VALUES - this has 2 parts

Values are what we find meaningful in life. They are what you care about and consider important. Values are different for everybody, and they can change over time. Values are different from goals.

• Qualities, characteristics, or ideas about which we feel strongly.
• A belief or feeling that something is worthwhile or important.
• Values are not rules imposed on us - they are qualities we choose freely.
• Values are not static - can change over time

Why is understanding our Values important?

• Values define what is of worth and what to make time for.
• Our values can help guide our decisions, goals and behavior.
• Values are standards to guide us.
  • Values give direction and consistency to behavior.
  • Help us make important decisions
• Help us to diffuse conflict
• Avoid reacting to events or situations
• Leads to greater self-awareness

Values vs. Goals

• Values are not goals - bigger than goals
• General principles and beliefs that guide intermediate and long-term goals
• Goals can be achieved whereas values are moment to moment choices.
  • E.g. In this moment now, I can be curious but I can never achieve 'curious'.

Personal Values

• Values are personal beliefs and preferences that influence one's behavior
• Deep-seated in personality - understanding our selves can help us to determine our values
• Exist at different levels of awareness
• Increasing awareness of values increases our chances of following them

Values Conflicts

• Differences between individual's personal values is major cause of conflict
• Recognize and understand their emotional reactions=value conflicts can cause intense emotional reactions
• Understand personal values and their influence on the working relationship with the client.
  • Avoid reacting emotionally without awareness or understanding
• Internal conflicts arise when we must choose between strongly held personal values
• Problems may be due to conflicts between worker and the manager/organizational value systems

Values Clarification Activities

1. Recall times when you have been so absorbed in what you were doing that you hardly noticed the time. What were you doing?

1. Think about the things that you find meaningful. What do you think of? Include ideals, feelings, and activities.

1. What values are most important to you? Circle/check all of the values that are most important to you from the examples below and/or add your own. Feel free to circle/check those that were identified from your essay and the exercises above as well. (If you need to, go through the exercise of writing down other experiences in your life in which you felt you did something meaningful, were successful, creative, committed, decisive, etc. to identify personal values.)

Acceptance Accomplishment Accountability Accuracy Achievement Adaptability Alertness Altruism Ambition Amusement Assertiveness Attentive Awareness Balance Beauty Boldness Bravery Brilliance Calm Candor Capable Careful Certainty Challenge Charity Cleanliness Clear Clever Comfort Commitment Common sense Communication Community Compassion Competence Concentration Confidence Connection Consciousness Consistency Contentment Contribution Control Conviction Cooperation Courage Courtesy Creation Creativity Credibility Curiosity Decisive Decisiveness Dedication Dependability Determination Development Devotion Dignity Discipline Discovery Drive Effectiveness Efficiency Empathy Empower Endurance Energy Enjoyment Enthusiasm Equality Ethical Excellence Experience

Exploration Expressive Fairness Family Famous Fearless Feelings Ferocious Fidelity Focus Foresight Fortitude Freedom Friendship Fun Generosity Genius Giving Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Growth Happiness Hard work Harmony Health Honesty Honor Hope Humility Humor Imagination Improvement Independence Individuality Innovation Inquisitive Insightful Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Intensity Intuitive Joy Justice Kindness Knowledge Lawful Leadership Learning Liberty Logic Love Loyalty Mastery Maturity Meaning Moderation Motivation Openness Optimism Order Organization Originality Passion Patience Peace Performance Persistence Playfulness Poise Potential Power

Present Productivity Professionalism Prosperity Purpose Quality Realistic Reason Recognition Recreation Reflective Respect Responsibility Restraint Results-oriented Reverence Rigor Risk Satisfaction Security Self-reliance Selfless Sensitivity Serenity Service Sharing Significance Silence Simplicity Sincerity Skill Skillfulness Smart Solitude Spirit Spirituality Spontaneous Stability Status Stewardship Strength Structure Success Support Surprise Sustainability Talent Teamwork Temperance Thankful Thorough Thoughtful Timeliness Tolerance Toughness Traditional Tranquility Transparency Trust Trustworthy Truth Understanding Uniqueness Unity Valor Victory Vigor Vision Vitality Wealth Welcoming Winning Wisdom Wonder

Other: _________________

Other: _________________

Other: _________________

Other: _________________

Other: _________________

1. Now, choose the five most important to you and then prioritize them. couple of sentences about why these are important to you.

Personal-Professional Values Conflict

Where are my points of tension? (Self-study)

There is an emergent consensus in our professions that it is the responsibility of each counsellor to align their personal values and beliefs with the values of the professions of counselling and counselling psychology. As a counsellor or psychologist, you are joining, and in a sense becoming an emissary of, the professions. It is important, therefore, to analyze critically values conflicts between counsellor values and professional values. Deep engagement with the latter creates a foundation for ethical, culturally responsive, and socially just practice. This is challenging personal and professional work that needs to be done before, or outside of, your direct interactions with clients. Consider the following quotation:

As a profession, we do not mandate personal values, but we can articulate and expect professional values that orient one to being able to wrestle deeply with any personal values that preclude performing professional duties (which include serving the needs of oppressed groups and clients different from oneself). Inflexible and rigidly held values of racism or sexism, of viewing gay and lesbian individuals as sick and immoral, or any other oppressive attitude are not in line with professional standards and ethics and will interfere with the fulfillment of professional behaviors. Our trainees must be required to learn to perform required professional duties. One of these required duties is to provide ethical and quality services to all individuals, including members of groups that are marginalized in society and that have less social, political, and/or economic power. This notion is a foundation of the Values Statement. (Mintz et al., 2009, p. 670)

Mintz and colleagues focused on one specific area of potential personal-professional values tension; however, there are many other possibilities. For example, you might struggle with the professional value of advocacy on behalf of clients, because it doesn't align with your view of yourself as a counsellor or psychologist. Consider the following questions for reflection. Choose the a couple that are most meaningful for you and one page reflection.

• Where might my personal values diverge from those of the counselling profession?
• How much do I position my values as absolute truths as opposed to social constructions that reflect my culture and context?
• What rationalizations might I incline toward to justify holding onto or prioritizing my personal values?
• What do I risk, personally or interpersonally, by being willing to loosen my grip on long-standing personal values or assumptions?
• Where my values diverge from the values of the profession, is there a higher-order value that I can grab onto to bridge the gap I perceive?
• How willing am I to engage in continued competency development through supervision, consultation, or training to address places where I remain misaligned with the profession?
• What are the potential benefits of approaching values assessment and negotiation with humility and openness to change, instead of rigidity and certainty?
• What supports might I need to put in place, or what barriers might I need to remove, to delve deeply into these complex issues?