Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Goal construction is a fundamental aspect of the change process in solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT). Goal construction from the solution-focused perspective is distinct from other therapeutic approaches in that it is concrete, ongoing, and sourced from the student “expert.” Goals are phrased in action-oriented terms and serve to drive positive change. Assisting students from the outset to establish personal, self-derived goals can bring about intrinsic motivation, which in turn can be used to determine actionable, measurable steps, thus empowering the student to create meaningful change. The specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely, or SMART, goal framework in particular, originally developed in business-management circles in the 1980s, is highlighted as a complementary tool to SFBT. Scaling questions provide nuance and direction to the goal-setting process and—with intentional wording and follow-up questions—can be used by the SFBT social worker to effectively reveal to a student their own strengths, success strategies, progress, and next steps. This chapter also provides worksheets for goal-construction and experiential exercises for use in training so that staff can explore scaling and case studies to see these techniques in action.</jats:p>