David Andrew Nancarrow

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’.