Many people struggle with decisions, relationships, or a sense of direction in life, not because they lack insight or resources, but because they feel uncertain about what really matters to them. Many describe a sense of “drifting” or making choices based on habit, pressure, or circumstance rather than conscious intention. Values Clarification Therapy (VCT) is a structured yet highly personalized therapeutic process that helps individuals discover, define, and actively live in alignment with their core values. Unlike therapy models that focus only on symptom reduction, the values clarification process emphasizes meaning, authenticity, and purpose. Specifically, values clarification exercises help clients uncover what gives their lives direction and satisfaction, and then translate those insights into daily choices.
This post provides an overview of VCT, but given the uniqueness of each person’s needs, goals, and barriers, I invite you to contact me or schedule a consultation to discuss how this method might benefit you or a loved one.
Overview of Values Clarification Therapy 
Values Clarification Therapy is not about prescribing morals or imposing ideals. Instead, it provides tools and guided reflection for clients to identify what they believe in most deeply, whether it be relationships, creativity, honesty, achievement, compassion, spirituality, or balance.
Key Goals of VCT
While values clarification therapy is uniquely tailored to each client, the overall goals are often quite similar:
- Awareness: Helping clients identify and articulate their principles.
- Consistency: Exploring where behavior aligns or conflicts with those principles.
- Decision-making: Using clarified values to guide present and future choices.
- Meaning-making: Supporting a sense of purpose and direction in life.
- Resilience: Strengthening motivation during challenges by grounding in core beliefs.
Who Benefits Most From Values Clarification Therapy?
The values clarification process is effective for a wide range of people at various stages of life. For example:
- Adolescents and Teens – who are developing identity and independence.
- Young Adults – navigating education, career, and relationship transitions.
- Adults in Midlife – questioning career choices, priorities, or life balance.
- Older Adults – seeking meaning in retirement, legacy, and life review.
- Clients with Anxiety or Depression – who may feel “stuck” or disconnected from purpose.
- Clients Facing Major Decisions – such as marriage, divorce, relocation, or career change.
Values Clarification Exercises
Below is a set of exercises commonly used in VCT. Each includes a description, the method used, and its therapeutic purpose. These exercises can be used as part of the larger VCT process or as standalone add-ons to various other types of psychotherapy services (see below).
- Card Sort
- Description: Clients sort cards containing words like integrity, family, success, adventure, faith, security.
- Values Clarification Exercises: Sort into piles: “Very Important,” “Important,” “Not Important.” Then rank top 5–10.
- Purpose: Provides a visual and interactive way to prioritize principles. Often reveals surprising gaps between assumed and actual priorities.
- Role Model Reflection
- Description: Identify 2–3 people admired deeply (family, historical figures, celebrities).
- Values Clarification Exercises: Write or discuss what qualities make them admirable. Translate these qualities into value statements (e.g., “I admire their courage” → “I value bravery and authenticity”).
- Purpose: Helps clients externalize and identify beliefs they may not consciously name.
- Life Compass / Wheel of Values
- Description: A circle divided into domains (family, work, health, community, leisure, spirituality).
- Values Clarification Exercises: Rate each domain on a 1–10 scale based on current alignment with core beliefs. Draw a wheel and see where it feels unbalanced.
- Purpose: Creates a visual map of where principles are supported and where they are neglected.
- Decision Dilemmas
- Description: Explore a real or hypothetical difficult decision (e.g., job vs. family time).
- Values Clarification Exercises: Discuss how each choice reflects or violates core values.
- Purpose: Builds skill in applying these principles to real-world decisions.
- Description: Imagine writing one’s own obituary or a eulogy from a loved one.
- Values Clarification Exercises: What would you want them to say? What contributions or qualities matter most?
- Purpose: Helps clients identify enduring principles beyond short-term goals.
- Daily Alignment Journal
- Description: End-of-day journaling with two prompts:
- “Which of my actions today reflected my core values?”
- “Where did I act against them?”
- Purpose: Builds awareness in daily life and highlights patterns for change.
- Forced Choice Ranking
- Description: Clients are given two values at a time and asked, “If you could only choose one, which would it be?”
- Purpose: Creates clarity by highlighting trade-offs and underlying priorities.
- Ideal Day Exercise
- Description: Clients imagine a “perfect day” from morning to night.
- Values Clarification Process: Explore what they are doing, who they are with, and what makes the day meaningful. Extract values embedded in the vision (e.g., freedom, creativity, family).
- Purpose: Connects core beliefs to lived experience in vivid, personal ways.
Values Clarification Process
In values clarification therapy, the general process goes something like this:
- Assessment & Rapport-Building
- Understand the client’s context, presenting concerns, and readiness for self-reflection.
- Introduce the purpose of values work—clarity, not prescription.
- Exploration
- The values clarification process uses exercises (card sorts, reflections, journaling) to identify possible core beliefs.
- Encourage free association, metaphors, and storytelling.
- Prioritization
- Narrow down to a small number (usually 5–8) of “core values.”
- Discuss why each one matters, how it developed, and how it shows up in life.
- Application to Life Domains
- Apply principles to relationships, work, education, health, community, and recreation.
- Identify conflicts (e.g., valuing both security and freedom).
- Goal-Setting & Action Planning
- Translate core principles into actionable commitments.
- Example: “Because I value family, I will schedule weekly dinners with my parents.”
- Reflection & Adjustment
- The values clarification process often uses check-ins to monitor alignment over time.
- Reassess as life circumstances or priorities shift.
Methods Values Clarification Can Be a Part Of
- Acceptance and Commitment Psychotherapy: Central to ACT’s focus on values-driven action.
- Motivational Interviewing (MI): Enhances motivation by connecting behavior change to core principles.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Values used to counteract avoidance and shape goals.
