ABSTRACT
The acceptance & commitment therapy (ACT) Matrix is a versatile and useful tool that brings together the concepts of towards and away moves and maintenance cycles in a very visual way that can be used to communicate the key parts of the ACT model. The Matrix itself is simply two bisecting lines, drawn on a page to create four quadrants. The horizontal line represents, at the right end, towards moves and at the left end, away moves. The vertical line then creates another distinction, at the top, observable behaviour, and the bottom, internal drivers of behaviour. The right side of the Matrix focuses on moves towards what is important. The left of the matrix refers to away moves and the bottom left quadrant captures the thoughts and feelings that can show up in response to attempting valued actions.
