted therapists (contacts and specialties). 2) Open with care for the coachee's well-being, calmly and without judgement. 3) Describe the specific signs or changes you've observed. 4) Ask open questions, listen, validate, and allow silence. 5) Ask how they feel about the suggestion. 6) Offer information and possible benefits, plus other supports (friends, faith or community, support groups). 7) Offer to let them book an appointment while still in session. 8) Keep the door open. The decision is theirs unless there is risk of harm. Coaching may continue alongside therapy, pause, or resume later.
• Example language (illustrative): "I've noticed over the last few sessions you've mentioned barely sleeping and dreading every morning. I care about how you're doing, and I think talking to a clinician could really help. How does that land?"
• Watch for: Reluctance due to stigma, fear of seeming weak, cost, past bad experiences, or culture or faith. Normalise help-seeking, and expect to raise it more than once (ICF). Use acceptance and willingness language here too: the coachee can be willing to feel awkward about seeing a therapist in service of their values [synthesis].

5. Handling problems

Hill & Oliver devote chapters to "Managing Tricky or Unexpected Moments" and "Six Mistakes We Have Made (And What We Learned)" [source: ToC]. Their content is [uncertain], so the guidance below comes from the ICF guide and the Oliver workshop page where cited, and is otherwise my [synthesis].

5.1 Signs a coachee needs referral to clinical care (ICF)

[source: ICF, Referring a Client to Therapy]

• Core test: Does the issue interfere with daily functioning (self-care, work, home, leisure)? Has it lasted weeks? How frequent and intense is it? Look for clusters of signs, not single ones.
• Coaching-process signs: little or no progress after a reasonable period, possibly because of an underlying issue; past issues keep recurring, a "victim" stance, or the after-effects of trauma; sessions spent processing feelings without moving toward action; self-defeating behaviour that undermines change.
• Distress signs: marked mood change (irritability, anger, anxiety, sadness); falling performance; withdrawal from people and activities; changes in weight or appearance, or neglected hygiene; sleep disturbance.
• Presentations ICF lists as warranting referral (paraphrased): persistent excessive worry; depression lasting more than about two weeks, including hopelessness, worthlessness or thoughts of death; disordered eating behaviours; trauma symptoms lasting a month or more (intrusions, avoidance, hypervigilance, detachment); substance misuse or addiction; suicidal thoughts, plans or recent attempts; and thought disorder (paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech).
• Coach self-check (ICF): Consult a supervisor or clinician if you feel responsible for the coachee, pressured to solve their problems, stressed or anxious about them, or that they are overly dependent on you.
• Additional ACC-specific signs [synthesis]: acceptance or present-moment exercises that reliably trigger panic, flashbacks or dissociation; defusion from self-critical thoughts that only works in-session and collapses into depressive rumination between sessions; "values" work that keeps uncovering grief or regret the coachee cannot carry; and avoidance that is pervasive across life domains rather than tied to the goal.

5.2 Risk and emergencies

• Imminent danger: contact local emergency services. Stay with the person, ask about access to means and arrange for them to be handed to someone else for safekeeping, listen without arguing, and use local crisis lines. ICF names Befrienders Worldwide and IASP as directories [source: ICF guide].
• Confidentiality: safety overrides confidentiality where serious harm is possible. This should already be in the contract [source: ICF guide; Global Code on clarity about limits].
• If you are a psychotherapist: do a risk assessment to your clinical standard, but act on it by referring or escalating. Don't silently convert the coaching into therapy. Document the decision and take it to supervision [synthesis].

5.3 Stuck coachees

• Feelings processed but no action: this is an ICF referral indicator. First, rule out clinical need. Then [synthesis] re-anchor to values and the contracted goal ("Given all this, what's one step toward X?"), and use the Matrix to show the pattern.
• Intellectual understanding without change [synthesis]: cut explanation, increase in-session experiential practice, and set smaller between-session experiments.
• Outcome-fixated or goal-only coachees: Oliver's workshop names these as a values-work challenge. Response [synthesis]: start from their goal, ask what achieving it would make possible or what it would say about them, and work backward to values.

5.4 "I don't know my values" and painful values work

• Named by Oliver as common [source: workshop page]. Responses [synthesis]: use concrete recent moments of meaning or irritation (irritation often points to a violated value); offer sentence-stem prompts; treat "not knowing" as normal and explore without forcing.
• Pain, regret or unmet aspirations surfacing (named by Oliver): slow down, normalise ("it hurts because it matters"), and use acceptance skills. If grief is overwhelming or persistent, consider referral (ICF lists overwhelming grief as a possible sign of depression).
• Compliance values (Oliver): "Is this for you, or for your boss, parents, or me?" [illustrative].
• Conflicting or harmful-seeming values (Oliver names both): explore the function, look for the value underneath (for example, "winning" may serve competence or security), and look for actions that honour more than one value [synthesis].

