Future Possibilities -

Solution Focus Approaches - easy to learn, difficult to do well - to misquote my friend and fellow therapist / author and practitioner Evan George of the BRIEF practice in London.

To me, solution focus approaches are a bit like this picture - they are a means of getting where you want to be - if your preferred future is to get to the top, then solution focus approaches can help you be the best you can be.

(c) Chloe Gough 2006

 Historically, solution focus grew out of a new therapeutic model that evolved through the work of Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, amongst others, at the Brief Therapy Center in Milwaukee in the early 1980s, although some aspects pre-date this even in work being carried out at the MRI in Palo Alto, California. Originally solution focus, more properly referred to as solution focus brief therapy, was, as the name suggests, a way of working with people therapeutically. 

      Insoo Kim Berg                           Steve de Shazer

Gradually it was recognised that the technique was applicable in more than the therapeutic arena. Outside of therapy the central tenet of the approach can be said to comprise of three fundamental thoughts:-

• if what you're doing is not working for you, do something different
• if what you are doing is working for you, do more of it 
• learn to tell the difference

And overriding this is the notion that we all have the ability to affect change in our lives at some level. Solution focus practitioners DO NOT tell anyone what to do. It is not possible for me to know what is best for you. We can work together to discover a way forward. I will listen to what you say in response to my questions and as we explore the meaning in your responses, we can consider ways in which you might move forward.

You may even be more direct than that; you might say  'I want ...' which is a fine place to start. My job then is to help you to co-create the reality that will help you on your way. This shouldn't be hugely difficult because one of the things my training helps me to do is to help you to discover how resilient, practical and resourceful you actually are; and in finding this out, help you to recognise that there are things that you are already doing that are leading you towards your goal.

Above all things, solution focus is about what you are doing, or are going to do. - In this sense the approach could be described as behavioural. We will not dwell on feelings, nor are we about to dwell on failures. Contrary to the widely held views that we can learn from mistakes and problems, solution focus will show you that it is being held in problem mode that prevents one from moving forward. Any problems or other issues will be treated with the utmost respect by solution focus practitioners, who do not judge or infer anything from what you may say. 

Similarly there are commonly held views that feelings lead to some kind of action, solution focus practitioners will explain that feelings are a product of what we are doing  and not the other way around.