Meaningful Goal Setting

Objective: The aim of our study was to gain insight into how practitioners in mental health care support people with severe psychiatric disabilities in setting and pursuing personal goals that are meaningful to them. Method: We conducted focus groups with 36 mental health practitioners in Norway and interpreted the data by using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis: (a) active collaboration to understand what is meaningful to the individual, (b) being nonjudgmental during the process of goal setting, (c) helping individuals break goals into smaller goals and steps, and (d) allowing time for the process of trying to achieve goals. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Although goal setting is central to the Illness Management and Recovery program, practitioners perceive the work as quite demanding. To succeed, practitioners need to acknowledge goal setting as a long-lasting and shared process, not as a means to an end. As people with severe psychiatric disability often need help in goal setting, practitioners should play an important role in supporting them in setting goals, making plans for achieving them, and taking actual steps in that direction.