Setting goals

Change can not take place unless one has an idea or image of what that change should look like once complete. That is why one of the first steps in working with clients, and one of the most important, needs to be setting goals. The original goals will be refined and expanded to establish the ongoing change that takes place once one is on the path to change. It is the process of change which is important, and not reaching the goal. I have found that once the original goal a client came into therapy with has been met they will often terminate. This is particularly true with anxiety. Once anxiety has been significantly reduced a client will feel so much better they recognize they can carry on by themselves. However, after several months it is common for the client to return to deal with the much lower baseline of anxiety to further reduce or eliminate it. Life is a path of changing goals and refinement of our goals whether it relates to professional, social, spiritual or developmental growth. Our priorities change, as well as the goals we set.