Setting the Agenda
Goal Setting
Looking for Exceptions
Scaling
Goal questions are designed to get the person or family to tell you what they are interested in accomplishing or setting the end point for therapy or problem resolution.
“What needs to happen to make our meeting today useful to you?”
“Supposing you went home today and felt that this meeting had been useful what would be different?”
“How will you know when you don’t need to see me any more?” “What will you be doing after you’ve finished seeing me?
How will others know you’ve changed?”
The Goals:
- What are the first signs that will indicate (or already have indicated) progress towards the goal(s)?
- What are the final actions or results (videotalk – seeable, hearable, checkable if possible) that will indicate that this is no longer a problem?
- Get goal descriptions in video terms.
Using Time:
- Present – start with the present and find the client’s goal or his or her view of the difficulty.
- Future – keep opening up the possibilities for the future to focus on the goal.
- Past – focus the attention on strengths and abilities from the past rather than deficits, trauma or pathology.
- Link PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE – Drawing on previous strengths, solutions and positive trends, create new realities in which the client is empowered to solve the difficulty or to see that he or she is already solving it.
The success of any intervention can only be measured if goals are clearly articulated at the outset and the more clearly they are defined in terms of concrete behavioural changes, the greater the likelihood of success.
An early discussion about the client’s goals allows them to assume responsibility for their behaviour and any changes that are made, while being realistic about what is expected by way of achievement. If goals are left unstated, or are not clearly defined, it is likely that your work will take longer.
Positive Goals :
Transfer into observable behaviours that will tell the client when their goals have been reached
For example:
Client – “I want to feel happy” (Positive Goal).
Worker - “So you want to feel happy. Tell me what you’ll be doing that will show you are feeling happy? How will your friend/teacher know?”
When goals require others to stop doing something, they are reframed to place responsibility for change back with the client.
E.g. Client – “I don’t want teachers to ignore me”.
Worker - “If they did change, what would that do for you?”.
Harmful Goals :
These are often are built on underlying needs which can be uncovered by questioning about the reasons for these goals. For exqample:
Client - “I don’t want to come to school to get back at my mum.”
Worker - “Tell me, why is it important that life is hard for your mum?”
Client - “Because I like to make her upset and see her cry.”
Worker - “What does that tell you when your mum cries?”
Client - “The I know that she loves me.”
Worker - “I can see that you want mum very much to show you that she loves you, tell me some other things that would tell you that?”
Client – “She would spend more time with me, doing things together.”
Worker - “What kind of things might you do together.”
Client - “We could go to the pictures.”
I don’t know Goals :
“If” questions may be useful.
For example:
“If you did know ……”
“If you could guess …..”
“If I asked your mum/teacher, what would she say?”
Goals should be set that are:
- Positive
- Observable
- Detailed about the process.
- The responsibility of the client.
- Achievable
If you went to sleep tonight and woke up tomorrow morning and the problem had disappeared, how would you know. What would be different, what would it look like?
The Miracle Question is a way of moving clients rapidly into the future to a reality without the problem. It is particularly useful if clients get stuck thinking about exceptions to the problem and be pessimistic about their situation.
The key to getting the MOST useful information from this question is in the detail. Discussing the question in detail can also help to highlight successes which have been unnoticed in the middle of the problem situation.
Persistent and patient questioning allows the client’s goals and possible solution patterns to be expanded and fine-tuned and so increases the likelihood that these behaviours will actually happen.
- Look for times when the problem doesn’t exit.
- Look for times when the problem is less evident.
- Look for times when the problem restricts less.
Always use a 10 point scale.
Where are you now? Where do you want to be?
What have you been doing to get you where you are?
What will you be doing when you are one point higher?
If a client is saying they are at O, or perhaps 1 on the scale, then coping questions can be appropriate.
e.g. “What is it that helps you keep going?”
Scaling questions can also be used to check progress or as a baseline measure.
With reluctant clients, it may be useful to ask where the ‘referrer’ or a key individual would place the client on the scale and what they would be doing to lead the referrer to make this judgement.