In Tandem Cathy Sparkes and Sam Simpson

Setting goals or personal targets is a key part of many people’s life – ranging from smaller goals, such as making a telephone call or going shopping, to more ambitious life goals, such as completing a college course or retiring to another country.

After a stroke or head injury many people report feeling on shaky ground as they can no longer rely on what they can and cannot do with any certainty. Setting goals, however small, to move forward can feel overwhelming and impossible, resulting in the future feeling uncertain and frightening.

This therapy approach aims to help you and/or your family and friends to jointly identify meaningful life goals for the future. This involves:

• Exploring your current strengths, problems and wants
• Prioritising your wants in order of importance and identifying a realistic time frame to work on them
• Breaking down your longer-term aspirations into smaller, more manageable steps
• Identifying your resources and support needs
• Reviewing and revising the goals set over time

This approach to structuring therapy is central to intandem’s way of working.