Values and meaningful action / VAL-A19-4
Values Conversation Cards — Session activity
Facilitate a structured practice of values conversation cards with preparation, reflection, and an agreed closing.
30 minutes · Session guide · Mental health professionals
Fictional example: A group discusses different meanings of responsibility in an ordinary scheduling dilemma.
Use within your training and assessment of readiness. A group can explore differences without ranking people's values.
0–5 min | Agree on purpose and fit
Explain the educational scope. Ask what would be useful, check readiness and access needs, and establish choices to observe, adapt, or pass. Use an ordinary example; do not solicit trauma narratives.
5–10 min | Orient with an example
A group can explore differences without ranking people's values. Fictional example: A group discusses different meanings of responsibility in an ordinary scheduling dilemma. Ask what is observed and what remains uncertain.
10–20 min | Practice and compare
Use fictional situations to compare possible valued directions and invite participants to pass or redefine the terms. Offer quiet individual work, a supported conversation, or an observing role. Compare two possible responses without evaluating people as right or wrong.
20–25 min | Reflect on meaning
How can different answers expand understanding rather than create a contest? Ask what fit, what did not fit, and how culture, power, disability access, or external conditions affect the options.
25–30 min | Integrate and close
Invite one optional next step or support request. Orient to the current setting, allow an unfinished question to remain unfinished, and agree how to revisit it. End early or adapt if activation increases.
Adaptations
For a group, use fiction and no compulsory round-robin disclosure. For remote use, allow off-camera reflection and private notes. For brief use, keep one example and one question while retaining opening and closing choices.
Prompts for this resource
- What outcome would make this practice useful?
- How can different answers expand understanding rather than create a contest?
- What adaptation or follow-up is needed?
Conceptual background
Valuing as a Choice — Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.