Coaching Information

Solution-Focused Therapy


Most types of psychotherapy involve exploring feelings, being validated, finding explanations, exploring wishes and dreams, setting goals, and gaining clarity. Every therapist has unique ways of working with clients, based on his or her personality, training, and views of how people change. A solution-focused therapist is likely to do the following:

1. Instead of going over past events and focusing on problems, the therapist helps you envision your future without today's problems.

2. During the course of therapy (often as few as 3 to 6 sessions), the therapist helps you discover solutions.

3. The therapist encourages you to identify and do more of what is already working.

4. The therapist guides you to identify what doesn't work and to focus on doing less of it.

5. The emphasis is on the future, not the past.

6. SFBT therapists believe that the client is the best expert about what it takes to change his or her life.

7. The therapist's role is to help you identify solutions that will remove the barriers to having the life you want. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a process that helps people change by constructing solutions rather than dwelling on problems. This type of therapy tends to be shorter-term than traditional psychotherapy. Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg of the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee are the originators of this form of therapy.

The SFBT therapist helps the client identify elements of the desired solution, which are usually already present in the client's life. The client learns to build on these elements, which form the basis for ongoing change. Rather than searching for the causes of the problem, the focus is on defining the changes and making them a reality. The two key therapeutic issues are: (1) how the client wants his or her life to be different, and (2) what it will take to make it happen. Creating a detailed picture of what it will be like when life is better creates a feeling of hope, and this makes the solution seem possible. The therapist helps the client focus on the future and how it will be better when things change. It is important to develop a set of specific, detailed goals. These goals drive the therapy process and keep it focused and efficient.

Why SFBT Is Usually Short-Term

SFBT therapists don't set out to artificially limit the number of sessions. A good brief therapist will not focus on limiting sessions or time, but rather on helping clients set goals and develop strategies to reach those goals. Focusing on the client's goals and the concrete steps needed to achieve them usually takes less time than traditional therapy, in which the client typically spends many sessions talking about the past and explores reasons and feelings. SFBT therapists aim to provide clients with the most effective treatment in the most efficient way possible so that clients can achieve their goals and get on with their lives. As a result of this focus, the counseling process often requires as few as six sessions.

Types of Problems That SFBT Addresses

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is an effective way of helping people solve many kinds of problems, including depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, relationship problems, and many other kinds of issues. Since it focuses on the process of change rather than on dissecting the problem, more serious issues do not necessarily require different treatment. The SFBT therapist's job is to help clients transform troubling issues into specific goals and an action plan for achieving them. In The Miracle Method, authors Scott D. Miller and Insoo Kim Berg describe how to create solutions with these steps:

1. State your desire for something in your life to be different.

2. Envision that a miracle happens and your life is different.

3. Make sure the miracle is important to you.

4. Keep the miracle small.

5. Define the change with language that is positive, specific, concrete, and behavioral.

6. State how you will start your journey rather than how you will end it.

7. Be clear about who, where, and when, but not why.

Signs That You Should Consider Seeing a Therapist

There are several ways to know when you would be doing yourself a favor by finding a licensed, professional therapist to work with.

1. You've tried several things on your own, but you still have the problem.

2. You want to find a solution sooner rather than later.

3. You have thoughts of harming yourself or others.

4. You have symptoms of depression, anxiety, or another disorder that significantly interfere with your daily functioning and the quality of your life. For example, you have lost time from work, your relationships have been harmed, or your health is suffering. These are signs that you need the help of a trained, licensed professional.

Garrett Coan is a professional therapist,coach and psychotherapist. His two Northern New Jersey office locations are accessible to individuals who reside in Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County, Rockland County, and Manhattan. Garrett also offers online and telephone coaching and counseling services for those who live at a distance. He can be accessed through http://www.creativecounselors.com or at 201-303-4303.

  


MORE RESOURCES:

San Francisco Chronicle

MIke Martz at the Coaching Clinic
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 14 hours ago
In the bastion of offensive coaching in San Diego at the time, Martz became fascinated with Don Coryell's offense at San Diego State and with Sid Gillman's ...


TSN.ca

NBA | Kelvin Sampson joins the Bucks to revive coaching career
Seattle Times, United States - 12 hours ago
By AP MILWAUKEE — Kelvin Sampson wants to restore his reputation and continue his career, and hopes he took a step in that direction by accepting a job as ...
Embattled Ex-Hoosiers Coach Sampson Finds New Job At Bucks Bench AHN
all 91 news articles


The Michigan Coaching Search: Head Coaching Candidates From the ...
Maize n Brew, MI - 1 hour ago
As Michigan's options are getting somewhat limited, it's time to turn our attention to other candidates for the Michigan head coaching position. ...


YLE News

Health Coaching Creating Major Savings
YLE News, Finland - 11 hours ago
Health coaching of diabetes and cardiac patients may lead to significant savings in the public healthcare system. Health coaching is a practice in which ...


Insala's 5th HCI Leadership Webcast Features Deloitte's Coaching ...
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria - 5 hours ago
Coaching centered culture benefits and how-tos will be offered to webcast attendees. 'Rather than watch dissatisfied employees exit in search of new ...


Butterworth completes Milnrow & Newhey ARLFC coaching line up
Rochdale Online, UK - 1 hour ago
Milnrow and Newhey ARLFC have finalised the coaching set up at the club with the appointment of Alex Butterworth as senior coach with Marvin Connolly ans ...


Coaching Carousel in Full Swing
HoopsWorld - 2 hours ago
We are only a month removed from the end of the NBA's regular season and there has already been tremendous turnover within the head coaching ranks. ...


Exclusive Fitness Coaching Program Launched by Local Life Coach ...
EVLiving - 18 hours ago
GILBERT, AZ - Carey Powell, Certified Life Coach and owner of Fearless Soul Life Coaching, today announced the launch of the Fearless Female Fit Club, ...


New HealthCoach Huddle Newsletter Delivers Latest Innovations from ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 12 hours ago
The HealthCoach Huddle is a new complimentary e-newsletter on health coaching from the Healthcare Intelligence Network providing business and clinical ...


Badminton coaching course commences
Associated Press of Pakistan, Pakistan - 5 hours ago
LAHORE,May 20 (APP): Week long national badminton coaching course commenced here on Tuesday with twenty coaches attending. Pakistan Badminton Federation is ...
Badminton coaching course The Post
all 2 news articles

coaching - Google News

Article List | Index | Site Map
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved.