Page 31 - Part A

Counselling Skills

How to agree objectives for a new helping relationship

It may be difficult to agree objectives at the start of a helping relationship.

Agreeing objectives could be difficult at the start of the relationship because:

• The client’s view of what they want to achieve may not be realistic

• The helper may not know enough about the client to ascertain what
help the client really needs.

In the first instance, therefore, objectives may be loosely set.

The objectives that are set should be negotiated between the client and the helper,
taking into account:

• What the client says they want from the helping relationship

• What their long-term aim is – if they have one

• The time and resources available to the helper

• Any boundaries that have already been agreed.

Look at the following example.

C Case Study: Agreeing objectives

Jack goes to see a counsellor because of problems within his
home life, including difficult relationships with his stepchildren,
which is causing problems with his wife, problems around dealing
with redundancy and issues around an over reliance on alcohol.
Jack has spent most of the first session explaining the many
issues he has to deal with and all the problems he’s looking for
help with.

The counsellor is unsure what the main issue is with Jack and
needs to address which of these are the most pertinent to Jack,
knowing they have a limited number of sessions together. The
counsellor sensitively discusses each of these problems before
reaching a joint decision with Jack that it is in fact his redundancy
which has triggered off many of the problems. The counsellor can
then use Jack’s feelings around redundancy as the main objective
while bearing in mind the impact this is having on his familial
relationships.

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