Values Clarification Tool for Recovery

🎯 Values card sort

How to use: Click once to mark a value as important (•). Click twice to mark it as a core value (⭐). Click a third time to deselect. Aim for 5-10 core values and 10-15 important values. Your selections save automatically.

0 selected

• = Important ⭐ = Core value

⭐ Your core values

Mark values with ⭐ (click twice) to see them here

🌍 Values by life domain

Values show up differently in different areas of life. Write what matters most to you in each domain and how well you're currently living by it on a scale of 1-10.

👨‍👩‍👧 Family

What kind of family member do you want to be? What matters most to you in your family relationships?

How aligned is your current behaviour with this? (1 = not at all, 10 = fully aligned) 5

🤝 Relationships and friendships

What kind of friend, partner, or colleague do you want to be?

Current alignment (1-10) 5

💼 Work and contribution

What does meaningful work look like for you? What do you want to contribute through your work?

Current alignment (1-10) 5

🌿 Recovery and health

What values drive your recovery? What kind of person do you want to become in sobriety?

Current alignment (1-10) 5

🧭 The values compass

Use your values as a compass for decisions, not a scorecard. Values aren't goals you achieve. They're directions you travel in. These questions help you use your values in real time.

What are your top 3-5 core values right now in recovery?

Looking at yesterday, where did you act in line with these values? Give a specific example.

Where did your actions fall short of your values yesterday? What got in the way?

One small values-aligned action you'll take today

🚀 Committed actions

Values without action are just wishes. For each core value, committed actions are the specific behaviours that express it in your daily life. Small, consistent, specific.

ACT committed action principle: You don't need to feel motivated to act in line with your values. You just need to act. The feeling of being aligned with your values often comes after the action, not before it. Waiting to feel ready means waiting indefinitely.

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📖 Values reflection

Deeper reflection on your values and what they mean for your recovery.

What values did my addiction violate most consistently? What does recovery let me reclaim?

When I imagine myself at the end of my life looking back, what would I need to have done to feel it was well lived?

What values feel most important right now? How are they different from what mattered to me in my addiction?

Write freely

Values-based recovery: the ACT approach

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), one of the most evidence-supported psychological treatments for addiction, places values at the centre of recovery. The ACT model argues that addiction persists partly because it fills a values vacuum: when life feels meaningless or purposeless, substances provide an immediate (if temporary) sense of something mattering. Recovery, from the ACT perspective, is not primarily about stopping behaviour. It's about building a life worth living, guided by values that make sobriety feel worthwhile rather than merely obligatory.

Research by Dr. Kelly Wilson and colleagues at the University of Mississippi shows that values clarification is one of the most powerful components of ACT-based addiction treatment. People who can clearly articulate what they value and see their recovery as an expression of those values have significantly better outcomes than those who frame recovery purely in terms of abstinence compliance. Connect your values work directly to the purpose and values explorer for a deeper exploration of meaning in recovery, and use the recovery goal setter to translate your values into specific, time-bound goals.

Values clarification also provides a direct answer to the question "why bother staying sober?" that every person in recovery faces at some point. Answering it with "because I shouldn't drink" is fragile. Answering it with "because being present for my children, honest in my relationships, and capable of contributing to my community matters more to me than any temporary relief substances provide" is a values-based answer. It's also a much stronger one. Use the decision making framework to apply your clarified values to real-time decisions in recovery.

Recovery tip: Write your top 3 values on a card and put it where you'll see it daily. When a craving hits or a difficult decision arises, look at the card and ask: "What would the person who holds these values do right now?" The question itself shifts the frame from craving management to identity expression.