Goals of Counseling: 6 Therapy Goals Explained

My personal practice is mindfulness-based, which means that we generally work with what comes to mind during sessions. That might sound like we don’t plan therapy goals, but the truth is, we absolutely do.

It is important to determine what the goals of counseling sessions will be, even if you’re not setting a prescriptive agenda.

Imagine you’re on a road trip with a predetermined destination and several route options. You know where you want to go, and you have several ways to get there. In therapy, the destination is the goal of counseling. You and your clients decide where they want to go (or achieve) and work toward that.

This article explores the importance of therapy goals for your clients, how they’re established, and strategies for setting and achieving them effectively.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

What Are the 6 Main Goals of Counseling and Therapy?

Therapeutic goals vary widely depending on individual needs, circumstances, and the type of therapy (DiFilippo, 2018). However, there are some common goals many clients require, which include the following:

1. Enhance self-awareness

Helping your clients increase their self-awareness is a foundational therapeutic goal (Pieterse et al., 2013). Helping clients understand their patterns of thought, behavior, and emotion, and how these affect their experiences, is very important for them to be able to accept accountability and make changes (Fenigstein et al., 1975).

2. Build self-acceptance

Building self-acceptance is about helping your clients foster a compassionate understanding of themselves and embrace their strengths and imperfections alike (David et al., 2013).

It involves challenging negative self-talk and self-sabotage, cultivating self-compassion, and aligning personal values with actions (Luoma & Platt, 2015).

Building self-acceptance will empower your clients to release self-judgment, improve emotional resilience, and build healthier relationships with themselves and others, promoting overall wellbeing (Yadavaia et al., 2014).

3. Improve emotional regulation

Improving emotional regulation as a therapeutic goal involves helping your clients to identify, understand, and manage their emotions more effectively (Berking et al., 2008).

Strategies your clients can use to improve emotion regulation may include developing mindfulness, enhancing self-awareness, and practicing coping techniques (Naragon-Gainey et al., 2017).

4. Build resilience

If your goals of counseling include building resilience, equip your client with tools to navigate adversity and recover from challenges (Fava & Tomba, 2009). Such tools involve fostering emotional strength, developing coping skills, and cultivating a growth mindset (Pearson & de Bruin, 2019).

5. Improve communication skills

Improving communication skills involves helping clients express their thoughts and emotions clearly while actively listening to others (Wahyudiansah et al., 2022).

These skills foster healthier relationships, reduce misunderstandings, and enhance conflict resolution, empowering clients to connect more deeply and authentically in personal and professional settings (Kapur, 2021).

6. Empowerment and choice

Another common therapy goal is to empower clients to make informed choices about what they want in life (Metz, 2016). This can enhance clients’ sense of agency and purpose (Lindhiem et al., 2014).

Whether addressing anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, or personal growth, the above therapeutic goals provide solid therapeutic building blocks to help your clients live a happier and more meaningful life (Burns, 2009).

6 Reasons Why Setting Goals for Therapy Is Crucial

Goal setting is an important part of effective therapy because it helps to ensure the process is structured, focused, and aligned with the client’s needs (Kiselnikova et al., 2019).

Here’s why it’s essential:

1. Focus and clarity

Clear goals will help you and your client identify specific areas to address, eliminating ambiguity and keeping sessions intentional (DiFilippo, 2018).

For example, a client struggling with anxiety might set a goal to reduce panic attacks, allowing you to focus on targeted strategies like relaxation techniques or cognitive reframing.

2. Measurable progress

Without defined goals, you and your client may find it difficult to track improvement. Goals act as benchmarks for evaluating growth (Schöttke et al., 2014).

For instance, a client aiming to improve communication skills can measure progress by how frequently they practice active listening or assertiveness in daily interactions.

3. Motivation

Having a clear objective creates purpose and drives motivation (Katz et al., 2016). You can help your clients acknowledge their therapeutic achievements as a way to encourage and motivate them.

4. Therapeutic alignment

By aligning your goals of counseling with your client’s goals, it will help foster collaboration (Tryon & Winograd, 2011).

For example, if you know your client has a goal to overcome stage fright, you may discuss therapy goals and approaches that include mindfulness and somatic work.

5. Accountability

By helping your clients define their therapeutic objectives, you can encourage them to take responsibility for their journey (VanPuymbrouck, 2014).

For instance, a client seeking to improve their emotional regulation can be encouraged to commit to a daily mindfulness practice.

6. Structure

Goals create a roadmap for therapy sessions, ensuring they remain organized and effective (DiFilippo, 2018). This structure may help your client stay engaged and on track throughout the therapeutic process.

