Solution Focused Brief Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques

273 Pages·2012·1.19 MB·English

by  Harvey Ratner

Solution Focused Brief Therapy
Solution Focused Brief Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques provides
a concise and jargon-free guide to the thinking and practice of this
exciting approach which enables people to make changes in their lives
quickly and effectively. It covers:
• the history and background to solution focused practice
• the philosophical underpinnings of the approach
• techniques and practices
• specifi c applications to work with children and adolescents (includ-
ing schools-based work), families and adults
• how to deal with diffi cult situations
• organizational applications, including supervision, coaching, and
leadership
• frequently asked questions
This book is an invaluable resource for all therapists and counsellors,
whether in training or practice. It will also be essential for any professional
whose job it is to help people make changes in their lives, and will
therefore be of interest to social workers, probation offi cers, psychiatric
staff, doctors, and teachers, as well as those working in organizations as
coaches and managers.
Harvey Ratner, Evan George, and Chris Iveson founded BRIEF in
London in 1989 as an independent training, therapy, coaching and con-
sultation agency for the development of solution focused brief therapy.
100 Key Points
Series Editor: Windy Dryden
ALSO IN THIS SERIES:
Cognitive Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Michael Neenan and Windy Dryden
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy: 100 Key Points and
Techniques
Windy Dryden and Michael Neenan
Family Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Mark Rivett and Eddy Street
Transactional Analysis: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Mark Widdowson
Person-Centred Therapy: 100 Key Points
Paul Wilkins
Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Dave Mann
Integrative Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Maria Gilbert and Vanja Orlans
Solution Focused Brief Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques
Harvey Ratner, Evan George and Chris Iveson
Solution Focused
Brief Therapy
100 Key Points and Techniques
Harvey Ratner, Evan George,
and Chris Iveson
First published 2012
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa
business
© 2012 Harvey Ratner, Evan George, and Chris Iveson
The right of Harvey Ratner, Evan George, and Chris Iveson to be
identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by the above
mentioned authors in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Solution focused brief therapy : 100 key points and techniques /
Harvey Ratner, Evan George, Chris Iveson.
p. cm. – (100 key points )
ISBN 978-0-415-60612-7 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-415-60613-4
(paperback) 1. Solution focused brief therapy. I. Ratner,
Harvey. II. George, Evan, 1951– III. Iveson, Chris.
RC489.S65S64 2012
616.89’147 – dc23
2011048157
ISBN: 978-0-415-60613-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-60612-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-11656-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Refi neCatch Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk
Contents
Preface x
Part 1 BACKGROUND 1
1 What is Solution Focused Brief Therapy? 3
2 The origins of Solution Focused Brief
Therapy (1): Milton Erickson 6
3 Origins (2): family therapy and the Brief
Therapy Center at the Mental Research
Institute in Palo Alto 8
4 Origins (3): the Brief Family Therapy Center in
Milwaukee and the birth of a new approach 10
5 The Brief Family Therapy Center: the fi rst phase 12
6 The Brief Family Therapy Center: the second
phase 14
7 Solution Focused Brief Therapy today 16
8 Philosophical underpinnings: constructivism 18
9 Philosophical underpinnings: Wittgenstein,
language, and social constructionism 19
10 Assumptions in Solution Focused Brief Therapy 21
11 The client–therapist relationship 23
12 The evidence that Solution Focused
Brief Therapy works 27
v
CONTENTS
13 How brief is brief? 29
14 Summary: the structure of solution
focused sessions 31
Part 2 FEATURES OF SOLUTION
FOCUSED INTERVIEWING 35
15 Ideas about therapeutic conversation 37
16 Choosing the next question 38
17 Acknowledgement and possibility 40
18 Compliments 43
19 Deciding who to meet with 45
Part 3 GETTING STARTED 47
20 Problem-free talk 49
21 Identifying resources 52
22 Listening with a constructive ear: what the
client can do, not what they cannot do 54
23 Constructive histories 56
24 Pre-meeting change 58
Part 4 ESTABLISHING A CONTRACT 61
25 Finding out the client’s best hopes from
the work 63
26 The ‘contract’: a joint project 65
27 The difference between outcome and process 67
28 The ‘Great Instead’ 70
29 When the client’s hope is beyond the
therapist’s remit 72
30 When the client has been sent 74
31 Building a contract with young people 77
32 When the client says ‘don’t know’ 79
33 When the client’s hopes appear to be
unrealistic 81
34 What if there is a situation of risk? 84
35 When the practitioner is a gatekeeper to
a resource 86
36 What if we fail to develop a joint project? 89
vi
CONTENTS
Part 5 THE CLIENT’S PREFERRED FUTURE 91
37 Preferred futures: the ‘Tomorrow Question’ 93
38 Distant futures 95
39 The qualities of well-described preferred
futures: the client’s perspective 96
40 The qualities of well-described preferred
futures: other person perspectives 98
41 Broadening and detailing 100
Part 6 WHEN HAS IT ALREADY HAPPENED?
INSTANCES OF SUCCESS 103
42 Exceptions 105
43 Instances of the future already happening 107
44 Lists 109
45 No instances, no exceptions 112
Part 7 MEASURING PROGRESS: USING
SCALE QUESTIONS 113
46 Scale questions: the evaluation of progress 115
47 Designating the ‘0’ on the scale 117
48 Different scales 119
49 Successes in the past 121
50 What is good enough? 123
51 Moving up the scale 124
52 Signs or steps 125
53 What if the client says they are at ‘0’? 127
54 When the client’s rating seems unrealistic 129
Part 8 COPING QUESTIONS: WHEN
TIMES ARE TOUGH 131
55 Handling diffi cult situations, including
bereavement 133
56 Stopping things from getting worse 135
vii
CONTENTS
Part 9 ENDING SESSIONS 137
57 Thinking pause 139
58 Acknowledgement and appreciation 141
59 Making suggestions 143
60 Making the next appointment 145
Part 10 CONDUCTING FOLLOW-UP SESSIONS 147
61 What is better? 149
62 Amplifying the progress made 150
63 Strategy questions 153
64 Identity questions 155
65 When the client says things are the same 157
66 When the client says things are worse 159
Part 11 ENDING THE WORK 161
67 Maintaining progress 163
68 What if there is no progress? 165
Part 12 ASSESSMENT AND SAFEGUARDING 167
69 Assessment 169
70 Safeguarding 171
Part 13 C HILDREN, FAMILIES, SCHOOLS,
AND GROUPWORK 173
71 Children 175
72 Adolescents 177
73 Family work 179
74 Scales in family work 181
75 Couples work 182
76 In the school 185
77 Schools: individual work 187
78 Schools: the WOWW project 190
79 Groupwork 192
viii
CONTENTS
Part 14 WORK WITH ADULTS 195
80 Homelessness 197
81 Alzheimer’s 199
82 Learning diffi culties 201
83 Substance misuse 203
84 Mental health 205
85 Trauma and abuse 207
Part 15 S UPERVISION, COACHING, AND
ORGANIZATIONAL APPLICATIONS 211
86 Supervision 213
87 Team supervision 215
88 Coaching 217
89 Mentoring 219
90 Team coaching 222
91 Leadership 224
Part 16 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 227
92 Isn’t it just a positive approach? 229
93 Isn’t it just papering over the cracks? 232
94 It doesn’t deal with emotions 234
95 Isn’t it just a strengths-based approach? 237
96 What account does it take of culture? 239
97 Isn’t it just a form of problem-solving? 241
98 It’s a formulaic approach 243
99 Can it be used with other approaches? 245
100 Self-help SFBT 247
References 249
ix