Core Value Therapy

Core value therapy started with a client of mine in early 2007. The

client came for anger management and kept mentioning people kept

pressing their button. I made a circle on the white board and said, ‘we

are going to find this button’. This began a conversation about what

bothered them about other people’s actions towards them. What was

revealed was a value word.

I observed in clients that their particular value was influencing

their anger. For example, clients would say, ‘I don’t like it when other

people disrespect me and don’t accept what have to say.’ This may not

sound like some amazing revelation, as we can all relate to hearing

clients say these sorts of things. The critical discovery I have made

with statements like this, is clients do not actually hear the majority of

these value words. For example, in the above statement, the value

words ‘respect’ and ‘acceptance’. Assisting clients to discover, connect

with and take charge of their value words is now known as ‘Core

Value Therapy’.

Key aspects of Core Value Therapy

One key aspect of Core Value Therapy is listening for value

words in stories which have made clients feel strong feelings mainly feelings such as anger, becoming annoyed or offended. These

stories are embedded with values. These values influence a client’s

behaviour, thoughts and emotions.

Once a client discovers their core value they improve remarkably

well in their emotional regulation when applying the core value to

themselves in situations distressing to them. It is very much like the

core value is the centre of the problem and then becomes the answer

to that problem. In this way it tends to shift the ‘locus of control’ from

the other person back to themselves.

Another key aspect of Core Value Therapy is the acknowledge

ment that clients do not hear themselves say their core value

words despite saying them very frequently. Clients’ core values are

hidden from their conscious mind. Therefore, they are operating

from an unconscious state. Many clients have told me they do not

know why they get angry and can’t make sense of it. The moment the

value is revealed it makes sense to them what is going on and they

begin to see the world completely differently, through a different lens.

When clients apply their value correctly to themselves and to

others, they report increase in self-esteem, improvement in relation

ships and stabilisation of emotion regulation. This approach is

explained in more detail in the ‘Clinician Techniques for Core Value

Therapy’ section.

For most practitioners, when we hear the clients’ stories on a daily

basis, we get engrossed in the circumstances and details of that story,

want to know what is going on, focus on their feelings and focus on

solutions. All this is good and worthwhile while we often miss the

main point. The main point is found in what types of value words the

client uses to tell their story. It represents the meaning of the story to

them. Over ten years practising Core Value Therapy, I have observed

clients use countless different value words. I do not interpret that

value word, change it or put my own spin on it.

Most practitioners who attend Core Value Therapy training state

they have to learn to listen differently to their clients from now on

and will need to expand their vocabulary on what constitutes a ‘core

value word’.