Recovery · Recovery
Recovery Vision & Values Worksheet
Build the positive target — who you are becoming and the daily proof
About this worksheet
Recovery isn't only 'not using.' It's a life worth being sober for — and clients who recover without ever building the positive target tend to be the ones who relapse in the second year because nothing has filled the space the substance occupied. This worksheet builds that target. It opens with a future-self description in plain language across relationships, work, and health (no jargon, no aspirational vagueness — what does the day actually look like?), then names three values driving the recovery (honesty, presence, dignity, devotion, whatever feels true), then defines one observable daily proof per value. The daily-proof step is what makes the worksheet useful — 'I value honesty' is meaningless without 'today I told my partner the actual reason I was late.' The page closes with the rhythm of the first 30 days (meetings, sponsor, sleep, movement, food) and what the writer will read or re-read this week to stay oriented. Best used at the end of residential or intensive outpatient treatment, at recovery anniversaries (1 year, 5 years), and any time recovery has started to feel like white-knuckling rather than living. Clinically, the worksheet pairs well with ACT values work and with end-of-treatment integration in any modality.
When to use it
- End of residential, intensive outpatient, or partial hospitalization treatment.
- Early recovery once stabilization has happened — usually month 2 or 3.
- Recovery anniversaries (1 year, 5 years) and re-recovery after a significant slip.
- Anyone whose recovery has flattened into 'white-knuckling' rather than living.
How to use it
- 1Write the future self in plain language
Not 'I'll be a better person.' What does Tuesday at 3pm actually look like?
- 2Pick three values
Not aspirational ones — actually true ones. The values that will drive the daily choices.
- 3Define daily proof
One observable behavior per value. 'I value honesty' is meaningless without a concrete daily action.
- 4Build the 30-day rhythm
Meetings, sponsor, sleep, movement, food. The boring structural scaffolding that makes the values livable.
- 5Pick the orienting reading
Big Book, daily meditation, recovery literature, therapy notes — whatever you re-read to stay oriented.
- 6Revisit at 90 days
Update the future-self description, re-check the values, refine the daily proof.
Frequently asked questions
Why focus on values in recovery?+
Because removing the substance leaves a hole. Clients who don't actively build a life around what they value tend to relapse when the early-recovery scaffolding loosens — typically in year 2. Values work is what gives the recovery a forward direction rather than just a behavior to abstain from.
Is this evidence-based?+
Values clarification has the strongest evidence base within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), where it's a core therapeutic component with multiple RCTs supporting its use in substance use treatment. The worksheet adapts that approach for self-directed and clinician-supported recovery use.
What's the difference between values and goals?+
Goals are achievable end-states ('lose 20 pounds,' '5 years sober'). Values are directions of travel ('being healthy,' 'being honest'). Goals can be reached and then no longer drive behavior; values keep driving behavior across a lifetime. Recovery built around goals alone tends to drift once the goal is met; recovery built around values has a permanent steering wheel.
Can I do this without being in formal treatment?+
Yes — the worksheet is self-directed and can be completed alone or with a sponsor. That said, the values work tends to surface emotional material (grief, identity questions, fear of who one is without the substance) that benefits from being held in some therapeutic or peer-support container.
When in recovery is this most useful?+
Two windows. First: month 2–3, once acute stabilization has happened and the question 'what is my life for' starts to surface. Second: at the 1-year mark and other anniversaries, where the recovery rhythm has become routine and needs re-engagement with purpose. Less useful in week 1 — the nervous system isn't online enough for the values work to land.
Related worksheets
Worksheet — Recovery Vision & Values Worksheet — provided by TherapistAssist for clinical use. Not a substitute for assessment or treatment.