At some point in your life you would have had a goal in mind that you wanted to accomplish by a certain time frame. It can be as simple as eating a healthy breakfast for a week, or enrolling in that course you’ve always wanted to do. Goal-setting has many benefits to one’s mental and physical wellbeing. It ensures that you can accomplish what you set out to achieve. Just as you will be asked to think about your goals when planning for your NDIS review, goals also focus the direction of the counselling process. In this post, we will talk about the benefits of goal setting in counselling.
There are many benefits to setting goals in counselling. Hackney and Cormier (2013) describe the following six advantages to goal setting:
- Encourages the client – the client assumes responsibility and ownership over the counselling process.
- Clarifies their situation – helps clients to focus on what’s most important to them and make decisions about what represents their most significant values and priorities.
- Motivates the client – goal setting offers a tangible objective for the client that is attainable.
- Monitors progress – both clients and counsellors are able to evaluate whether the counselling process has been successful as there is an agreed outcome.
- Guides strategies and interventions – goals can help the counsellor select appropriate strategies or interventions to support the client achieve their desired outcome.
- Educates the client – clients learn how to better structure their lives and how changes in behaviour and thinking may help them achieve their aims.
Whether you are planning for your NDIS review or engaged in your counselling session, goal-setting ensures that you focus your time, energy and resources into achieving something tangible, realistic and what is most important to you. Goal setting also gives the people that support you something to focus on in order to help you meet what you want to achieve.
There will be setbacks every now and then, but don’t worry, this happens to everyone. With every goal, there are always times when some things don’t go to plan. The best thing about goal-setting is that it gives you the chance to review and realign your plans so that you’re always moving forward towards your desired outcome.
(Reference: Hackney, H. L. & Cormier, S. (2013). The Professional Counselor: A process guide to helping. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.)
Planning for your NDIS review
Life skills help youth navigate life successfully. Learning how to set goals and work toachieve them is one of the skills that youth need to learn. Life skills are a basic foundation that prepare youth for success in life. Michigan State University Extension suggests setting a goal that every youth possess the necessary life skills to succeed and lead a productive life. As an adult it is our responsibility to help youth reach their full potential by teaching necessary life skills.