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Solution focused brief therapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), often referred to as simply 'solution focused therapy' or 'brief
therapy', is a type of talking therapy that is based upon social constructionist philosophy. It focuses on what
clients want to achieve through therapy rather than on the problem(s) that made them to seek help.
The approach does not focus on the past, but instead, focuses on the present and future. The
therapist/counsellor uses respectful curiosity to invite the client to envision their preferred future and then
therapist and client start attending to any moves towards it whether these are small increments or large
changes. To support this, questions are asked about the client’s story, strengths and resources, and about
exceptions to the problem.
Solution focused therapists believe that change is constant. By helping people identify the things that they
wish to have changed in their life and also to attend to those things that are currently happening that they
wish to continue to have happen, SFBT therapists help their clients to construct a concrete vision of a
preferred future for themselves. The SFBT therapist then helps the client to identify times in their
current life that are closer to this future, and examines what is different on these occasions. By
bringing these small successes to their awareness, and helping them to repeat these successful things they do
when the problem is not there or less severe, the therapists helps the client move towards the preferred
future they have identified.
Solution focused work can be seen as a way of working that focuses exclusively or predominantly at two
things.
1) Supporting people to explore their preferred futures.
2) Exploring when, where, with whom and how pieces of that preferred future are already happening. While
this is often done using a social constructionist perspective the approach is practical and can be achieved
with no specific theoretical framework beyond the intention to keep as close as possible to these two things.
Contents
1 Basic Principles
2 Questions
3 Resources
4 History of Solution Focused Brief Therapy
5 Solution-Focused counselling
6 Solution-Focused consulting
7 References
Basic Principles:
Clients have resources and strengths to resolve complaints
It is therapist’s task to access these abilities and help clients put them to use.
Change is constant
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