Goal Planning: A Strengths-Based Approach to Working … · Goal Planning: A Strengths-Based...
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Goal Planning: A Strengths-Based
Approach to Working with Women
By Lissa Samantaraya-Shivji
&
Melina deKoninck
Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter
Overview
• A foundation of beliefs in action
• An introduction to goal planning
• The process
• ‘Our’ results
• What we are learning
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Values and Beliefs
• Values
– Respect
– Responsibility
• Individual
• Social
– Integrity
– Empowerment
• Beliefs
– FV is a deliberate choice
– Victims resist abuse
– All individuals have
strengths and abilities
– FV affects us all
– All individuals have a
right to live free of
actual or threatened
violence
3
An Organizational Shift…
• Building on our beliefs – key concepts
– We operate from a client-centred approach,
honouring the expertise of each individual
– We believe in working from a strengths-based
perspective, because all individuals have inherent
strengths and abilities
– Our work together is goal-oriented, supporting
individuals and families in their efforts to live free
from family violence and abuse
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Bridging our ‘talk’ and ‘walk’
• What’s changed?
– Policies
– Procedures
• Clinical work with clients
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Working with clients
• Response-based approach
– Highlights what victims do to oppose abuse and
maintain their dignity
– Encourages perpetrators to see their abusive
behaviour as a choice, and therefore within their
control
• “I realize that if I am making this many choices
about what to throw, I can make the choice
not to throw things at all.”
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Bridging our ‘talk’ and ‘walk’
• What’s changed?
– Policies
– Procedures
• Clinical work with clients
• Communication
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Bridging our ‘talk’ and ‘walk’
• What’s changed?
– Policies
– Procedures
• Clinical work with clients
• Communication
• Fundraising
12
Bridging our ‘talk’ and ‘walk’
• What’s changed?
– Policies
– Procedures
• Clinical work with clients
• Communication
• Fundraising
• Program evaluation and research
15
Shifts in Program Evaluation
• OLD thinking
– Deficit focused; ‘what is the client lacking?’
– Does not appreciate clients expertise prior to program/service (fixed)
– Little flexibility re: outcomes (the client fits or doesn’t fit)
• Service providers decide the end goal
• NEW thinking
– Clients have skills, strengths, and abilities that we need to acknowledge and build on
– Work with where the client is at and where the client wants to go
– Outcomes are broader but still focused on our mission
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Goal Planning
• Goal Planning
– Goal setting theory by Locke
– Draws on solution-focused work (see De Jong and
Kim Berg)
– Goal planning/setting in counselling (see Dyer &
Vriend, 1977)
– Research re: goal setting in populations of DV
offenders, but less so with victims
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Goal Planning
• Goal planning (Latham & Budworth, 2007)
– Choice – focus efforts activities that will help the
individual reach their goal
– Effort –individuals’ efforts to attain their goal increase,
therefore likelihood of success increases
– Persistence – ensures greater ability to work through
setbacks because there is an anchored goal
– Cognition – individuals become more mindful of what
they want to achieve, which may lead to changes in
behaviour
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Goal Setting in the CS
• Goal Setting in the Community Services (CS)
– Includes Community Counselling, Outreach
Programs (crisis and follow-up counselling)
• Guidelines for Goal Setting
– Goals are identified and measured by the positive
changes clients want to see – not the absence of a
negative
– Goals need to focus on what the client is able to
do themselves
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Goal Setting in the CS
• Guidelines for Goal Setting…
– Goals need to be ‘SMART’
– Goals need to be mutually agreed on by client and
counsellor
– Goals are often systemic
– All clients have inherent strengths, skills, and
abilities that they draw on to work toward their
goals
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Goal Planning as Evaluation
• Goal planning is traditionally a tool that allows
the client and counsellor to focus their time
and resources together to achieve success,
BUT…
– Also useful as an evaluation tool
• Combined with a quantitative progress scale measured
at intervals throughout service
• Use qualitative ‘check-ins’ that support progress to
date, and continued success
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Our Outcomes
• Women increase their knowledge of safety issues
• Women increase their knowledge and awareness of family violence abuse issues
• Women increase their ability to access and connect with community resources
• Women increase/strengthen their emotional health and well-being
• Women increase their support network and develop healthy, supportive relationships
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Getting Started
• Lead-in questions/framing
– How will things be different?
– What will you do instead?
– How did you figure out how to do that?
– What do you want to see change?
– How would that be helpful?
– What’s the best way I can help you?
– What’s the most important thing to you?
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Follow Up Questions
• My Counsellor
– helped me identify my strengths, skills, and
abilities
– trusted me as the expert on what I needed and
wanted
– was responsive to my needs and goals as they
changed over time
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Follow Up Questions
• What did you learn about yourself through the
process that helped you make successful, or
positive changes?
