Values-Based Practice: Linking Science with People

Values-based practice is a new skills-based approach to working with complex and conflicting values in health care. In this
paper we outline the point of values-based practice (to support balanced decision making), its premise (in respect for differences
of values) and the ten elements of the process by which it supports balanced decision making in practice. We give examples
of how values-based approaches have been applied in the development of policy and practice in mental health in the UK and
outline its potential applications for contemporary psychotherapy. In a brief concluding section we show how the development
of values-based practice in mental health is leading the way towards linking science more effectively with people across medicine
as a whole.