What is Goal Setting in Counseling and How Can It Help?

Setting goals is an integral part of the counseling process As a counselor, collaborating with clients to establish goals provides direction and focus to therapy sessions. For clients, having clearly defined goals helps them understand what they want to achieve in counseling and gives them motivation to make positive changes

But what exactly is goal setting in counseling and how does it benefit both the counselor and client? Let’s take a closer look.

What Are Goals in Counseling?

Goals in counseling refer to the specific changes or outcomes a client hopes to achieve through the therapeutic process. These goals act as a roadmap guiding the client and counselor through their work together.

Goals can relate to many different areas of a client’s life, including:

• Mental health and wellbeing (e.g. reduce anxiety, manage depression)

• Relationships (e.g. improve communication with spouse, establish boundaries with parents)

• Habits and behaviors (e.g. stop smoking, reduce drinking, lose weight)

• Personal growth (e.g. build self-esteem, become more assertive)

• Life changes (e.g. process grief, adjust to divorce, cope with job loss)

• Skill development (e.g. manage anger, relieve stress, improve parenting)

The key is that these goals reflect the client’s own hopes and desires for counseling. The client may come in with a general idea of what they want to accomplish or the counselor can help them pinpoint specific goals through questioning and reflection.

Why Are Goals Important in Counseling?

There are several important reasons why establishing goals is a vital part of effective counseling:

Provides Direction

Goals give both the counselor and client a shared understanding of what they are working towards in their sessions. This prevents counseling from becoming aimless or getting sidetracked. With clear goals, the focus is on making progress towards the desired changes.

Tracks Progress

Goals provide concrete benchmarks for evaluating progress in counseling. At the start, goals give a baseline to measure against. Throughout counseling, goals help assess what is and isn’t working. Reviewing goals periodically enables the counselor and client to see how far they have come.

Enhances Motivation

When clients have specific goals to strive for, it boosts their motivation to put effort into counseling and make changes. Seeing progress towards their goals is encouraging and keeps clients engaged in the process.

Tailors the Approach

The counselor can shape their approach around the individual client’s goals. This allows them to select the most appropriate strategies, tools, and techniques to help the client achieve their desired outcomes.

Provides Accountability

Goals encourage accountability for both the counselor and the client. For the counselor, they must align their efforts with the client’s goals. For the client, their goals give them something to be accountable for outside of sessions.

The Goal Setting Process in Counseling

Goal setting is most effective when done as a collaborative effort between counselor and client. Here are some key steps in the goal-setting process:

Explore the Client’s Reasons for Seeking Counseling

The counselor asks open-ended questions to understand what motivated the client to pursue counseling at this time. This highlights areas of concern for the client.

Brainstorm Possible Goals Together

Based on the client’s reasons for counseling, the counselor facilitates a brainstorming discussion of potential goals. This gets ideas flowing.

Identify the Most Important Goal Areas

The counselor helps the client reflect on the brainstormed goals and prioritize one or two key areas they want to focus on first. Having too many goals can be overwhelming.

Develop Specific, Measurable Goals

For each prioritized area, the counselor and client work together to define goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).

Make an Action Plan

The counselor and client develop an action plan outlining the steps the client will take between sessions to work towards their goals. This promotes accountability.

Review and Update Goals

The counselor and client periodically review progress on goals, celebrate successes, modify goals as needed, and reset action plans. Goals may change as counseling progresses.

Tips for Setting Effective Goals in Counseling

Here are some tips to ensure the goals set with clients are meaningful and beneficial:

• Use the client’s own words to make goals personally relevant
• Have clients articulate goals in positive terms (what they want to achieve vs avoid)
• Break big goals down into smaller, manageable steps
• Focus on one or two primary goal areas at a time
• Make sure goals are realistic based on client’s current situation
• Establish indicators to measure progress and track success
• Set target dates for achieving goals to create a sense of urgency
• Re-evaluate and adjust goals over time as client’s needs evolve

Examples of Goals in Counseling

To illustrate what good goals might look like, here are a few examples:

Mental Health

Bad Goal: “Get less anxious”
Good Goal: “Reduce anxiety by learning and practicing deep breathing exercises for 10 minutes twice daily over the next month”

Relationship

Bad Goal: “Improve my marriage”
Good Goal: “Have a 15 minute thoughtful, non-confrontational discussion with my spouse about our relationship at least once per week for the next 3 months”

Habit Change

Bad Goal: “Lose weight”
Good Goal: “Lose 1 to 2 pounds per week for the next 3 months by eliminating sugary drinks, reducing portion sizes at dinner, and walking for 30 minutes 5 days per week”

Life Transition

Bad Goal: “Cope with my divorce”
Good Goal: “Journal for 15 minutes daily to process my feelings about my divorce and attend a local divorce support group at least twice per month over the next 6 months to build my social support system”

Skill Building

Bad Goal: “Be more assertive”
Good Goal: “Learn two assertive communication techniques recommended by my counselor and apply them in two low-risk situations per week over the next month to advocate for my wants/needs”

Benefits of Successful Goal Setting in Counseling

When done well, goal setting has numerous benefits that can enhance the counseling experience:

• Provides purpose and motivation for clients
• Keeps sessions targeted and efficient
• Enables tracking of tangible progress
• Improves client self-awareness and accountability
• Facilitates better counselor-client collaboration
• Encourages clients to transfer learning outside sessions
• Boosts client self-efficacy as they achieve goals
• Leads to sustainable positive outcomes and growth