What is Solution-Focused Therapy?
SFT is often called Solution-Focused Brief Therapy because it can be used in a brief therapy context. Most clients, when they come to counselling, are thinking about the problems they have been experiencing. SFT orients the client to concentrate on the possible solutions they may have in the future, more so than the problems they have had in the past.
Working towards future solutions requires that the client have clear goals of what they want to achieve and strategies of how to get there. This resembles an investigative process where the client and therapist work together to explore what has gone wrong, what caused it, and how the client coped in the past. The purpose of the therapy is to reduce the effect of problems by improving the inherent skills the client has to manage them.
What is the history of Solution-Focused Therapy?
SFT was born out of the positive psychology movement. It originated from a team of psychologists working in family therapy in the USA in the late 1970s.
The development of SFT was very scientific. Clients were tested with various questions and styles of questions, and their progress of improvement was monitored.
SFT is now used in varied public service and private industry settings. This is due to its effectiveness in helping people relatively quickly to find and implement solutions to problems.
What is Solution-Focused Therapy used for?
As the alternative name suggests, SFT is mostly used where brief interventions are desired by the client or the service paying for the therapy work. The client usually already has an insight into their problem and has a sense of being stuck in trying to resolve it.
I have found that SFT can also be helpful with clients who lack structure and require clarity in seeing what their problem is and what they need to do about it.
SFT is useful in crises where the client needs to have hope that life can be improved soon. Clients with acute phobias, anxiety, etc, are suited to focusing on solutions to quickly regain control over their life.
Solution-Focused Therapy in Prevail
I frequently use SFT. This is because I have clients who may only be able to do a specific number of sessions and want specific issues resolved within that time.
SFT uses a lot of exercises and may suit a client who needs a structured approach.
An exercise I use a lot is the SMART goals acronym.
Specific
The goal a client wants to achieve needs to be clearly defined.
Measureable
The client should be able to measure how well they are progressing towards their goal.
Attainable
Is the client able to do the work (strategy) to reach their goal?
Realistic
Is the goal grounded in reality or simply aspirational?
Time Specified
Can the goal be put into a time frame by which it can be achieved, or at least can the initial stages towards the goal have time limits on them? This prevents the work from going on and on, using up the client's resources.
I use a SWOT analysis to help clients identify their solutions. Their internal Strengths and the Opportunities in their environment are identified in a collaborative exploration. These are then compared to their internal Weaknesses and Threats in their environment. The purpose is to take advantage of the S and O to overcome the W and T.
I use scaling questions regularly to keep track of the client's progress.
I frequently ask the client to describe what their situation would look like if their problems were gone. This is a simple way to start the process of identifying what their goals are for the therapy.
It is helpful at times to help a client remember how they have dealt with their stressful situation or other situations like it, in the past. What coping skills did they use, how effective were they, do they need to use a different strategy this time? This can be a very empowering process for the client.