ACT for Perfectionism and People Pleasing

Unhelpful perfectionism and unhealthy people-pleasing (often called “fawning”) are extremely common patterns of difficult-to-treat behaviour. Fuelled by harsh self-judgment, high experiential avoidance, and fusion with rigid rules, such behaviours often play a major role in depression, anxiety, “stress”, “burnout”, relationship issues, and trauma. And by itself, ACT is rarely enough for these kinds of problems; for effective outcomes, clients usually need to develop additional skills such as how to say no, make assertive requests, or set boundaries. This 6-week training shows you how to apply ACT effectively with perfectionism, people-pleasing, or both (they often co-occur), while smoothly incorporating additional skills-training as required.

Russ will guide you through the fluent, flexible use of ACT to effectively target all aspects of perfectionism and people pleasing, including: 

• harsh self-judgment and deep-seated unworthiness

• common fears (e.g. of making mistakes, disapproval, rejection, negative evaluation, hostile reactions) 

• procrastination

• worrying and rumination

• excessive risk-aversion;

• excessive self-sacrifice to get good results or appease others

• rigid rules about always needing to achieve excellence or put others first or look good

• difficulty saying no or making requests or setting boundaries

• difficulty carving out time for oneself

• difficulty setting realistic goals

• a fragile sense of self based on achievement and/or positive feedback

• fusion with “should”, “must”, and “have to” 

• and soooo much more.

So if you already know ACT basics and you want to upgrade and streamline your skills to work efficiently, compassionately and creatively with perfectionism and people-pleasing, this is the course for you.