Treatment plans are crucial to a behavioral health practice because they can help improve client outcomes. Establishing the goals and objectives of the mental health treatment plan is a crucial aspect of the process, and providers and their clients must work together to identify long-term treatment goals. They must also communicate openly about the objectives used to achieve these goals.
The concept of SMART goals can be helpful here. SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. In other words, the goals of the treatment plan must be clearly defined, measurable and realistic. Vague or open-ended goals are generally not as useful as SMART goals.
Differentiate the goals and objectives of the mental health treatment plan
The words “goal” and “objective” are not interchangeable in this context, and it is important to understand the difference. Objectives are broad, overarching outcomes that provide direction and purpose. Objectives are smaller, measurable steps that contribute to achieving goals.
In other words, goals provide an overall view of treatment outcomes. They include the patient's overall well-being after treatment is completed, reduction in mental health symptoms, and/or how the patient will rate outcome measures.
Goals will be measured over time, and the presence or absence of progress toward achieving them will indicate whether the treatment is working or whether a different treatment is needed.
Objectives are the action steps to achieve overall goals. These are often behaviors or practices that providers ask clients to practice between treatment sessions. Clients may achieve their goals but still are not making progress toward their goals, which is important to keep in mind when evaluating treatment progress.
Examples of goals and objectives
If the difference between goals and objectives seems too abstract for you, consider the following examples to help shed light on the distinction.
Imagine a client with generalized anxiety disorder who needs to differentiate between treatment goals and treatment objectives. Here's an example of what this might look like.
Goal: Reduce symptoms of anxiety (as measured by the ASQ anxiety assessment) to improve the overall quality of life.
Objectives: During the first four sessions, the patient will learn to identify and combat irrational and distressing thoughts. The patient will continue to practice thought-provoking thought between appointments and participate in 15 minutes of body scans and meditation daily.
Here's another example, this time for a patient with OCD:
Objective: Improve OCD symptoms to reduce their impact on daily functioning.
Objectives: Expose yourself to the triggering fear and refrain from using coercion during therapy sessions. The client will continue this exposure/response prevention therapy for at least 15 minutes daily for the next two weeks.
Why SMART criteria are important
Research suggests that when patients do not feel like they have clear treatment goals, their treatment outcomes tend to be worse. The same study shows that it is important to define treatment goals early in the treatment process, because patients who discuss their goals early tend to know them more clearly.
Using SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals to gain clarity facilitates the treatment planning process in several ways.
SMART goals have several benefits in treating mental health. They:
- Make it easier to develop action steps as they tend to be more concrete
- Set the client up for success as they are designed to be achievable, encouraging the client to tackle challenges they can handle
- Improve communication with the customer, making it easier to “check in” and determine the destination of the treatment process.
- Create clear responsibilities and goals. The client will feel responsible for consistently putting their goals into practice, and the provider will feel responsible for staying abreast of progress or stagnation in the patient's journey.
- Helps evaluate progress by specifying desired changes that clinicians and clients can easily track.
Leverage predefined templates for treatment plans
If capturing concrete goals and objectives in a treatment plan seems demanding on top of everything treatment plans need to document, consider using a library of pre-built, evidence-based templates to speed up and simplify the process . Composing treatment plans from a template is faster than writing them from scratch.
The ability of providers to customize plans to meet individual customer needs should not be hampered by this.
Treatment plans are an essential tool in behavioral patient care. By capturing important patient details, such as demographics, symptoms, diagnosis and plan, treatment plan templates promote consistency in patient records and facilitate information sharing between providers. A sample treatment plan can help patients better understand and engage in their care, providing clarity on the goals, strategies, and collaborative efforts involved in treatment.
This transparency builds trust and encourages participation, improving patient care by providing more opportunities to set goals and track progress. With the structure and clarity they provide, treatment plans pave the way for positive outcomes and help patients achieve their goals.
Ram Krishnan joined Worth in 2020 as an experienced technology leader to lead the organization into its next stage of growth. His passion for listening to customers and building strong teams, coupled with his demonstrated ability to drive scalability, provides a strong foundation for Worth grow as it discovers new ways to serve the behavioral health care market.