Setting Therapeutic Goals: What Do You Want from Therapy?

Goal-setting is a collaborative process that typically occurs in the early sessions of therapy and provides a roadmap for the work ahead. Well-defined therapeutic goals help both you and your therapist stay focused, measure progress, and know when therapy has been successful. Goals also provide motivation during difficult moments in therapy, reminding you of what you are working towards.

Effective therapeutic goals share certain characteristics, often summarised by the SMART framework: Specific (clearly defined and detailed), Measurable (you can tell whether you have achieved them), Achievable (realistic given your current circumstances), Relevant (they matter to you personally, not just to others), and Time-bound (they have a realistic timeframe). For example, "I want to feel better" is understandable but vague. A SMART version might be: "I want to reduce my anxiety enough that I can attend my weekly team meeting without using safety behaviours, within the next eight weeks."

Goals in therapy typically operate at multiple levels. Overarching goals describe the broad outcomes you hope to achieve (such as "feeling more confident" or "managing my anger"). Session-level goals identify what you want to focus on in each individual session. Homework goals set specific tasks to practise between sessions. Your therapist will help you translate your hopes for therapy into concrete, achievable goals and will revisit them regularly to track progress and adjust as needed.

It is entirely normal for your goals to change as therapy progresses. As you develop a deeper understanding of your difficulties, the goals you set at the outset may evolve, and new goals may emerge. This is a sign that therapy is working, not that something has gone wrong. The important thing is that at any given point in therapy, you and your therapist have a shared understanding of what you are working towards.