Table Of ContentWorking with Goals
in Psychotherapy
and Counselling
Working with Goals
in Psychotherapy
and Counselling
Edited by
Mick Cooper and Duncan Law
1
1
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Contents
List of contributors vii
1 Introduction 1
Mick Cooper and Duncan Law
2 Philosophical, conceptual, and ethical perspectives on
working with goals in therapy 15
John McLeod and Thomas Mackrill
3 The psychology of goals: A practice- friendly review 35
Mick Cooper
4 Using goals in therapy: The perspective of people
with lived experience 73
Amy Feltham, Kate Martin, Leanne Walker, and Lydia Harris
5 Goals and psychotherapy research 87
Georgiana Shick Tryon
6 Measuring outcomes using goals 111
Jenna Jacob, Julian Edbrooke- Childs, Christopher Lloyd, Daniel Hayes,
Isabelle Whelan, Miranda Wolpert, and Duncan Law
Appendix 6.1. Goal- based outcome measures for
children and adults 128
7 From problems to goals: Identifying ‘good’ goals in
psychotherapy and counselling 139
Windy Dryden
8 Goal-oriented practice 161
Duncan Law
9 Goal- oriented practice across therapies 181
Nick Grey, Suzanne Byrne, Tracey Taylor, Avi Shmueli, Cathy Troupp,
Peter Stratton, Aaron Sefi, Roslyn Law, and Mick Cooper
10 Conclusion 205
Duncan Law and Mick Cooper
Index 209
List of contributors
Suzanne Byrne Roslyn Law
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology Anna Freud National Centre for
and Neuroscience, Kings College Children and Families, UK
London, UK
Christopher Lloyd
Mick Cooper London Metropolitan University, UK
Department of Psychology,
Thomas Mackrill
University of Roehampton, UK
Institute for Social Work,
Windy Dryden Metropolitan University College,
Goldsmiths University of Frederiksberg, Denmark
London, UK
Kate Martin
Julian Edbrooke- Childs Common Room, UK
Anna Freud National Centre for
John McLeod
Children and Families, UK
Department of Psychology, Faculty
Amy Feltham of Social Sciences, The University of
Common Room, UK Oslo, Norway
Nick Grey Aaron Sefi
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation XenZone, UK
Trust, UK
Avi Shmueli
Lydia Harris University College London, UK
Expert by Experience, UK
Peter Stratton
Daniel Hayes University of Leeds, UK
Evidence Based Practice Unit, UCL
Tracey Taylor
and Anna Freud National Centre for
Centre for Anxiety Disorders &
Children and Families, UK
Trauma, South London & Maudley
Jenna Jacob NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Child Outcomes Research
Cathy Troupp
Consortium (CORC), UK
Eating Disorders Service, Great
Duncan Law Ormond Street Hospital, UK
Anna Freud National Centre
Georgiana Shick Tryon
for Children and Families, and
The Graduate Center of the City
MindMonkey Associates, UK
University of New York, USA
viii List of Contributors
Leanne Walker Miranda Wolpert
Expert by Experience, UK Evidence Based Practice Unit, UCL
and Anna Freud National Centre for
Isabelle Whelan
Children and Families, UK
Evidence Based Practice Unit, UCL
and Anna Freud National Centre for
Children and Families, UK
Chapter 1
Introduction
Mick Cooper and Duncan Law
The goals of this chapter are to:
◆ Present the rationale for developing this book.
◆ Define goals and key goal- related terms.
◆ Discuss the development of working with goals in counselling and
psychotherapy.
◆ Review the arguments for working with goals.
◆ Review the challenges and limitations of working with goals.
◆ Outline the style and structure of the book.
Gita is a 42-y ear- old woman who seeks therapy after a divorce. In her first meet-
ing with her therapist, Sonia, she speaks of her overwhelming feeling since her
divorce three years ago. She feels she cannot live with the feelings that range from
despair to anxiety through guilt and shame. Sonia listens to her story patiently
and with humanity. Gita is distressed by the telling and feels she will burst with
the strength of her feelings, but she tells her story, spurred on by the interest and
compassion of her listener. After a while, Sonia gently enquires about her hopes
for engaging in therapy. Gita is unsure— she knows she does not want to feel as
she does but cannot see beyond the emotions, she wants them gone. Over the
next two sessions, Sonia listens to more of Gita’s story of her life and her divorce.
Together, they begin to construct a shared narrative that weaves together Gita’s
life story, recent events, and the strong thoughts and feelings she experiences.
They begin, tentatively, to shape ideas together about what they might helpfully
focus on. Gita wants to find a way of moving on: she wants to get past her feel-
ings of loss, and she wants to prepare herself for thinking about a new relation-
ship. This shaping moves the narrative from what has been to what could be— it
shifts from the unbearable past to the hoped- for future.
Gita and Sonia work together, moving from listening to shaping to listening—
constructing and refining. Eventually they have a shared understanding and
agreement of what the forthcoming work should be—t hey write the agreement
down. Gita feels listened to and understood, she feels that Sonia is on her side