How Therapy Goals Are Set: 6 Important Questions

Setting goals in counseling is a collaborative process (McClain, 2005). To establish meaningful objectives, you may want to explore these questions with your clients:

1. What brought you to therapy?
2. What challenges are you currently facing?
3. What areas of your life feel most unsatisfying?
4. What strengths can you build upon?
5. How do you envision your ideal future?
6. Is there something in your life you’d like to change?

You may also want to tailor goals to the client’s values, cultural background, and unique experiences so that the therapy goals are relevant and achievable (Mickleburgh, 1992).

4 Helpful Strategies for Therapy and Counseling

Effective goals of counseling and therapy require thoughtful strategies based on sound principles (DeFilippo, 2018).

Here are several approaches that can be applied in counseling sessions:

1. Collaborative exploration
   You and your client should work together to identify goals that resonate with their needs and desires (Hart, 1978).
2. Prioritization
   Help your clients prioritize what is most important, as this will help them stay focused and improve their chances for good therapeutic outcomes (Conner et al., 2022).
3. Flexibility
   The goals you set with your clients should be flexible enough to shift and evolve with their growth, progress, and circumstances (DiFilippo, 2018).
4. Validation
   Acknowledge your clients’ feelings and experiences to build trust and strengthen their commitment to the goals (DiFilippo, 2018).

Consider using some or all of the above strategies with the following five principles of goal setting:

1. Set a therapeutic goal

Therapeutic goals often address specific challenges while fostering holistic growth (Lenoff, 2020). For example:

• If your client is struggling with anxiety, they may set a goal to reduce panic attacks using mindfulness techniques.
• If your client is having trouble in their relationships, they may aim to improve communication and reduce conflict through structured exercises.

2. SMART goals in therapy

The SMART goal setting process involves defining the goal, identifying reasons for setting goals, and developing and implementing them (Cothran & Wysocki, 2019).

By applying the SMART goals process in psychotherapy, you can enhance goal attainment, improve psychological wellbeing, and empower your clients to stay focused and motivated (Sheldon et al., 2002).

3. Treatment plan goals

A treatment plan serves as a formalized structure for therapy, linking goals with interventions (McGuire et al., 2015).

Even though the implementation and effectiveness of treatment plans can vary, they have been shown to be a constructive way to enhance motivation and improve treatment outcomes (Stewart et al., 2022).

A simple example of a treatment plan could look like this:

• Goal: Reduce anxiety symptoms
• Intervention: Weekly somatic psychotherapy sessions in combination with a mindfulness practice to challenge anxious thinking and regulate the nervous system
• Outcome measure: Reduction in self-reported anxiety symptoms by 50% within 3 months

4. Goal setting in group therapy

In group therapy, both individual and collective goals contribute to therapeutic success (Kealy et al., 2019). Your group therapy goal setting should include collaboration, goal consensus, and a supportive group climate to enhance outcomes (Kleingeld et al., 2011).

Examples may include:

• For individuals in the group: Gaining confidence in expressing personal emotions
• For the group collective: Building trust and fostering mutual support among members

You may also want to emphasize interpersonal learning and encourage members to explore their roles within the group dynamic in your group therapy process (Gallagher et al., 2014).

6 Examples of Therapy Objectives

Therapy objectives can be tailored to suit a wide variety of needs. Studies suggest that they can include enhancing positive affect, finding meaning and engagement, achieving personal recovery goals, improving therapeutic relationships, addressing specific client problems, and supporting mental health through group interventions (Walsh et al., 2017).

1. Enhancing positive affect

A key objective is to increase positive emotions like joy, gratitude, and hope (McNeil & Repetti, 2021). This has been shown to improve overall mental wellbeing and resilience (Seligman et al., 2018).

For example, if you’re using a positive psychology approach, you might use gratitude journaling to help your clients focus on positive experiences, shifting their perspective from challenges to moments of happiness.

2. Finding meaning and engagement

Therapy often supports clients to discover meaning and deepen engagement with life (Vos & Vitali 2018).

Meaning can be explored through values clarification, while engagement might be nurtured through mindfulness practices (Christie et al., 2017).

For instance, if your client is feeling lost in their career, you might work together to identify and align their work with their personal values. Use our personal values worksheet to help them with the process.

3. Achieving personal recovery goals

Personal recovery goals empower your client to regain control and move toward overcoming trauma, managing anxiety, or reestablishing routines (Waller et al., 2014).

If you’re using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), you may encourage your client with social anxiety to set a goal to engage in graded exposure, starting with small interactions, such as greeting a coworker, and gradually progressing to attending a weekly social group, thereby building confidence step by step.

4. Improving therapeutic relationships

A strong client–therapist relationship is crucial for successful therapy (Steel et al., 2018). By fostering trust, empathy, and open communication, the therapeutic alliance you have with your client becomes a model for healthy relationships (Chui et al., 2020).

