Teaching Tools - A solution focused appoach for secondary staff and students

Using a Solution Focused Approach to maintain emotional wellbeing and ensure positive change

Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is an approach to psychotherapy which is based upon solution-building as opposed to problem-solving. When presented with a student in difficulty many helping professionals will take time to listen and explore the problem, allowing the young person to describe the detail of the worrying or distressing experience. Teaching Tools – A Solution Focused Approach for Secondary Staff and Students offers you an alternative approach which, after a brief description, moves on from the problem to a non-problem scenario in which the solution is envisaged using a range of specific techniques and strategies. In this way, and after a relatively short time, the student finds a way to improve the situation and takes a more positive view.

The process requires the individual to actively explore current resources and future hopes and aspirations rather than focusing upon present problems and past causes. Unlike traditional psychotherapy approaches, which can continue for many years, this type of approach tends to involve only three to five sessions and is frequently used as a preliminary intervention and as an adjunct to other treatments.