Solution-Focused Interviewing: Applying Positive Psychology, A Manual for Practitioners

132 Pages·2013·0.41 MB·English

by  Ronald E. Warner

SOLUTION-FOCUSED INTERVIEWING
Applying Positive Psychology
A Manual for Practitioners
Too often doctors, therapists, and social workers ask “what’s the prob-
lem?” rather than “what are you looking for?” Ronald E. Warner’s
Solution-Focused Interviewing is a practical guide for practitioners that
uses a solution-driven and strength-based approach to empower cli-
ents and help them to find lasting solutions to their problems and effect
real change in their lives.
In solution-focused interviewing, practitioners build empathy by
first asking clients questions about their goals, resources, and strengths.
This important step is the basis of a three-part therapeutic process that
assists clients in setting realistic goals and building a plan to achieve
them.
Based on Warner’s extensive clinical experience and therapy work-
shops conducted over more than two decades, Solution-Focused Inter-
viewing is the first skill-development manual based on this innovative
tri-phase approach to counselling and applied positive psychology.
ronald e. warner is a practising psychologist, a professor emeritus at
Ryerson University, and the director of the Solution-Focused Counsel-
ling Program at the University of Toronto.
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RONALD E. WARNER
Solution-Focused
Interviewing
Applying Positive Psychology
A Manual for Practitioners
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2013
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-1-4426-4738-1 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4426-1549-6 (paper)
Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with
vegetable-based inks.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Warner, Ronald Earl, 1938–, author
Solution-focused interviewing : applying positive psychology,
a manual for practitioners / Ronald E. Warner.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4738-1 (bound). ISBN 978-1-4426-1549-6 (pbk.)
1. Positive psychology – Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.
BF204.6.W27 2013 150.19′88 C2013-903891-4
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing
activities.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
PART ONE: BACKGROUND
1 Introduction and Overview 3
2 Fast Track to Beginning Practice 7
3 Human Development and Models of Psychology 18
PART TWO: THE TRI-PHASE MODEL FOR LEARNING
SOLUTION-FOCUSED SKILLS
4 The Solution-Focused Approach 41
5 Empathy Phase: Establishing Rapport 54
6 Goal-Setting Phase: Discovering What’s Wanted 67
7 Goal-Striving Phase: Building a Solution 82
A Note to the Reader 103
Appendixes 105
A SFI Questions: Handy Reference 105
B Brief Post-Traumatic Growth Rating Scale 107
C Training and Certification Opportunities 109
D A Paradigm Shift: My Journey 112
References 119
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Acknowledgments
This manual is dedicated to the memory of Insoo Kim Berg and Steve
de Shazer, from whom I learned so much about the conducting of brief
helping interviews and the practice of staying positive by focusing on
people’s strengths and best intentions. The passing of these two ex-
traordinary pioneers marks the end of an era for all of us who knew
them and benefited from their tireless efforts to make a more humane
world.
I would like to acknowledge a former student, Jason Kelly, who bold-
ly strived to make a difference, but whose full potential was cut short
by his premature death.
Finally, I would like to thank my partner, Janet, not only for her en-
couragement, advice, and editing of the first draft of the manuscript,
but also (and more importantly) for supporting and inspiring me in my
professional and personal life.
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PART ONE
Background