How can you use the silver lining exercise to help clients reframe stress?
Summary
Practitioners can use a structured goal exploration process to help clients uncover core values, visualize future aspirations, and clarify meaningful life visions.
This guide provides targeted question prompts that uncover deep motivations, identify personal strengths, and address potential obstacles to growth.
Clinicians can apply the established SMART framework to transform broad therapeutic objectives into realistic, time-bound milestones.
Download the free goal exploration worksheet to integrate structured exercises into your sessions or assign them as reflective homework between appointments.
Goal exploration helps clients to gain insights into their aspirations and vision for their lives.
This article provides an overview of goal exploration, including goal question prompts to use with clients, as well as an overview of goal-setting frameworks.
We’ve included a free downloadable goal exploration worksheet that you can save to your electronic health record (EHR) and use in your practice.
What is goal exploration?
Goal exploration is the process of reflecting on your aspirations, values, motivations, and what you want your life to look like.
Using our goal exploration prompts can help clients identify broad goals, explain why they're important, how realistic they are, identify the strengths and resources needed, and outline how they will achieve them.
Goal exploration questions
There is a range of goal exploration questions to ask clients, including:
Big picture questions
What are three of your interests or areas you’d like to grow?
If you were to imagine your life in five to ten years, what would it look like? Name how things would be different from your life today.
What is something you are passionate about?
What are your three most important values?
When you have felt most proud of yourself, what were you doing?
What do you want your legacy to be?
Clarifying questions
What do you want to achieve?
What is the specific outcome you are looking to accomplish?
What date or timeline do you want to set to achieve your goal?
If nothing was holding you back, what would you do differently?
How realistic is the goal? Have you done any research into how long this kind of goal takes to achieve?
Understanding motivation
How does this goal align with your values?
What are the consequences of not achieving your goal?
Why is this goal important to you?
Identifying resources and strengths
What resources do you need to achieve your goal?
Which personal strengths will help you accomplish your goal?
Where is there a gap in resources or skills, and how will you address it?
Exploring potential obstacles
What has gotten in the way of you achieving your goals?
What did you learn about yourself?
How might you approach this goal differently?
What support do you need to accomplish this goal?
Visualizing the goal
If you look forward five years from now and you’ve accomplished your goal, what would it feel or look like?
What steps do you need to take to start working toward this goal?
Breaking it down
How will you break down your goal into specific steps?
How will you create milestones to track your progress?
How will you hold yourself accountable to your goal and objectives?
How will you adjust your expectations and milestones when a setback or an obstacle arises?
Goal-setting frameworks
One of the most used goal frameworks is the SMART goal structure, which helps to achieve realistic goals:
Specific: Define what you want to achieve.
Measurable: Track progress with tangible milestones and provide criteria for successful completion.
Achievable: Set realistic and attainable goals considering available resources, skills, and circumstances.
Relevant: Goals should align with your values and long-term vision.
Time-bound: Provides a clear deadline for completion.
How to use the goal exploration worksheet
You can download and use the goal exploration worksheet in several ways:
Use a goal exploration activity in the session.
Assign the worksheet as therapeutic homework to encourage between-session integration and self-reflection.
Ask clients to reflect on their goals between sessions and report their progress at their next therapy appointment.
Share the goal exploration worksheet with coworkers and peers.
Combine the worksheet with other goal-related ones, such as our therapy goals worksheet, goal planning worksheet, and values clarification worksheet.
Print copies to leave in your therapy room.
Sources
Berkman E. T. (2018). The Neuroscience of Goals and Behavior Change. Consulting psychology journal.
Greco, L. M., & Kraimer, M. L. (2020). Goal-setting in the career management process: An identity theory perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology.
Ogbeiwi, Osahon. (2017). Why written objectives need to be really SMART. British Journal of Healthcare Management.
Massachusetts Health Workers Association. (n.d.). Goal Setting Framework Worksheet.
Rose, G., & Smith, L. (2018). Mental health recovery, goal setting, and working alliance in an Australian community-managed organisation. Health Psychology Open.
Stewart, V., McMillan, S. S., Hu, J., Ng, R., El-Den, S., O'Reilly, C., & Wheeler, A. J. (2022). Goal planning in mental health service delivery: A systematic integrative review. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
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