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Goal setting – Workers

Guide to goal setting

All clients have an NDIS plan which contains some goals and they received funding to help them achieve those goals.

Your job is to support clients to achieve your goals, so it’s helpful to break the goals down into achievable steps. Clients can do this in the app.

Clients need to add goals into the app within one month of starting with Suitsme and they need to review them at least every three months.

Where do I see a client’s goals?

There is a goals’ section in the client’s profile. Hopefully the client has added goals, so you will know what you need to work on with them.

If the goals section is blank, that means the client hasn’t added any goals. You need to encourage them to add some. They might need some help to work out their goals, or to add them to the app. This video shows how a client can add goals in the app.

What’s in the NDIS plan?

You can ask a client to share their NDIS plan with you. They don’t have to share it, but it can be helpful. The goals in a client’s NDIS plan are the starting point, but they tend to be big goals like:

“Connect to my community” or “Live somewhere that I feel safe”.

When a client is looking at a big goal like that, it can be hard to know where to start and easy to lose motivation when they don’t feel like any progress is being made. It can also take more than one year (or one plan) to achieve these goals. That’s why it helps to break the goal down into steps.

How do we break goals down into steps?

It’s easiest to explain this with an example. Let’s use “Connect to my community”.

There are lots of ways that you can connect to your community, so we need to work out where to start. Here are some questions you can ask to help clients work it out:

• What will I see when I have achieved this goal?
• What strengths and talents do I have that can help me achieve this goal?
• What progress have I already made towards this goal?
• What resources will I need to achieve this goal?

For example:

“I’d see myself attending a group/club each week, I’d feel at home and welcome and I’d get along with the other people there. I’m good at painting and I enjoy doing it. I have some paints and brushes.

To achieve this goal, I’ll need to find a group, I may need to pay membership fees and pay for supplies. I’ll need to be feeling well to be able to attend and interact with people. I’d also like to have someone to come to support me at the group, so I don’t have to go alone.

OK, so now I have a pretty good idea of how I will achieve this goal. From this I can make a list of activities that I can do in the next three months and I can enter these into the app.

Within 2 weeks, I’ll have researched some art groups and have a list of 3 groups I could try. I’ll know how much they cost and what equipment I’ll need to participate.

Within 3 weeks I’ll have made a budget and know which of them I can afford to attend.

Within 10 weeks, I’ll have attended each of the three groups at least once with my support worker and I’ll know which one I like best.

For three months I’ll maintain my mental health by taking my medication and seeing my psychologist and GP regularly.”

How do I support a client to achieve their goals?

This will vary client by client, but a few ways you might help are:

• Help keep the client focused and accountable by checking in regularly and asking about their goals.
• Provide emotional support; celebrate client’s successes with them and be there for them when things don’t work out.
• Provide practical support such as researching, providing transport and walking alongside the client on their journey.
• Support them to set and review their goals; brainstorm with them and support them to get the information into the app.

What if a client doesn’t want to work towards their goals?

We don’t expect every single shift to involve work towards goals. Sometimes the client just won’t be in the mood. That’s okay every now and then.

If a client has lost interest in achieving their goals then you can encourage them to review their goals. Clients can archive a goal by selecting “I’m not working on this any more”. They can then set a new goal that they are interested in.

If a client continues to lack interest in working towards any goals, contact Suitsme management and we can work it out together.