The ACT-GRO Frame­work – an in­te­gra­ted con­cep­tu­al and prac­ti­cal frame­work

This pa­per pro­po­ses a frame­work in­te­gra­ting th­ree the­ra­peu­tic mo­des, na­me­ly Ac­cep­tance and Com­mit­ment The­ra­py (ACT), Out­door The­ra­py and Group The­ra­py. We de­scri­be the ACT-GRO (ACT – Group Out­door) Frame­work, its com­pon­ents, ra­tio­na­le be­hind the pro­po­sed Frame­work and ex­plain how each com­po­nent enhan­ces the other and can be view­ed as a sys­tem of systems‑a term­bor­ro­wed from en­gi­nee­ring – re­qui­ring each sys­tem to be au­to­no­mous, con­nec­ted, and di­ver­se, with a com­mon pur­po­se and a com­mit­ment to a grea­ter out­co­me. In the se­cond part, we de­scri­be how the th­ree the­ra­peu­tic mo­des working in an in­te­gra­ti­ve way meet Baldwin’s cri­te­ria of a sys­tem of sys­tems. Fi­nal­ly, we dis­cuss chal­lenges and call for di­rec­tions for fu­ture re­se­arch.