• What strengths and resources will you use to
continue experiencing success, or continue
striving towards your goals, now that you have
completed the program?
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Preliminary Results
• Aggregate scores for Outreach/CRC
– Initial rating = 3.69 (n=54)
– 3 month rating = 5.68 (n=50)
– 6 month rating = 5.85 (n=20)
– 9 month rating = 8.33 (n=3)
– Discharge rating = 7.5 (n=8)
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Safety Goals
• Example
– “Assuring of my personal safety and (my) rights in
my living situation”
• 95% rated themselves greater than a 1 at
initial rating, suggesting clients believe they
have a foundation of skills re: safety (n=19)
• Average at initial rating = 4.3
• Average at last available rating = 6.8
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Healthy Relationships Goals
• Example
– “To know what a good relationship looks like”
• 93% rated themselves greater than a 1 at
initial rating, suggesting clients believe they
have a foundation of skills re: healthy
relationships (n=14)
• Average at initial rating = 3.9
• Average at last available rating = 6.9
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Emotional Health Goals
• Examples
– “Identify my strengths and explore personal options”
– “Create a balanced lifestyle and feel grounded and
confident in (my) decision making”
• 88% rated themselves greater than a 1 at initial
rating, suggesting clients believe they have a
foundation of skills re: emotional health (n=33)
• Average at initial rating = 3.5
• Average at last available rating = 6.4
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Community Supports Goals
• Examples– Getting knowledge of all the resources for baby
supplies so when babies are born, I will have everything they need
– Affordable housing
• 94% rated themselves greater than a 1 at initial rating, suggesting clients believe they have a foundation of skills re: community supports (n=18)
• Average at initial rating = 3.8
• Average at last available rating = 5.9
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Family Violence Goals
• Examples
– Get a lawyer to represent me
– Escape from (abusive) relationship complete
• 88% rated themselves greater than a 1 at initial rating, suggesting clients believe they have a foundation of skills re: family violence issues (n=8)
• Average at initial rating = 3.3
• Average at last available rating = 7.4
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Follow Up Results
• My counsellor
– 98% - helped me identify my strengths, skills, and
abilities
– 98% - trusted me as the expert on what I needed
and wanted
– 93% - was responsive to my needs and goals as
they changed over time
• “I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I am able
to do it even though I feel weak sometimes.”
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Trends
• When asked to focus on what they could
change, fewer clients focused on family
violence than expected
• Majority of clients recognize their skills
strengths, and abilities at initial rating
• Not all clients reach 10 by program
completion
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What Counsellors Say…
• Successes:
– Goal setting is very empowering; self-esteem is
built through small successes
– Helps us to know when client is ready to leave the
program
– Keeps counsellors and clients focused
– Maintains the role of the counsellor and the
boundaries between counsellor and client
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What Counsellors Say…
• Challenges
– Clients can focus on the negative, and may have
difficulty articulating goals in positive terms
– Goal planning as a process can be very difficult
with clients who have little or no English
– Clients and their motivation to reach their goals
varies greatly
– Abstract ideas can be hard to measure and shape
into goals
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What Clients Say…
• “My knowledge of resources has grown thus I
know where to get the support I need if
needed. Affirmation of me being the director
of my life.”
• “I have become more aware of my goals and
my confidence.”
• “Nobody can stop me now.”
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Tips
• Goal planning is successful when…
– It is important to start goal planning early
– Goals should be important to the client and focus
on what they can change (let the client lead)
– You can always add goals
– Start small
– Be positive!
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What We’ve Learned
• New form aggregates client goals
– Streamline paperwork for counsellors and clients
– Visible tracking of goal progress over time
– Encourages multiple, manageable goals
– Still important to ask clarifying questions
• Added goal area
– Life skills goals
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What We’ve Learned
• Creating a form
linked to
program on OT
• Intervals of
measurement
are not fixed –
measuring
often keeps
you focused on
goals
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Going forward
• Goals must be specific
– Next step is to help clients ‘hone/own’ the skill
– Use questions to determine specificity
• More specific analysis
• Develop plain language tools to support
counsellors with clients who speak little or no
English
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Successes of Goal Planning
• Successes
– Goals are individualized; the client is in control
– A powerful tool that builds self-esteem
– Focuses the time together and works toward a
goal
– Goal planning “really captures what we do” in the
program – facilitate and empower
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Challenges of Goal Planning
• Challenges
– Issues may arise that impact client’s progress
toward goals
• Defeating for client
• Suggests little change was achieved
– Need initial and follow-up scores in order to show
impact of program
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