Library · Domain 3. Treatment Planning & Continuity of Care · 3A. Treatment Planning
Task 3A.4
Identifying strengths and barriers to goals
“Identify strengths and barriers affecting client goal attainment” (NBCC, 2027 task 3A.4)
Clients bring both resources and obstacles to treatment. Identifying strengths gives the plan something to build on, and identifying barriers lets counselor and client plan around them. The exam tests strengths-based assessment and practical barrier planning.
Key points
- Strengths include personal qualities (persistence, humor, insight), skills, past successes, relationships, faith or community ties, and material resources.
- Barriers include symptoms themselves, limited finances, transportation, unstable housing, unsupportive relationships, discrimination, health problems and ambivalence about change.
- Ask about times the problem was less severe and what the client did then; exceptions reveal usable strengths, a technique central to solution-focused therapy.
- Plan explicitly for barriers, for example scheduling around shifts or addressing ambivalence with motivational interviewing.
- Strengths-based work increases hope and engagement without ignoring real problems.
- Systemic barriers may call for advocacy or referral, not just individual coping.
- Record strengths and barriers in the treatment plan so progress reviews can refer to them.
In practice
A client with depression has trouble getting out of bed but has kept volunteering at an animal shelter every Saturday. The counselor highlights that commitment and builds the activity schedule around it.
A client wants to attend a weekly group but has no car. The counselor identifies the barrier in the plan and connects him with a transit voucher program, and they review attendance at the next review.
Check yourself
What solution-focused technique uncovers strengths by asking about times the problem was less severe?
Exception questions, which help clients notice what already works.
Why include barriers in the treatment plan?
Naming them allows the counselor and client to plan around them and prevents avoidable treatment failure.
Give two examples of strengths beyond personal qualities.
Supportive relationships and community or faith ties, which can sustain progress.
NBCC's knowledge and skills for 3A. Treatment Planning
Knowledge of: SMART goals; Biopsychosocial model; Short- vs. long-term goals; Goals vs. objectives; Counseling theories and interventions; DSM/ICD; Behavioral strategies across settings.
Skill in: Aligning appropriate intervention with client need/identity; Developing initial treatment plan; Reviewing and revising treatment plan; Case conceptualization; Goal-setting; Differential diagnosis.
A study guide written by ExamDragon from NBCC's published task; not NBCC material and not part of the exam.