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Values clarification worksheet

Published April 8, 2025

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Looking for a values clarification worksheet to help therapy clients identify and reflect on their values? You’re in the right place. 

This guide to values clarification worksheets gives mental health therapists a brief overview of the values clarification exercise, its benefits, example values, and how to use the activity with clients. 

In addition, we’ve included a free values clarification exercise PDF that you can download and save to your electronic health record (EHR) for repeated use with clients.

What are values?

Values are our most deeply held beliefs about what matters most. They are also the desired qualities of behavior: how you want to treat others and how you want to be treated. 

In therapy, values clarification exercises are a function of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), in which values are guiding principles that help individuals align their actions to lead a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Values are not to be confused with goals. Psychotherapist Russ Harris explains that goals are our desired outcomes, like “what we want to have, get, or achieve in the future.” 

For example, if a client wants to go on vacation, that is a goal. Values, on the other hand, guide us in how we behave in support of our goals, like being adventurous, curious, and open. 

A values clarification worksheet can help clients to gain a fuller awareness of what matters most to them in their lives.

In a nutshell, values:

  • Act as guiding principles for behavior: Values act as a compass for a person’s decisions and behaviors.
  • Provide meaning and purpose: They help to clarify what is important in a person’s life.
  • Create behavioral motivation: Clarifying your values helps promote more values-aligned behavioral change, despite challenges and difficult emotions.
  • Help to make decisions: Understanding what truly matters makes it easier to make more aligned values-based decisions.


Benefits of a values clarification activity

Values clarification worksheets can be helpful in therapy for several reasons:

Identify important values 

A values clarification worksheet can help clients identify common values in the main domains of their life, such as relationships, home life, school, work, play, and health. 

Assess values alignment 

A values clarification exercise can help clinicians determine whether their client is experiencing life as an imposition or finding meaning in their life. 

The answer to this question highlights whether the client lives in a values-aligned way or would benefit from further values clarification exercises. 

Develop new skills

Clarifying a client’s values alignment may identify areas of development, such as the need to strengthen cognitive defusion skills. 

For instance, let’s say a client knows what their goals and values are, but spends time ruminating about a relationship struggle instead of living a meaningful life. 

They may be allowing obstacles like fusion and avoidance, and need to strengthen their cognitive defusion and mindfulness skills to come back in alignment with values-oriented action. 

Improves self-awareness 

Understanding what is important and meaningful for clients will, in turn, enhance their self-awareness and understanding of what matters most to them.

Increases satisfaction 

Values-based actions are more likely to lead to a meaningful and fulfilling life. 

Improves mental health 

By clarifying values using the values clarification worksheet and trying other ACT skills like cognitive defusion, clients can live a more valued-aligned life and feel more grounded during stressful times. 

Examples of types of values

As we mentioned, values are the qualities of our behavior, like how we want to be treated and how we want to treat others. 

Most values clarification exercises group values into broad categories, including:

Relationships

A person who values family decisions may prioritize spending quality time with loved ones over individual pursuits. 

Or, someone who values connection may focus on spending their spare time with friends and family rather than relaxing at home alone.

Work or education 

A person who values integrity and honesty is more likely to spend time ensuring that their work is accurate and well-researched. 

A person who values creativity may spend time creating new and original solutions to problems.

Play 

Someone who values curiosity and open-mindedness may travel to new destinations regularly to experience new cultures and experiences.  

Health 

A person who values responsibility may take extra care of their health, ensuring they have an annual physical exam, make regular dental cleaning appointments, watch their alcohol intake, and workout regularly.


How to complete the values clarification exercise

Therapists can use the printable values clarification worksheet in session, or provide it as homework for clients to clarify their core values on their own. 

The key steps to completing the values clarification worksheet are:

1. Identify core values from each category by asking guiding questions, like:

  • What gives me the greatest sense of meaning in life?
  • How do I want to treat others and be treated?
  • What traits do I admire in others?
  • What brings me joy or a sense of fulfillment?

2. Rank values in order of importance.

3. Reflect on the values chosen in the values clarification worksheet and consider if they align with your current behavior.

4. Create actionable steps to align your behavior with your values better.

5. Consider your values when making future decisions.

Sources

  1. Harris, R. (2019). ACT made simple: An easy-to-read primer on acceptance and commitment therapy (2nd ed.). New Harbinger Publications.
  2. Harris, R. (2014). Complete worksheets. The Happiness Trap. 
  3. Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
  4. Zhang, C. Q., Leeming, E., Smith, P., Chung, P. K., Hagger, M. S., et al. (2018). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Health Behavior Change: A Contextually-Driven Approach. 

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