Solution-Focused therapy is an evidence-based approach to helping people identify their own positive ways forward in what can feel like very challenging situations.

Designed to be a brief intervention with lasting impact, Solution-Focused work is based on the idea that whatever difficulties you may be experiencing, focusing on the future you would rather have will help you move in that direction. While longer term therapy may focus on processing past events, Solution-Focused therapy allows a shift to thinking about how the future might work better for you, and will allow you to shine a light on how you might get there.

With all types of therapy, counselling or coaching, you can expect to build a good relationship with the person you are working with. What’s different about the Solution Focused approach is that rather than exploring your past and current problems, you can expect my questions to help you build your own solutions through identifying how you’d like things to be better in your future, and helping you uncover what strengths and qualities you already have which will help for example. I truly believe you have what it takes to get yourself going in a direction which works so much better for you.

Solution Focused approaches are used across a range of mental health difficulties and across many professional domains, from counselling and social work to leadership and coaching. One of the main ideas behind the approach is that the Solution-Focused professional does not need to find out the details of the client’s problem or about a person’s diagnosis for example, to find out what ways a client would like to move forwards in their life.

I’m often asked to provide people with ideas, tools or techniques to help them achieve change. It’s tempting to think that the sources of information I have are the “right” ones, the techniques the “best” ones for clients to implement. But what I find, time and again, using Solution Focused questions, is that people already have great ideas about what would work for them, both from what has worked before and from exploring what they would be doing if they had the right techniques for them. These ideas are always a great fit, because they come from personal, lived experience and in coming up with ideas yourself - or even coming up with where to look for ideas (what sources of information have you found most helpful before in similarly difficult times?) - you can learn to trust yourself even more.

For more information, you can go to the website for BRIEF, the Centre for Solution Focused Practice in the UK, where I completed my Level 1 training. But of course the best way to find out more about it is to have a session!