5.5 Resistance and pushback [synthesis]

• "This is just positive thinking" or "mindfulness isn't for me": reframe in performance language (attention control, composure) and drop the jargon. Offer to try it once as an experiment.
• "So I'm supposed to just accept a bad situation?": make clear that acceptance applies to inner experience. Committed action may well mean changing the situation, such as raising the issue or leaving.
• Coachee experiences defusion as mockery: apologise and repair, then switch to gentler forms (naming, noticing) and stay with workability.

5.6 Overwhelm in session

• [synthesis] Stop the exercise. Re-orient to the room with eyes open, external senses and feet on the floor. Ask what happened, and don't push for acceptance of intense trauma-linked material in a coaching frame. Afterwards, review against 5.1 and talk about clinical support. Repeated overwhelm puts the work outside coaching scope (ICF: ongoing trauma effects).

5.7 Non-adherence between sessions [synthesis]

• Treat the missed task as data: what showed up just before not doing it? Then work with that barrier (fusion, avoidance) using the six processes. Shrink the task. Check whether the task was the coachee's own value or a "should". ICF lists self-defeating behaviour that undermines change, sustained across sessions, as a referral indicator.

5.8 Ruptures [synthesis]

• Typical ACC triggers: the coach pushing acceptance too fast, invalidating a real external problem, or over-using metaphors. Name the moment, take your share, check the goal is still right, and recontract if needed. Use your own defusion around "I've failed them" (ICF lists feeling you've failed the client as a self-check prompt for supervision).

5.9 Modality-specific difficulties [synthesis unless cited]

• Role drift for therapist-coaches: ACT is a therapy and ACC its coaching application, so it is easy to slide into treating anxiety or depression. Keep the work tied to the contracted goal. If treatment is needed, refer, ideally to another clinician, or end coaching and recontract openly. Don't do both with the same person without explicit agreement and supervision.
• Organisational sponsors: ACC exercises can surface personal material the sponsor must not hear. Agree reporting in advance (Global Code: open contracting, clarity on confidentiality). Never use values work to align the coachee with company "values" against their own.
• Acceptance misused in toxic workplaces: don't use ACC to help someone tolerate harassment or unsafe conditions. Committed action may include escalation or leaving.
• Coachee dependent on the coach (ICF self-check): plan the ending from the start (the six-session frame helps) and build self-coaching tools such as the flexibility plan (4.15).
• Coach competence: ACC asks the coach to model psychological flexibility. Hill & Oliver include a chapter on their own mistakes; its content is [uncertain]. Get ACT training and supervision, as the Global Code requires.

Sources

Pages used

• Acceptance and Commitment Coaching: Distinctive Features – Routledge (description, full table of contents, author bios)
• Acceptance and Commitment Coaching – Taylor & Francis eBook page
• Acceptance and Commitment Coaching – Google Books
• Hill & Oliver 2019 – ACBS publication record
• Skews & Palmer 2016 – ACBS publication record
• Skews 2014 congress paper – Goldsmiths Research Online (no full text)
• A life fulfilled – Passmore & Leach, Coaching at Work (2023)
• Acceptance & Commitment Coaching; An Introduction – Passmore (2025), article page
• Acceptance and Commitment Coaching Techniques: Passengers on the bus – Passmore (2025), article page
• Unlocking the Power of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – Association for Coaching podcast with Joe Oliver
• Bringing values to life in therapy with Joe Oliver – ACBS event page
• Referring a Client to Therapy – International Coaching Federation (PDF)
• Global Code of Ethics – summary page (AC, EMCC, APECS, AICP, UNM signatories)
• The ACT Matrix – ACBS resource page (Polk, Hambright, Webster and contributors)
• Q&A with Kevin Polk and Benjamin Schoendorff on the ACT Matrix – ACBS

Books and papers cited

• Hill, J. & Oliver, J. (2019). Acceptance and Commitment Coaching: Distinctive Features. Routledge. (Used through its table of contents and publisher description.)
• Anstiss, T. & Blonna, R. (2014). Acceptance and commitment coaching. In J. Passmore (Ed.), Mastery in Coaching. Kogan Page. (Cited via Passmore & Leach.) [uncertain]
• Passmore, J. & Leach, S. (2022). Third Wave Cognitive Behavioural Approaches. (Excerpted in Coaching at Work.)
• Passmore, J. (2025). Acceptance & commitment coaching: An introduction; and Passengers on a bus. The Coaching Psychologist, 21(1), 72–77 and 78–79. (Used through the article pages and abstracts.) [uncertain]
• Skews, R. A. & Palmer, S. (2016). Acceptance and commitment coaching: Making the case for an ACT-based approach to coaching. Coaching Psychology International, 9, 24–28. (Abstract.)
• Harris, R. (2019). ACT Made Simple (2nd ed.). New Harbinger. (Quoted via Passmore & Leach.)
• Moran, D. J. (2011). ACT for leadership. (Cited via Passmore & Leach.) [uncertain]
• The ACT Matrix (Polk, Hambright, Webster and colleagues): structure taken from the ACBS pages above; Hill & Oliver's chapter on it is [uncertain].