Values clarification beyond the card sort

ABOUT THE EPISODE

How do we move values work beyond the worksheet?

Natalie offers practical alternatives to card sorts and ways to help clients connect with directions that matter to them.

She also looks at common sticking points, how pain and irritation can reveal values, and how values work fits with ACT, CBT and other approaches.

• Defining values in ACT
• Creative exercises beyond card sorts
• Using difficult feelings as clues
• Troubleshooting and integrating values work

How can values work move beyond a worksheet?

Natalie offers creative alternatives to card sorts for helping clients connect with directions that matter to them. The aim is not to identify a perfect list of values, but to make the conversation more connected to the client's lived experience and choices.

Values work can draw on language, images, examples and moments from everyday life. A useful exercise is one that helps the client notice what they want to stand for, rather than one that is completed neatly but remains separate from action.

What can difficult feelings reveal about values?

Pain and irritation may offer clues about what matters. Exploring why a situation has such an impact can sometimes bring a valued direction into view without suggesting that distress is automatically useful or that the client should welcome it.

The episode also considers common sticking points and integration across ACT, CBT and other approaches. This supports flexible use of values work while retaining a clear rationale for why it is being introduced with this client.

Related listening: Continue with 6 Things the Best ACT Therapists Do for a broader look at perspective taking, workability, metaphors and turning values into committed action.