Treatment Planning

You can personalize the Treatment Planning resource by downloading it HERE, and adding your own responses, or continue to view it below.

Treatment planning is an important part of the therapeutic journey, and is collaboratively completed by you and your therapist. Treatment planning involves setting overarching goals and concrete objectives to create a roadmap to follow throughout the process. Therapy takes time and resources, and treatment planning creates a focus for the work, so we can make the most of the experience. At Cerebral, this usually occurs during the second session, and is typically reviewed after 90 days; you can use this resource to better understand and prepare for treatment planning.

Overview of the Process

1. Initial Session

This is where introductions and logistical information is shared. The therapist will also ask questions about your background, such as symptoms, treatment history, family and social relationships, strengths and current ways of coping, and reasons for coming to therapy. Before the second session, it can be helpful to begin reflecting on the specific goals you are looking to achieve.

Note: for more on this session, see Initial Appointment: What to Expect

2. Second Session

This is generally where treatment planning will occur. You and your therapist will discuss overarching goals and develop some concrete objectives (i.e. smaller steps) that will be taken to reach these goals. During this session, the therapist will also discuss different interventions that they will use in order to support your progress.

Note: interventions are different therapeutic techniques and approaches that are evidence-based (i.e. they are backed by current research)

3. Following Sessions

As you and your therapist work towards reaching your goals, the treatment plan will stay the same, and act as a guide to monitor progress. If you ever have concerns or questions about your treatment plan, it’s always okay to discuss these with your therapist.

4. After 90 Days

You and your therapist will review your original treatment plan, check in on progress, and make updates or revisions. If new issues have arisen or become more apparent during your work together, you and your therapist can work to develop new goals.

SMART Goals

SMART Goal Example

To help better understand the framework, we will use a hypothetical example of someone who has come to therapy to “feel less anxious all of the time”. Once you’ve reviewed the example, follow this link to use the SMART Goal(s) template, or create your own on a piece of paper.

Creating Objectives

After establishing a SMART Goal, you and your therapist will create objectives to help you reach this goal. Objectives are short-term goals that involve actions we can take throughout the week, every other week, monthly, etc., and give us the opportunity to be an active participant in our healing journey. Ultimately, it’s the combination of work done both in and out of therapy that will give us the best results. To better understand, we will use the SMART Goal example that was provided, and then explore some possible objectives below. You can then use the same link as above to access the "My Objectives" template, or write them down on a piece of paper.

Final Steps