It is quite understood that when you have made up your mind to take therapy, there are some things you wish to understand about yourself or some goals you wish to achieve to feel better. However, it can be difficult to understand what goals you want to achieve when you do not know how therapy works or what is bothering you from the inside.
So in order to understand yourself and how to set goals for counseling, let’s first understand what counseling goals are.
What are Therapy Goals?
Therapy goals are those goals that you wish to achieve in therapy and are based on your life goals, which usually revolve around your career, relationships, or personal growth.
However, there is a way to achieve your goals for counseling. Firstly, you need to sit with yourself and analyze what it is that you wish to achieve and how therapy might make it easier for you. To set therapy goals, you should make SMART goals that help you achieve them realistically and without any pressure.
Smart goals are specific goals that are measurable so you know when you have reached them, attainable so that you do not keep unrealistic expectations, relevant to the issue you have and lastly, time bound so that you can give yourself a deadline by when you wish to achieve them.
So when you are thinking about setting goals for therapy, try to think about them in this manner so you are able to form realistic and achievable mental health therapy goals for yourself.
10 Goals You Can Achieve in Therapy
While there are a lot of things that you can understand with the help of therapy, here are some major things that therapy helps you with:
1. Coping with emotions
Therapy opens you up like anything and helps you figure out techniques to better cope with your emotions. In reality, we wish to run away from them but therapy makes you realize how important it is to sit with your emotions and cope with them in a healthy manner.
2. Improves communication
Therapy helps you become more vocal and true to yourself, which also includes communicating your feelings, needs, or thoughts in a positive manner to the other person. It makes you realize how the foundation of any relationship comes from communication and not assuming that your partner or loved one should know when you are not feeling okay.
3. Understanding yourself
Usually, we humans are not able to understand ourselves like we understand others but with the help of therapy, you are able to foster an understanding relationship with yourself. You understand that if you are not empathetic with yourself, you do not value or respect yourself, which pushes you to make a good relationship with yourself.
4. Making a better bond with yourself
Therapy pushes you to make a better bond with yourself and look within yourself for the things you are trying to find in the external world. It makes you balanced, grounded, and happy in your own solitude.
5. Resolves unhealed patterns
A lot of us live life in autopilot mode, so when you take therapy, a lot of unconscious things come into the limelight and help you heal patterns you never knew harmed you in any sort of way. So therapy helps you connect with your real self by healing patterns that aren’t part of your personality.
6. Figuring out your desires and passions
Therapy helps you realize what makes you happy and giddy from the inside. It pushes you to explore your strengths and weaknesses and go after things that you are passionate about.
7. Making long-term goals for yourself
Therapy pushes you to look within yourself and think about the things that will make you truly happy, which in turn will push you to make long-term goals for yourself.
8. Fosters a healthy and productive lifestyle
Therapy caters to your mental health but it also pushes you to work on your overall lifestyle and live a life that is healthy and productive, which pushes you to become a better version of yourself.
9. Improves your self-esteem
Therapy helps you see yourself in a better light and reconnects you with your inner child, boosting your morale and improving your overall self-esteem.
10. Addresses root cause of your stress or anxiety
Although nominal stress and anxiety are quite normal, understanding the root cause of what triggers them and how to effectively manage them is important. Feeling stressed or upset is such a trigger that, if not handled with care, can worsen over time and hinder your overall well-being.
Tips for Goal Setting in Therapy
If you are someone new to therapy and want to understand how goal setting works, here are some tips to use beforehand:
1. Look at your broader motives
To understand your goals for therapy, first understand what you wish to achieve in therapy or, in general, in life. Do you want to be happy? Do you wish to love yourself better? Once you have understood this, you can even share it with your therapist, as they will help you figure out where this is coming from and what is stopping you from going after it.
2. Choose a theme
If you are not able to think of a broader motive, think of a theme that you wish to discuss or improve in your life. Is it about you, your relationships, your career, or your lifestyle? Once you are able to choose a theme, you can then discuss that with the therapist and get an in-depth understanding of it.
3. Narrow down the picture
Once you have understood the broader picture, narrow it down to what you really want to talk about. If you are not able to understand this way, try to narrow it down by writing down what you wish to work on within yourself and talking about it with your therapist.
4. Make SMART goals
The best way to set goals for therapy is by making smart counseling goals, which means making goals in such a way that they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-oriented. This helps you divide your mental health therapy goals into small sections and not pressure yourself into achieving them in a hurry.
5. Make an action plan
Once you have understood what you wish to achieve or talk about, make a rough plan about how you will go about it. You can talk to your therapist about it and understand how long it will take for you to achieve a certain goal of yours and then instead of rushing yourself towards it, take slow and steady steps to achieve your goal.
Achieve Your Therapy Goals with Now&Me
If you are on the lookout for a therapist who helps you achieve your counseling goals in a smart manner, connect with Now&Me experts and build a healthier relationship with yourself. Now&Me experts make sure to provide you with the right guidance and support while keeping your information confidential and secure.
And if you simply wish to discuss your life or goals for counseling with people, you can become a part of the Now&Me community and talk to a bunch of like-minded people who, like you, are also on a journey to self-discovery.
So, download the app and simply start engaging with therapists and a well-built community to understand how to set mental health therapy goals in a smart manner.
Sources
https://blog.opencounseling.com/setting-goals-for-therapy/
https://mindflowergroup.com/social-media/f/10-goals-you-can-achieve-in-therapy