- Existential Therapy: Helps clients address meaning, mortality, and authenticity.
- Career Counseling & Coaching: Guides educational and vocational choices.
- Positive Psychology Approaches: Connects values to strengths and flourishing.
Case Examples of VCT
The following fictional examples show how values clarification exercises can help people of different ages. Of course, your own needs may differ, and you’re welcome to contact me to discuss how VCT might benefit you or a loved one.
Case 1: Values Clarification Therapy for a High School Student
Challenge:
Sarah, a 16-year-old, came to therapy at her parents’ request after increased conflict at home and declining grades. She felt torn between pleasing her parents, who emphasized academics, and fitting in with her peer group, which valued social status and risky behavior. She often made impulsive choices, later regretting them, and reported “not knowing who I really am.”
VCT Assessment:
Using a Card Sort, Sarah identified “authenticity,” “loyalty,” and “creativity” as important. Yet her behavior (skipping homework to socialize, hiding parts of herself to fit in) conflicted with these principles. In a Role Model Reflection, she named her grandmother, whom she admired for “always being honest even when it was hard.” This highlighted her yearning for authenticity, despite current peer pressure.
Vaues Clarification Process:
Through journaling and discussion, Sarah explored what authenticity and loyalty meant to her personally. She practiced identifying small daily choices, like telling the truth about where she was going or spending time with supportive friends, that reflected those principles. She also worked with her parents to negotiate realistic academic goals, framed as part of her value of “loyalty to family.”
Outcome:
Over several months, Sarah reported less anxiety around peers and greater confidence in her decisions. She joined the school art club (honoring her creativity) and built a new peer group aligned with her core principles. Her academic engagement improved because she felt she was acting in loyalty to her family, not just following rules. Her sense of identity strengthened, and conflicts at home decreased.
Case 2: Values Clarification Therapy for a Recent College Grad.
Challenge:
Michael, age 25, came to therapy with symptoms of mild depression, lack of motivation, and a sense of being “stuck.” After graduating from college, he took a job in finance that provided stability but felt draining. He described waking up each day with dread and “living for weekends,” but felt guilty considering a career change, fearing he would disappoint his parents.
VCT Assessment:
A Daily Alignment Journal showed Michael spent nearly all his time in activities that did not reflect his stated core principles. During a Wheel of Values exercise, he identified “creativity,” “personal growth,” and “adventure” as deeply important, yet none were present in his current lifestyle. In a Decision Dilemma, he contrasted staying in finance (security, pleasing family) versus exploring creative careers (growth, authenticity).
Values Clarification Process:
Therapy focused on weighing trade-offs and reframing choices not as failures but as value-driven commitments. Michael experimented with incorporating creativity outside of work, joining a photography class and traveling locally. As he built evidence that creativity and adventure were achievable, he gained confidence to explore career transitions. Through a unique values clarification process, we set small goals: updating his portfolio, networking in creative fields, and discussing his intentions with his family in a way that emphasized authenticity and growth, rather than rejecting security.
Outcome:
Within a year, Michael transitioned into a junior design role at a startup. His depressive symptoms lessened significantly as he reported feeling energized, motivated, and aligned with his beliefs. Though his parents initially expressed concern, they came to respect his commitment to living authentically. Michael described himself as “finally living my own life, not the one I thought I had to.”
Case 3: Values Clarification Exercises with an Older Adult
Challenge:
Linda, a 62-year-old marketing executive, presented with anxiety about retirement. She feared losing her sense of identity and relevance, reporting, “If I’m not working, I’m nobody.” She also struggled with insomnia and rumination about the future.
VCT Assessment:
Through the Legacy Questions exercise, Linda realized she wanted to be remembered for “guiding others,” “sharing wisdom,” and “making a difference beyond the office.” A Forced Choice Ranking highlighted that while she valued “success” throughout her career, “contribution” and “wisdom” were now more central. This shift created an existential tension: she was still living by past ideals (achievement, status) while her present values had changed.
Values Clarification Process:
Therapy helped Linda envision retirement not as an end but as a transition into a new phase of contribution. She brainstormed ways to embody her ideals outside of the corporate world. She began mentoring younger colleagues before her retirement, which gave her a sense of continuity and fulfillment. Through the values clarification process, we also identified concrete steps: joining a nonprofit board, scheduling community volunteer work, and writing her memoirs. Sleep-focused interventions were designed to reduce nighttime rumination by reinforcing value-aligned activities during the day.
Outcome:
Linda retired with far less anxiety than anticipated, reporting that her days felt “full but meaningful.” She became a mentor to several young professionals, joined a nonprofit supporting women in business, and began work on a book project. Her insomnia decreased as her sense of purpose increased. She described retirement not as a loss of identity, but as “finally having the freedom to live by the ideals that matter most now.”
Conclusion
These cases illustrate the adaptability of Values Clarification Therapy across life stages. For a teen, VCT supports identity development and resilience against peer pressure. For a young adult, it provides direction during career and life transitions. For an older adult, it offers continuity, meaning, and peace during major life changes. In each instance, clarifying and living by core principles served as a compass, helping clients navigate uncertainty and align their lives with what truly matters.
Summary and My Work
Values Clarification Therapy offers a powerful way for individuals to live with greater authenticity, purpose, and joy. By exploring, naming, and applying core principles, clients create a compass that guides them through life’s complexities. Teens gain identity and confidence, young adults find direction, and older adults discover meaning and legacy. Ultimately, the values clarification process helps clients not only survive challenges but thrive, living each day in alignment with what matters most.
If you have any questions about values clarification exercises or the overall VCT process, please don’t hesitate to contact me or schedule a consultation anytime.