For instance, by discussing and addressing client feedback, you can strengthen collaboration and engagement with your client. Use this process as an example of how they might engage with important people in their lives.

5. Addressing specific client problems

You may need to target unique challenges, such as managing anger, coping with grief, or reducing phobias in your therapy practice (Beck & Fernandez, 2004).

For example, you may use CBT techniques to help your client reframe negative thoughts contributing to their low self-esteem

6. Supporting mental health through group interventions

Group interventions for mental health cultivate a sense of connection, which reduces isolation and creates an environment for shared learning among participants (Haslam et al., 2016).

It also creates a space for participants to learn and grow together (Radnitz et al., 2019). This provides the opportunity to develop coping skills, give and receive peer feedback, and get new perspectives on their challenges (Bratt et al., 2020).

4 Tips for Monitoring and Adjusting Counseling Goals

Therapy is an ongoing process, and therapy goals should evolve as clients make progress (Agapie et al., 2022).

Focusing on collaborative goal setting, client participation, and continuous feedback will enhance your therapeutic outcomes (Oddli et al., 2021).

Here are a few tips for monitoring and adjusting goals:

1. Check in regularly
   Regularly review goals with your client to assess progress and identify new challenges. You can use the Personal Growth Tracker Worksheet to monitor progress.
2. Celebrate milestones
   It is really important to acknowledge and celebrate achievements, no matter how small (Lloyd et al., 2019). This will help you to boost your client’s confidence and motivation (LaFerriere & Calsyn, 1978).
3. Adapt goals as needed
   If a goal becomes irrelevant or too challenging, modify it to better suit your client’s current circumstances (Tryon et al., 2018). This keeps goals relevant and clients motivated.
4. Encourage self-reflection
   Invite clients to evaluate their own growth and adjust priorities accordingly (Laver et al., 2023). Have a look at our blog article “25 Self-Reflection Questions: Why Introspection Is Important” to learn more about how to help clients reflect.

Common Challenges in Achieving Therapy Objectives

Clients and therapists alike may encounter obstacles when pursuing therapeutic goals (Brewer et al., 2014).

Common challenges include:

1. Communication difficulties in goal setting
   Clear goal setting can be obstructed by misunderstandings or differing priorities (Parry, 2004). For example, your client may struggle to accurately articulate their needs, leading to vague or mismatched objectives.
2. Building strong therapeutic alliances
   A weak client–therapist bond can hinder progress (DeSorcy et al., 2016). For example, if you and your client struggle to connect and understand each other, the client might disengage, making collaboration difficult.
3. Resistance to change
   Fear or discomfort may prevent clients from fully engaging in the process (Button et al., 2015). For instance, a client who needs to address deeply ingrained habits may struggle to trust the process, fearing vulnerability or failure.
4. Limited resources
   Time, money, or access to therapy can impact the ability to achieve goals (Magalhães et al., 2024). If your client is unable to afford regular sessions, they may have to space appointments, slowing momentum. Or, if your client has limited access to transport or childcare, they might find it challenging to attend therapy consistently, which will affect continuity and outcomes.
5. Skepticism toward internet-based therapies
   Clients may doubt the effectiveness of online therapy or feel disconnected from the experience (Békés et al., 2021). For instance, someone new to virtual sessions might feel awkward and hesitate to share openly, which could limit progress.

Overcoming these challenges may require you to revisit and reframe goals to make them more manageable.

Recommended Resources From PositivePsychology.com

Our bank of resources is overflowing with juicy articles, tools, and courses to help you and clients develop workable and effective therapy goals. You could start with additional reading in the form of our blog articles, such as:

• The Science & Psychology of Goal-Setting 101 provides a great intro into what goal setting is about and why it works.
• 15 Best Books on Goal-Setting will give you exactly what it says it will: a great review of the best goal-setting books out there.
• 10+ Goal-Setting Worksheets & Templates to Achieve Goals provides an overview of great tools to help your client set their counseling goals.

If you want to jump straight into worksheets, these are a few of the best ones in our repository:

• Setting Valued Goals Worksheet
• Personal Growth Tracker Worksheet
• Personal Development Plan

If you’d prefer to go for gold, you can try our Motivation & Goal Achievement Masterclass©. This comprehensive six-module coaching package will enable you to help your clients set robust and achievable goals leading to meaningful therapeutic outcomes.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others reach their goals, this collection contains 17 validated motivation & goals-achievement tools for practitioners. Use them to help others turn their dreams into reality by applying the latest science-based behavioral change techniques.

A Take-Home Message

I hope that I have made the point that goals are an integral part of successful therapy and counseling. By setting clear, realistic objectives, you can help your clients create a focused and purposeful path to healing and growth.

While challenges may arise, they are opportunities for growth and adaptation. With the right tools and support, clients can make lasting changes in their lives.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free.

ED: Updated Feb 2025