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Collaborative goal-setting: Counsellors and clients negotiating a counselling focus
Abstract
The starting point for many counselling approaches is a goal both clients and counsellors agree upon. This is particularly the case in the social constructionist approaches (solution-focused, narrative, and collaborative language systems) to counselling where particular emphasis is given to language use and conversational practice. In this study, 12 clients were seen by counsellors trained in these counselling approaches for single session lifestyle (i.e. non-clinical) consultations. The consultations were videotaped and passages where goal-articulation occurred were analysed using conversation analysis. As well, both clients and counsellors were independently asked to review such passages in which they had participated, to retrospectively comment on their experiences in these passages. The results speak to often taken-for-granted conversational practices and conversational resources used that can help in optimising the goalarticulation process in ways that satisfy both counsellors and clients
... For instance, Alfred Adler already incorporated a "preferred future" question (simply called "The Question", which reads: "What would you do if you were completely well?") in his work. Current psychotherapy literature discusses focusing on goals or collaborative goal setting in the same manner (Cooper & Law 2018;Miller & Rollnick 2012;Strong 2009). In some methods, there is an emphasis on discussing values (Harris 2019;LeJeune & Luoma 2020), life's meaning (Frankl 2006), preferred storylines (Béres 2014), the characteristics of a fully functioning individual (Renger & Macaskill 2021), or on contracting (Lapworth & Sills 2011). ...
... Consequently, achieving these goals with clients is not the primary focus; instead, it is about staying on track toward what the client desires (Walter and Peller 1994). A more extensive repertoire of methods and the capacity to switch seamlessly between strategies during client interactions also contribute to increased flexibility in dealing with preferred futures (Strong 2009). ...
... As stated by Iveson et al., "Whether the miracle question or any other question, is used is of no importance; what is important is that the client is successfully invited to describe some aspect of preferred future since being able to do so is associated with good outcomes" (Iveson et al. 2012, p. 43). This invitation to describe preferred futures can sometimes be challenging for clients to accept, and conversations focused on preferred futures demand a considerable level of "discursive flexibility" and related skills from the therapist (Gale & Newfield 1992;Shennan 2014;Strong 2009). Therefore, utilizing different variations of preferred futures work enhances the likelihood that the client will accept the invitation in some form, allowing the conversation to center on describing and co-creating the preferred futures. ...
The term “preferred future” refers to the outcomes a client hopes to achieve through psychotherapy. Collaborative goal setting is a crucial component of many psychotherapy approaches. This article describes the six ways to focus on a preferred future in solution-focused brief therapy: (1) common project, (2) Vision of a preferred future, (3) goal(s), (4) skill(s), (5) values, and (6) small signs of progress. All variants are briefly expounded upon with accompanied case examples. The second part of the article focuses on the transitions from problem descriptions to various forms of work related to a preferred future, and on the transitions among different methods of preferred future conversations. The primary purpose of this article is to broaden therapists’ strategies when working with preferred futures, enhancing their adaptability in managing these types of conversations with their clients.
... Establishing and monitoring goals provides important feedback, increases motivation, and instills hope (Egan, 2014;Strong, 2009;Young, 2013). By periodically revisiting and assessing therapeutic goals, counselors gain important feedback on the effectiveness of interventions (Schmidt, 2014). ...
... By periodically revisiting and assessing therapeutic goals, counselors gain important feedback on the effectiveness of interventions (Schmidt, 2014). For clients, creating and establishing meaningful, observable goals and seeing incremental change motivates them to work towards therapeutic outcomes (Strong, 2009). In fact, simply talking of change helps move a client from pre-contemplation (i.e., unaware or underaware of a need for change) to contemplation, that is, serious consideration of a need for change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982). ...
... Postmodern approaches to counseling (e.g., solution-focused counseling, narrative therapy, language systems) focus on the construction of meaning between the counselor and the client. Thus, goal formation is a process of co-creation (Strong, 2009). Counselor and client(s) partner collaboratively to clearly and behaviorally define problems and create a realistic plan for change. ...
Establishing constructive counseling goals and objectives are key themes addressed in this article. Effective communication of expectations between the counselor and client help create clear goals. This collaborative process helps create a framework of accountability to monitor progress throughout counseling sessions. A review of the literature reflects limited attention to goal setting for counselors, though specific objectives are critical for sustained success. This article offers a rationale for developing behaviorally stated goals and objectives, provides information on their effective construction, and suggests ideas and examples to teach this skill to counselors-in-training and supervisees.
