What is your approach to goal setting with your clients?
Goal setting is essential to the counseling process, both in terms of client accountability and client success. Give the interviewer a step-by-step approach to how you help your clients to set goals and maintain focus.
If you are an experienced Mental Health Counselor, you could give an example of your work to make your response more concrete. You could start by talking about a client's treatment (confidentially, of course), and how you approached goal setting. Paint a picture using examples, and be sure to discuss the results.
"I understand how essential goal setting is for my clients' progress and self-esteem. Goal setting also boosts my clients' level of accountability and involvement they bring to their treatment. I build rapport with my clients and gain a certain level of trust. Together, we first set small goals so that there are wins along the way. I approach these goals in a supportive and informative way. I also perform check-ins at the beginning of my sessions to ensure that we are on the same page with the goals from the session previous and the ones we are to focus on next. I also send out one encouraging email between sessions, reminding my clients of their goals and progress. This message is simply one of support as I want my clients to gain accountability for their work. One example of my goal-setting in action is a client who was working through PTSD. I determined that cognitive-behavioral therapy would be effective, and we set goals to challenge his negative thoughts. These goals included journaling daily and repeating positive mantras. The primary goal was to set the habit of positive self-talk and slowly build trust in himself. Once he developed the habits of mantras and journaling, he told me that he felt his depression and anxiety lifting. Then, we set larger goals focused on improving his relationships. I continued to check in between sessions with a positive email that often included a helpful quote, a breathing exercise, or a compliment. I continued to give him tools to manage his emotions and self-perceptions, and he has made significant progress in a relatively short amount of time."
"I plan to take a human-centered approach to my counseling sessions so I will work with my client on creating short and long term goals together. It's important that my client feels involved in the goal-setting process so that the targets are achievable and exciting for them. I will ask my client to explore details surrounding their ideal outcome, and we will move forward using that information as a primary driver."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
Based on a client's presenting mental health concerns, for example, anxiety, after other pertinent information has been collected such as drug and alcohol use, psychiatric history, medical history, any form of medical treatment, and Diagnosis/DSM 5, if the client's symptoms met the criteria GAD, I then explain the diagnosis with the client. Long-term goals are then discussed to reduce the overall frequency, intensity, and duration of the anxiety as well as coping skills that need to be implemented that will also result in a reduction of anxiety. Short-term goals are also developed which helps in accomplishing the long-term goals.
Stephanie's Feedback
This again reflects strong ethics of the counseling profession, but I suggest using "I" statements and personalizing your response.
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