What do you truly stand for? In this episode of Breaking Free from Within, host Prairie Francia explores how values-based recovery helps individuals and treatment providers anchor decisions in what matters most.

Values are the compass that guide our lives — qualities like honesty, family, freedom, or health. According to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977), values are shaped early through modeling and parental influence. But in the chaos of addiction, people-pleasing, or survival mode, values often get buried.

Prairie paints a vivid picture: a parent who values family and honesty finds themselves lying to cover up their drinking and missing their child’s soccer games. This disconnect, research shows, leads to shame and further disconnection (Miller & C’de Baca, 2001). But values never disappear — they can be reclaimed. ...