... Otázky zaměřené na preferovanou budoucnost rovněž nejsou jednoduché zjišťovací otázky, díky nimž by se terapeuti jen dozvěděli informace o přáních klientů. Spíše je vhodné je chápat jako spolupracující a tvůrčí proces, jako společné vytváření smysluplného směru pro párovou terapii (Strong, 2009;Weatherall & Gibson, 2015). Zaměření na preferovanou budoucnost v SFBT má mnoho podob, z nichž některé již byly zmíněny -lze se zaměřit například na společný projekt, vizi preferované budoucnosti, cíl, dovednost či drobné známky zlepšení . ...
Párová psychoterapie představuje svébytnou a rozvíjející se oblast psychoterapie. V tomto textu je pozornost věnována jednomu z přístupů k psychoterapeutické práci s páry, a to přístupu zaměřenému na řešení. Cílem textu je představit přístup zaměřený na řešení a možnosti jeho praktické aplikace v kontextu párové psychoterapie. V první části textu jsou představeny principy zvoleného přístupu a základní metody, které lze využít v rámci párové psychoterapie. Jádrem textu jsou dvě oblasti, které jsou zvlášť významné pro práci s páry s využitím přístupu zaměřeného na řešení a které zároveň představují určitou výzvu pro psychoterapeuty využívající přístup zaměřený na řešení v párové psychoterapii. První z uvedených oblastí je způsob, jak v terapeutickém sezení propojovat perspektivy partnerů tak, aby mohly být slyšeny, akceptovány a dále užitečně rozvíjeny v konverzaci. Druhou oblastí, jíž se v tomto textu věnuje detailnější pozornost, je dojednávání preferované budoucnosti (tedy představy žádoucí změny) s partnery. Jsou zde popsány možnosti, jak rozvíjet společnou představu žádoucí změny s partnery i jak pracovat v situacích, kdy jsou představy partnerů ohledně preferované budoucnosti různé, či dokonce protikladné. Text je doplněn příklady z praxe autora i ilustrativními příklady.
This paper introduces discourse analysis in psychotherapy research as it is performed namely within the context of solution-focused brief therapy. It has the character of an overview study with a closer emphasis on several examples from the solution-focused context in relation to Discourse Analysis in individual, couple, or family therapy. In this text, the authors introduce examples of contemporary research that deal with the role of formulations in psychotherapy and counseling; the therapist pursuing a therapeutic agenda; and the process of change, as well as the broader psychotherapeutic discourse.
The WHO's (2001) International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) model conceptualizes health from an ecological perspective. It has been implemented by many professionals as the standard health classification framework that guides providers' decisions regarding assessment tools and targeted interventions. Despite this model's prevalence among many healthcare providers, the ICF framework remains largely underutilized by many in the counseling fields. This conceptual paper provides an overview of the strengths of the ICF model and ICF-based measurements, and demonstrates its clinical, research, and educational value. A case study is presented to guide counselors and counselor educators through application of the ICF model in various contexts to encourage expanded use of the model. Use of the ICF model among counseling professionals, educators, and researchers is recommended as one way to enhance measurement of clinical outcomes.
Up to half of clients in psychotherapy do not return after their initial session, and clients in family therapy are more likely than those in individual therapy to terminate after the first session. Recent research has identified six therapist-related conditions in the family therapy session that have influenced client decisions to continue after the first session. This article reports the findings of a review of the professional literature aimed at operationalizing the six therapist-related conditions by identifying specific family therapist actions that can be deliberately applied during initial family therapy sessions to increase the chances that client families will return.
This exploratory study examines how Estonian graduate social work students’ reflections of the solution-focused approach in the context of child protection assessment can change as a result of coursework in this model. Students’ responses indicate some changes in the nature of responses after the solution-focused training course, including the adoption of techniques that help to focus on solutions (e.g. miracle question and scaling questions). Following the training, students underscored the importance of changing problem-focused ‘traditional thinking’. The findings highlight a challenge in social work education, suggesting a need to target goal-directed talk throughout the social work curriculum to support competence in conducting comprehensive, strength-based assessments.
The psychotherapeutic facilitation of “decisive moments of life,” such as that described above, is not necessarily a function of treatment duration. Even a single session of therapy can sometimes provide a pivotal moment, invoking the “magic force dwelling in beginnings” that guards us and helps us to live.
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory’s limitations.
