Perspectives on Goal-Setting in the Counseling Session

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Throughout the reading and practice this semester in our group practice sessions, I am finding that there is a fine line between goal-setting and advice-giving. I initially thought it would be difficult to avoid giving advice to clients, but by practicing the basic counseling skills of paraphrasing, repeating key words, and summarizing, there is not much room to allow advice-giving. As we incorporate goals-setting into our counseling sessions, I have noticed a tendency for my questions to be leading the client to a solution, which is my underhanded form of still trying to give advice. I have found the textbook reading to be very helpful for properly setting goals without giving advice. According to Young (2017), goals should be clear and specific, they should be understood by both counselor and client, they should be worded positively, goals will help with treatment options, and goals will help measure the success of the counseling process.

Maybery, Reupert, and Goodyear (2015) claim, “Goal setting is an increasingly recognized as an integral component of recovery” (p. 354). The goals should be determined by the client, even if the counselor is facilitating brainstorming of the goal-setting process. Collaboration is key in goal-setting since this team effort will increase the likelihood that the client will succeed in completing the goal (Young, 2017). I find it interesting that the specific wording of the goal is very important to the counseling process. Clients may come to counseling with specific goals in mind, stated negatively, such as “Stop smoking.” This negative wording focuses on what the client should not do, rather than on what the client can do. Young (2017) explains that “when goals are stated as negatives, they have less power to influence and motivate us” (p. 194). Counselors should help their clients turn their problems into achievable goals by redirecting their focus onto the positive, changeable behavior, all the while avoiding giving advice, so that the client is empowered with the reality of attainable goals.

References

Maybery, D., Reupert, A. and Goodyear, M. (2015), Goal setting in recovery: families where a parent has a mental illness or a dual diagnosis. Child & Family Social Work, 20: 354–363. doi:10.1111/cfs.12084

Young, M. (2017). Learning the art of helping, 6^th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.