Solution focused brief therapy

Solution focused brief therapy or solution focused brief counseling (SFBC) is a kind of talking therapy that focuses on solutions to a client's problems rather than on causes of the problems or emotional responses to the problems. The approach does not focus on the past, but rather the present and even the future. The therapist/counselor uses respectful curiosity to invite the client to envision their preferred future and then therapist and client start working towards it in small incremental steps. To support this, questions are asked about the client?s story, strengths and resources, and about exceptions to the problem. Scaling is also used as a tool to measure progress.

The Miracle Question

The miracle question is a method of questioning that a counselor uses to aid the client to envision how the future will be different. Also, this helps to establish goals.

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The counselor may ask,

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::"If you woke up tomorrow, and a miracle happened so that you know longer easily lost your temper, what would you see differently?" What would the first signs that the miracle occurred?"

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The client (a child) may respond by saying,

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::"I would not get upset when somebody calls me names."

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The counselor wants the client to develop positive goals, or what they will do, rather than what they will not do--to better ensure success. So, the counselor may ask the client, "What will you be doing instead when someone calls you names?"

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Scaling Questions

Scaling questions are used to measure goal accomplishment for accountiblity purposes, and to help establish goals as well. Goals are usually scaled in 10% improvements. Visual aides such a picture of a large thermometer may be often used with children. The counselor will either decice what kinds of behaviors the client will do at each increment, or the client will be asked "what will it take for you to go from a 4 to a 5." The client will describe what behaviors would accomplish this thus determining what s/he will do next.

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Exception Finding Questions

Proponants of SFBT insist that there is always an exception to when a problem occurred. The counselor seeks to encourage the client to descibe what was different or what the client did differently. The goal is for the client to repeat what has worked in the past, and help gain confidence in making improvements for the future.

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Coping Questions

Coping questions are designed to elicit information about client resources that will have gone unnoticed by them. Even the most hopeless story has within it examples of coping that can be drawn out:

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"I can see that things have been really difficult for you, yet I am struck by the fact that, even so, you manage to get up each morning and do everything necessary to get the kids off to school. How do you do that?"

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Genuine curiosity and admiration can help to highlight strengths without appearing to contradict the clients view of reality. The initial summary "I can see that things have been really difficult for you" is for them true and validates their story. The second part "you manage to get up each morning etc.", is also a truism, but one that counters the problem focused narrative. Undeniably, they cope and coping questions start to gently and supportively challenge the problem-focused narrative.

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Resources

A central idea of the solution focused approach is that people get stuck with their problems because they see them as unsolvable. Solution focused workers help people to find ways of viewing their situation which make change more likely to happen and in which solutions can be constructed.

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