This article aims to show the value of conversation analysis for feminist theory and practice around refusal skills training and date rape prevention. Conversation analysis shows that refusals are complex conversational interactions, incorporating delays, prefaces, palliatives, and accounts. Refusal skills training often ignores and overrides these with its simplistic prescription to `just say no'. It should not in fact be necessary for a woman to say `no' in order for her to be understood as refusing sex. We draw on our own data to suggest that young women are able explicitly to articulate a sophisticated awareness of these culturally normative ways of indicating refusal, and we suggest that insistence upon `just say no' may be counterproductive insofar as it implies that other ways of doing refusals (e.g. with silences, compliments, or even weak acceptances) are open to reasonable doubt. Finally we discuss the implications of our use of conversation analysis for feminist psychology, both in relation to date rape and more generally.
The authors propose that dialogue in face-to-face interaction is both audible and visible; language use in this setting includes visible acts of meaning such as facial displays and hand gestures. Several criteria distinguish these from other nonverbal acts: (a) They are sensitive to a sender-receiver relationship in that they are less likely to occur when an addressee will not see them, (b) they are analogically encoded symbols, (c) their meaning can be explicated or demonstrated in context, and (d) they are fully integrated with the accompanying words, although they may be redundant or nonredundant with these words. For these particular acts, the authors eschew the term nonverbal communication because it is a negative definition based solely on physical source. Instead, they propose an integrated message model in which the moment-by-moment audible and visible communicative acts are treated as a unified whole.
In this article, we want to discuss Tom Andersen's focus on the role of certain special kinds of 'arresting', 'moving', 'living', or 'poetic moments' occurring in therapeutic dialogues. In doing this, we see him as exercising a special practice, the practice of a social poetics (Katz and Shotter, 1996). As we s ee it, instead of seeking a universal, cognitive understanding of such events, supposedly revealing of their true nature, a social poetics must 'move' us toward a new way of 'looking over', or participating in, the particular 'play' of unique events unfolding in the conversations between us. It is only by being able continuously to create new links and connections between events within that 'play', in practice, that those involved in a dialogue with each other can reveal both themselves and their 'worlds' to each other. And it is in such living moments between people, in practice, that utterly new possibilities can be created, and people 'live out' solutions to their problems they cannot hope to 'find' in theory, solely in intellectual reflection on them. We explore Bachelard's, Bakhtin's, and Wittgenstein's work in relation to these issues.
: A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effect of setting goals when learning or performing a task found that specific, challenging goals led more often to higher performance than easy goals, 'do your best' goals or no goals. This is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature, with 90% of the studies showing positive or partially positive results. The main mechanisms by which goals affect performance are by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development. Goal setting is most likely to improve task performance when the goals are specific and sufficiently challenging, when the subjects have sufficient ability (and ability differences are controlled), when feedback is provided to show progress in relation to the goal, when rewards such as money are given for goal attainment, when the exerimenter manager is supportive, and when the assigned goals are actually accepted by the individual. No reliable individual differences have emerged in goal setting studies, probably because goals were typically assigned rather than self-set. Need for achievement and self esteem may be the most promising individual difference variables. (Author)
This article studies how counsellors in careers training respond to students' problematic advice requests. Conversation analysis is used to examine two strategies counsellors employ when students request advice regarding matters that, according to counselling concepts, they should deal with themselves. The counsellors manage this situation in two ways. They may respond to the request but sanction it afterwards - this happens when the counsellor has offered the student a chance to ask questions, and the student uses this opportunity to request advice. Another, more cautious strategy is to withhold advice and shape the interaction into a questioning sequence, after which the advice can be given as a reaction to the student's response. Examples of both strategies are analysed. It is suggested that, by avoiding taking the role of service-provider, the counsellors orient to the aim of the students' self-directedness. This phenomenon is discussed as a characteristic of counselling interaction.
Social constructionist interventions in counseling have seldom been evaluated using theoretically compatible research methods. In this exploratory study, 11 clients participated in 1-hour lifestyle consultations conducted by narrative, solution-focused collaborative language systems counselors. The interventions (co-constructing shared understandings, inviting reflections, and introducing new discourses) were primarily evaluated using conversation analysis. Clients and counselors were also asked to retrospectively comment on their experience in videotaped passages where they had been participants. An example of each analyzed intervention, along with corresponding client and counselor commentary, is presented. The results are discussed in relation to training and supervision in social constructionist approaches to counseling, and for contributions this approach to research can make in widening the evidence base for counseling interventions.
