Values clarification — identifying what matters most to you at the deepest level — is a cornerstone of ACT therapy for understanding suicide and provides direction when understanding suicide removes other navigational tools.
Why Values Matter for Understanding Suicide
Understanding Suicide often disconnects us from our values through avoidance, withdrawal, and reduced capacity. Reconnecting with values provides:
- Direction when understanding suicide has eliminated other motivation
- Meaning that persists even through difficult understanding suicide periods
- A basis for action independent of how understanding suicide makes you feel
Clarifying Your Values with Understanding Suicide
Ask yourself: 'If my understanding suicide were less present, what would I be doing more of? What kind of person would I be?'
Values are not goals (achievable and done) but ongoing directions: being a present parent, creating beauty, contributing to others.
Values-Based Action in Understanding Suicide
ACT therapy teaches: act according to values even when understanding suicide is present. Small values-aligned actions, despite understanding suicide, are more sustainable than waiting for understanding suicide to lift first.