About Us

Our ACT training part 1 and part 2 workshops are run by Dr Russ Harris, the founder of this company. Dr Louise Hayes runs our 'ACT for adolescents' workshops.

Dr Russ Harris: Medical Practitioner - Psychotherapist - Executive Coach

Russ's background is in medicine. He qualified as a doctor in 1989, at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He migrated to Australia in 1991, and set up practice as a GP in Melbourne.

As a GP he became increasingly interested in the psychological aspects of health and wellbeing (and increasingly disenchanted with writing prescriptions). Ultimately this interest led to a total career change, and he now works in two different, yet complementary roles: as a therapist and as a life coach.

Over the years, he has trained in many types of therapy and coaching, but when he discovered Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, (ACT), a unique and creative mindfulness-based behavioural therapy, he was so deeply impressed that he immediately went to the U.S.A. to train with its creators, Steve Hayes, Kelly Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl. Since then, he has been back many times, and is now an internationally-renowned ACT trainer.

His ACT-based self-help book 'The Happiness Trap' is a best-seller, now published in over twenty-two countries and seventeen different languages. (To download the opening chapter, click here.)

Russ has a unique model for training, which he calls 'ACT Made Simple', because it covers so much material in a short space of time. (In fact, he even has even written an introductory text book on ACT, titled 'ACT Made Simple'. To download the first two chapters, click here.) He proudly proclaims each workshop a 'jargon-free zone' - and bases his training on three core values: simplicity, clarity, and having fun.

Since 2005, Russ has travelled all around Australia, and internationally, providing workshops and training for a wide variety of health professionals, from coaches and counsellors, to psychologists and psychiatrists. His highly-acclaimed ACT workshops are typically brief, powerful, cost-effective and life-enhancing. Participants regularly report not only major improvements in their therapy and/or coaching, but also in their personal lives - and evaluation forms frequently praise his ability to make complex ideas seem very simple. (For more details, go to testimonials )

In September 2010, Russ launched his most exciting project yet: public workshops, for happiness, confidence, and vitality.

Dr Louise Hayes: PhD, MAPS, CCLIN,
Clinical Psychologist, Academic Researcher and Private Practitioner

Louise is a clinical psychologist who works across a variety of settings with children, young people and their families. She has worked in public and private mental health services with children and adolescents - working on problems of living through to severe mental illness. Louise also conducts research into mental health treatments for young people and their families. She is a gifted and innovative trainer, whose workshops are informative, entertaining, and intensely practical.

Louise has been actively engaged with ACT since 2004, and has undertaken extensive training, both in Australia and overseas, with many ACT leaders, including Kelly Wilson, Kirk Strosahl, Russ Harris, Robyn Walser, and Steve Hayes. She has attended and presented at the World Conference for ACT over the past 3 years, written book chapters and articles on the use of ACT with adolescents, and has been very involved in the dissemination of ACT in Australia.