Small Steps Can Lead to Big Changes: Goal Setting in Schools Using Solution-Focused Play Therapy

School-based mental health practitioners are tasked with helping students meet social-emotional goals. Setting goals with children in schools can be a challenging process. School counselors, teachers, caregivers, and even the children themselves may not know what children most need to work on to be successful in school. Solution-focused play therapy (SFPT) is a strengths-based theoretical approach to play therapy that helps children work through challenges and find solutions by identifying and building on internal assets and external resources (Hartwig, 2021). SFPT offers specific techniques and interventions that can be used in schools to set goals and track progress (Kim et al., 2017; Sklare, 2014; Taylor, 2019). As a strengths-based play therapy theory, SFPT focuses on finding out what the child wants and then working with the child to develop small successive goals to create lasting change. This article will provide an introduction to SFPT, goal setting in schools, and creative interventions for helping children set and achieve goals in school settings.