This section looks at keeping the goals of the SSA in mind throughout the SSA process, and refining them as required. The former is important to ensure that the assessment is appropriately focussed and kept on track. The latter is important to make sure that the goals accurately reflect the current situation and concerns.

It is important to keep the goals of the SSA in mind throughout the assessment process, as it can be easy to be distracted and waste time on issues that are outside the scope of the SSA. In fact, this is a common problem. As such, it can be helpful to remind oneself of the goals periodically to ensure that the assessment is appropriately focused and on-track. For example, during a long SSA meeting, it may be helpful to glance over the goals every hour or so, to ensure the meeting is effective.

The goals often remain fixed throughout the SSA, but changing circumstances sometimes mean that they need to be refined. It is therefore important to examine periodically whether the goals are still valid, to adapt them if necessary, and to communicate these changes to the SSA team.

Reasons for refining the goals may be ‘internal’ or ‘external’ to the SSA. For example, as the SSA progresses, new information may be uncovered through the discussions that take place or through the Monitor system activity. This may influence the goals or, more frequently, the scope of the assessment. Such modifications in response to ‘internal’ reasons can be a sign of a healthy SSA. The SSA process is intended to be iterative to reflect this possibility.