Rather than trying to understand and fix problems the Solution Focused (SF) approach works by exploring, in detail, a client’s preferred future for when their hopes from the work have been achieved, and then identifying the possible resources and strengths the client has for attaining that future. Thousands of successful cases, including many which have involved clients hitherto seen as untreatable, have confirmed the belief that everyone has the resources to move towards and even to achieve their preferred futures.
The essence of SF Practice is:
- To look for resources rather than deficits;
- To explore possible and preferred futures;
- To explore what is already contributing to those futures.
Sometimes clients spend so much time talking about themselves and the problems in their lives that they come to believe that they and the problem are one and the same. This of course is not the case. The client is the client and the problem is the problem. The client is more than the sum of the problems that he or she brings to the work. Taking account of this in a disciplined way in our work has the effect of creating more openness in change-focused conversations.
