A Solution Focused Approach

The Solution Focused Brief Therapy Model devised by Steve deShazer and Insoo Kim Berg in the 1970s, is a collaborative approach encouraging people to talk about preferred futures rather than only tracing the pathology of the problem. Our work combines the Brief Therapy model and the visuals of the Examine, Repair & Move On Approach (Murphy '93).

The Solution Focused Approach is not as stark as the title suggests, "just focusing on a solution to a problem": it is much more than this. Its a way of working that encourages anyone working with anyone to move forward rather than remain stuck in a problem or in a behaviour. The approach encourages the worker to be "curious" in their work: curious about times when, for instance, the problem behaviour has not been displayed or the individual has dealt with the difficulty differently. The worker is not distracted by the motivation for this exception but focuses on "how" the person achieved this.

It is in the questioning that the individual is encouraged to think differently about themselves. When human beings are experiencing difficulties, we often get lost in a fog of failure but when someone investigates the exceptions to this, elicits our strengths, asks small, detailed questions about how we achieved - we can regain some experience of any small success and build on this. Phrases like "catching people doing something right" can often be considered as a bit glib or lightweight - but nothing encourages changed behaviour, increased
skill level or new thinking, quicker than someone noticing even the smallest of successes and building our confidence in that moment.

Our ethos is about acknowledging what has gone wrong and offering people a new place to start from. People need to be heard and need to have their problems aired - but it would be a sad intervention that kept them there. The language of the Brief Therapy model, and the visuals and structure of the Examine, Repair & Move On Approach offer subtle, conversational sessions that help people move on to their preferred futures.

The language and collaborative ethos of the two methods used allows for its application across many fields: The worker is a conduit for change rather than acting as a prescriptive expert.