Working with Violence and Confrontation Using Solution Focused Approaches: Creative Practice with Children, Young People and Adults

170 Pages·2016·2.009 MB·English

by  Judith Milner, Steve Myers, Andrew Turnell

Working with Violence
and Confrontation Using
Solution Focused Approaches
by the same author
Children and Young People Whose Behaviour
is Sexually Concerning or Harmful
Assessing Risk and Developing Safety Plans
Jackie Bateman and Judith Milner
ISBN 978 1 84905 361 7
eISBN 978 0 85700 714 8
Working with Children and Teenagers Using
Solution Focused Approaches
Enabling Children to Overcome Challenges and Achieve their Potential
Judith Milner and Jackie Bateman
ISBN 978 1 84905 082 1
eISBN 978 0 85700 261 7
of related interest
Mediation Skills and Strategies
A Practical Guide
Tony Whatling
Foreword by Mohamed M. Keshavjee
ISBN 978 1 84905 299 3
eSIBN 978 0 85700 627 1
Engaging with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence
Practical Techniques for Early Intervention
Kate Iwi and Chris Newman
ISBN 978 1 84905 380 8
eIBSN 978 0 85700 738 4
Changing Offending Behaviour
A Handbook of Practical Exercises and Photocopiable
Resources for Promoting Positive Change
Clark Baim and Lydia Guthrie
Foreword by Fergus McNeill
ISBN 978 1 84905 511 6
eISBN 978 0 85700 928 9
From Violence to Resilience
Positive Transformative Programmes to Grow Young Leaders
Jo Broadwood and Nic Fine
ISBN 978 1 84905 183 5
eISBN 978 0 85700 314 0
Working with Gangs and Young People
A Toolkit for Resolving Group Conflict
Jessie Feinstein and Nia Imani Kuumba
ISBN 978 1 84310 447 6
eISBN 978 1 84642 522 6
Working with
Violence and
Confrontation Using
Solution Focused
Approaches
Creative Practice with Children,
Young People and Adults
Judith Milner and
Steve Myers
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information
contained in this book is correct, but it should not in any way be substituted for
medical advice. Readers should always consult a qualified medical practitioner
before adopting any complementary or alternative therapies. Neither the
author nor the publisher takes responsibility for any consequences of any
decision made as a result of the information contained in this book.
First published in 2017
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Judith Milner and Steve Myers 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic
means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner
except in accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence
issued in the UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in
overseas territories by the relevant reproduction rights organisation, for details
see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to
reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 78592 055 4
eISBN 978 1 78450 312 3
Nick Lofthouse, for his commitment to maintaining
the safety of others at the risk of his own
We would like to thank David Bottomley for tolerance,
patience and his grounded approach
Contents
1. Introduction 9
Solution focused approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Solution focused explanations for violent behaviour . . . . . 21
Resilience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 24
The Signs of Safety approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2. Understanding the Position of Each Person 27
Respectfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Problem-free talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Building partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Talking with people who can’t or won’t talk . . . . . . . . . 35
Do’s for constructive conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Don’ts for constructive conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3. Finding Exceptions or Unique Outcomes to
Violence and Conflict 43
Separating the person from the problem . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Where exceptions are relevant to the problem. . . . . . . . . 52
Where the exceptions don’t seem relevant . . . . . . . . . . 54
Where there are no exceptions at all . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Recording signs of safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4. Setting Achievable Goals 63
Defining goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Setting safety goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Preferred futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The miracle question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Group miracle questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Shortened circular miracle question. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Where the problem is denied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Where there are conflicting goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
People with learning difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5. Discovering Strengths and Resources 85
Turning deficits into resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Starting a strengths conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Strengths in adversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Complicating stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Group strengths and resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Finding strengths in people who are socially isolated. . . . . 96
Strengths that build safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
6. Scaling Safety and Progress 102
Scaling questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Scaled questions for safety goal setting . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Questions for assessing safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Questions that assess likelihood of change . . . . . . . . . . 110
Assessing progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Being creative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7. Ending a Session 124
Deciding on tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Evaluating the session and ending it . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Subsequent sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
When things are better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
When things are the same . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
When things are worse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
When things are mixed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 143
8. Groupwork 144
Using connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Advantages of groupwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 144
Setting up a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Determining group rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Groupwork practice principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Managing difficult group members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Flexible groupwork in testing situations . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Forgotten victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162