Results of 24 studies (based on 20 distinct data sets) relating the quality of the working alliance (WA) to therapy outcome were synthesized using meta-analytic procedures. A moderate but reliable association between good WA and positive therapy outcome was found. Overall, the quality of the WA was most predictive of treatment outcomes based on clients' assessments, less so of therapists' assessments, and least predictive of observers' report. Clients' and observers' rating of the WA appear to be more correlated with all types of outcomes reported than therapists' ratings. The relation of WA and outcome does not appear to be a function of the type of therapy practiced, the length of treatment, whether the research is published, or the number of participants in the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Both constructivist and constructionist models of therapy seek to produce new meanings with clients and families. Critics have pointed out that these therapies may neglect to consider the political and embedded nature of meaning making. This paper describes a discourse analysis of a construction/uctivist interview. Three interlocking conversational strategies employed by the interviewer are identified: exteriority, the disciplining of narrative and locality. These strategies are examined in the light of their effects on the unfolding narrative in the session, both in a productive and a restrictive sense. The function of therapy theory and techniques in subjugating client narratives as well as providing processes for constructing new meaning is discussed.
The organization of taking turns to talk is fundamental to conversation, as well as to other speech-exchange systems. A model for the turn-taking organization for conversation is proposed, and is examined for its compatibility with a list of grossly observable facts about conversation. The results of the examination suggest that, at least, a model for turn-taking in conversation will be characterized as locally managed, party-administered, interactionally controlled, and sensitive to recipient design. Several general consequences of the model are explicated, and contrasts are sketched with turn-taking organizations for other speech-exchange systems.
Postmodern models of therapy stress the participation of the clinician in a nonhierarchical, non-objectifying role, and highlight the therapist's embeddedness in the same processes of social construction as are the individual and the family. While much theory has been published in recent years, the actual conduct of a therapy session derived from the premises of postmodernism remains unclear. We investigated how a postmodern therapist manages talk in an actual session. We used textual analysis to examine a couples therapy session conducted by a prominent narrative therapist. Analysis of the talk led to descriptions of the couple's and therapist's agenda, and their interaction. The therapist's agenda is described in terms of "decentering" both the local unfolding narrative and its embeddedness in larger cultural stories. Five conversational practices: matching/self-disclosure, reciprocal editing, turn management to deobjectify, expansion questions, and reversals are examined. These practices inform the deployment of a decentering agenda in this specific text.
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory's limitations.
Discourse markers - the particles oh, well, now, then, you know and I mean, and the connectives so, because, and, but and or - perform important functions in conversation. Dr Schiffrin's approach is firmly interdisciplinary, within linguistics and sociology, and her rigourous analysis clearly demonstrates that neither the markers, nor the discourse within which they function, can be understood from one point of view alone, but only as an integration of structural, semantic, pragmatic, and social factors. The core of the book is a comparative analysis of markers within conversational discourse collected by Dr Schiffrin during sociolinguistic fieldwork. The study concludes that markers provide contextual coordinates which aid in the production and interpretation of coherent conversation at both local and global levels of organization. It raises a wide range of theoretical and methodological issues important to discourse analysis - including the relationship between meaning and use, the role of qualitative and quantitative analyses - and the insights it offers will be of particular value to readers confronting the very substantial problems presented by the search for a model of discourse which is based on what people actually say, mean, and do with words in everyday social interaction.
Bringing together thirteen original papers by leading American and British researchers, this volume reflects fresh developments in the increasingly influential field of conversation analysis. It begins by outlining the theoretical and methodological foundations of the field and goes on to develop some of the main themes that have emerged from topical empirical research. These include the organisation of preference, topic, non-vocal activities, and apparently spontaneous responses such as laughter and applause. The collection represents the most comprehensive statement yet to be published on this type of research.
This text presents an integrative model of psychotherapy that discourages divisiveness and encourages a common vocabulary among therapists. It covers the crucial skills of managing time and increasing patient motivation.
What distinguishes actions which are intentional from those which are not? The answer that suggests itself is that they are the actions to which a certain sense of the question ‘Why?’ is given application; the sense is defined as that in which the answer, if positive, gives a reason for acting. But this hardly gets us any further, because the questions ‘What is the relevant sense of the question “Why?”’ and ‘What is meant by “reason for acting”?’ are one and the same.
