This interactive workshop provides participants with an opportunity to develop their understanding of goals in counselling and psychotherapy, and to develop their skills and knowledge in this area. The workshop is particularly oriented towards participants from a humanistic or integrative background: who are interested in an understanding their clients as agentic and purpose-oriented beings, but wary of more mechanistic or ‘outcome-oriented’ goal-based approaches. The workshop starts by introducing the concept of ‘directionality’—that human beings are always oriented towards future possibilities—and looks at how this can be applied to an understanding of self. The workshop then explores what has been learnt from the psychological research about the nature of goals and goal processes (for instance, distinguishing between 'approach' and 'avoidance' goals). It then goes on to a more practical exploration of working with goals, including skills practice and video demonstrations.
