Solution Focused

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"A tourist driving through rural Ireland got lost on the small roads.  Frustrated, he eventually stopped and asked a farmer how he could get back on the main road to Cork City.  'Ah,' said the farmer, 'If I was going to Cork, I wouldn't start from here.  I would start from somewhere else.'*  This Irish joke can illustrate how unhelpful people can be when we don't meet people where they are at in life.  In the human services field, it's important to meet people where they are at, not where we think they should be.

If the client feels that the counselor is attempting to put himself in her shoes by meeting her where she is at then she will begin to develop trust; this can foster a strong therapeutic alliance. Developing that alliance is extremely important when giving counsel to someone that might be searching for a better life but doesn't know where or who to turn to.  There are times like these when solution focused therapy proves to be the best method to help others navigate toward the right road for them.  Whenever I have been lost in an unfamiliar place and my wife finally demands me to go into a gas station to ask for directions, the attendant has never asked me, "Well, how did you get lost?"  The attendant usually shares with me how to get us on the right road so that we can end up at our desired destination; this is how solution focused therapy works.

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Solution Focused Therapy includes a few different helpful techniques including: 1. Establishing goals; perhaps through asking the miracle question (If you were to wake up today and your life or triggering situation be the way you want it, what would be different?); 2. Finding exceptions to one's problems and then working on how to experience those exceptional moments more often so the goal can be met (I noticed that you don't have as much anxiety, you feel better, and your more productive when you go for a walk after work, I wonder how you can fit that in more?).  3.  Monitoring progress or effectiveness through scaling questions (On a scale of one to ten...).

If someone has experienced major trauma they will need to go back and examine their trauma narrative, but for clients that need to move forward, Solution Focused Therapy is extremely effective and helpful getting someone headed in the right direction.        


*Becoming a Solution Detective: Identifying your Client's Strengths in Practical Brief Therapy. The Haworth Clinical Practice Press. Binghamton, NY.  John Sharry, Brendan Madden and Melissa Darmondy 2003.