This popular study of "psychological healing"treats topics ranging from religious revivalism and magical healing to contemporary psychotherapies, from the role of the shaman in nonindustrialized societies to the traditional mental hospital. Jerome and Julia Frank (who are father and daughter) contend that these therapies share common elements that improve the "morale"of sufferers. And in combating the "demoralizing meaning"that people attach to their experiences, the authors argue, many therapies are surprisingly similar to rhetoric (the art of persuasion) and to hermeneutics (the study of meanings). Highly acclaimed in previous editions, Persuasion and Healing has been completely revised and expanded. In addition to a broadened exploration of the role of demoralization in illness, this latest edition offers updated information on topics including self-help, family therapy, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy for the mentally ill, and techniques such as primal therapy and bioenergetics. As they explore the power of "healing rhetoric"in these activities, the authors strengthen the ties among the various healing profession.
An illustrative analysis is offered demonstrating the potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. Extracts are presented from an unresolved problematic theme selected from an unsuccessful eight-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The authors identify descriptive devices and communicative skills on which the client and therapist draw in the process of problem formulation. They demonstrate the way in which differing versions of the client’s problems were presented and how the client and therapist pursued differing attributional projects. Specifically, the authors examine how internal and external accounts of the client’s underlying problems were accomplished and warranted and how the therapist attempted the transformation of problems. The quality criteria pertaining to conversation analysis are indicated, the implications for therapeutic practice explored, and the relationship between the present findings and previous research discussed.
[I will] present a personal account of the origin of Comprehensive Process Analysis [CPA], using this to make a case for the greater use of discovery-oriented research methods by psychotherapy researchers
this will be followed by a description of the general principles and steps used in CPA, along with examples from a study of significant events in which clients' self-awareness was enhanced (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This text and professional resource offers an alternative approach to thinking about and working with “difficult” families. From a nonpathologizing stance, William C. Madsen demonstrates creative ways to help family members shift their relationship to longstanding problems; envision desired lives; and develop more proactive coping strategies. Anyone working with families in crisis, especially in settings where time and resources are scarce, will gain valuable insights and tools from this book.
A review of the place of the therapeutic relationship within systemic approaches to therapy is provided. This serves to contextualize the findings of a research study that subjects therapy sessions to a discursive analysis. The purpose of the analysis is to learn more about the therapeutic relationship through an examination of what actually takes place in sessions. Moments in therapy where therapeutic engagement is stronger and moments when it is weaker are identified and analysed. The discursive contours of a robust therapeutic relationship are highlighted. A theoretical account of the constituents of a stronger therapeutic relationship is constructed from this analysis.
But let me tell you something about experience. It outstrips all accounts of it. All ulterior versions.
Martin Amis, Experience
The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel not what we ought to say.
William Shakespeare, King Lear
One frequently heard critique of psychotherapy, particularly in feminist circles, is that it individualizes client's problems, i.e. they are shorn of their social significance and reduced to personal (psychological) shortcomings of the client herself. The present paper attempts to demonstrate what this phenomenon might look like at the level of the actual conversational interaction between the client and her therapist. It will become clear that the (re)formulation of the client's initial version of her troubles is by no means a spontaneous artefact of the therapeutic interview, but the result of considerable interactional ‘work’ on the part of the therapist. The process of problem (re)formulation consists of three analytically distinct stages, which are accomplished primarily by means of the everyday conversational device of ‘formulations.’ By using formulations in a special way, the therapist is able to transform the client's difficulties in her situation as full-time housewife and mother into a typical ‘therapy problem’.
This book, first published in 1996, argues that language use is more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners - writers and readers - perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. The author argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.
This book is an empirical study of naturally occurring interaction between child counselling professionals and young children experiencing parental separation or divorce. Based on tape recordings of the work of a London child counselling practice, it offers the reader a unique and sustained look inside the child counselling consultation room at the talk that occurs there. The book uses conversation analysis against a backdrop of sociological work in childhood and family studies to situate the discourse of child counselling at an interface between the increasing incitement to communicate in modern society, the growing recognition of children’s social competence and agency, and the enablements and constraints of institutional forms of discourse participation. Chapters include overviews of recent developments in the sociology of childhood and the sociolinguistics of children’s talk; conversation analysis and institutional discourse; and detailed empirical studies of the linguistic techniques by which counsellors draw out children’s concerns about family trauma and the means by which children, through talking and avoiding talking, either cooperate in or resist their therapeutic subjectification.
This book will be of interest to readers in counselling psychology and practitioners of child counselling; to researchers and advanced students in social psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics; and to others interested in childhood and family studies, interactionism, qualitative methodology and conversation analysis.
"Feed-forward" is a technique that encourages families to imagine the pattern of their relationships at some future point in time. Questions about the future, in conjunction with positive connotation, put families in a metaposition to their own dilemmas and thus facilitate change by opening up new solutions for old problems.
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