Solution Focused Brief Therapy - The Modern Life Coaching System

1. Welcome to the Solution Focused Therapy program!: Hi, I'm Rick from the creator. Off solution focused, brief therapy, the modern coaching system as a psychologist, trainer and coach. What I found is that most people who work with others actually struggled to help their clients achieve results that are sustainable towards something that they deeply desire. So in order to combat this challenge, I designed this program in orderto help you delve into the original practices and procedures associated with solution focused therapy so that you can help anyone solution. Focused. Therapy is a powerful asset to have, because regardless off where and with whom you may be working right now, you'll find that if there's a conversation to be hide, the tools that I'll be sharing with you will come in handy. By the end of this program, you will be able to skillfully question and masterfully converse with your clients, using the amazing power that solution focused therapy holes. Also, you'll be transforming your capacity toe handle any personal problems as well as any challenges that your claims may be facing. I'll be helping you achieve this using the power of solution focused stock, and soon you'll realize, with some simple mental shifts on change of language, you will be able to change your life as well as that off anyone that you work with. So if you're in an environment where you need to communicate effectively with others, you need to help someone who's going through a challenging time on get them to a place where they are thinking on acting differently. Move anyone who is currently struggling with a problem from a problem focused our closest to a solution focused part on action mindset. You will benefit from water, have to share. So what are you waiting for? Let's join hands and get started on this process off learning solution focused therapy and contributing to those people who really need your help. Sign up now and I'll see you on the inside. I promise you you won't regret it. 2. Introduction to Solution Focused therapy: before we begin that I have a couple of things that I would like you to keep in mind. First off, in order to label the person that is going to be doing the helping, I've decided to call you Ah, helper on the person that you are going to be serving is going to be the client. This allows me to keep things noodle for you as you go about applying the skills in other idea of settings, for it may even be specific to the one that we're currently in. Along with that, it's important for you to remember that if you're actually going to get good with the skills, associate it with solution, focused therapy and everything that you'll be learning. Moving ahead. It has to be practiced. You need to take out some time to not only delve into your own part process, but also start systematically shifting the way you talk to yourself as well as your talk with your clients. If you're going to go about helping them achieve certain results that they want for themselves, it's going to take a different approach, and that comes from your capacity to think differently, to act differently and of course, trained them to do the same for like I'll see you in the next Lecter 3. Problem Focused Thinking v/s Solution Focused Thinking: What is the difference between problem focused thinking and solution? Focused thinking? Remember, when your client comes to you, they're going to be primarily in a problem, focused it for you to shift them out of that and take them to the solution. Focused state is going to take a little bit of time. It's going to involve a series of steps that they're going to learn throughout this program . But for the most part, what you need to know is that that shift comes only because off your capacity to distinguish between these two states in that knowing the difference between problem focused thinking and water to entails for your client whites maintaining that thought process right now why it's maintaining the problem that they're facing and how you can go about helping them think differently to engage with themselves in a way that is going to help them solve their problems. So we're going to start this process off by distinguishing these two facets. First off with problem focused thinking. Of course, the problem is the huge focus here. Plans usually see their problems as something that is recurring, something that can really captivate the thought process and something that is really being maintained by their own cells or because of the way that the thinking right now they're usually going to be preoccupied with the problem that they face, which means that because of the nature of the heart process, because of the way they think and feel about the problem, that's what maintains the problem half the time. So it doesn't mean that they aren't capable of behaving effectively or finding solutions. It's just that because of the way they think right now, they haven't really found it within themselves to look for a solution. Does this make sense? So there are times probably when the problem is not actually happening or the problem might not be as harsh on them. But they're going to dismiss those very easily. They may see that that's not really going to change my situation. My problems still here. Nothing's tinged. So this is the overall hard process that someone faces when they're constantly thinking about a problem or they're engaging in a problem focused thought process. On the other end of things, a solution focused thought process is going to be very different. The focus here is on the solutions. The person operates from a positive mindset, and your client can actually start to behave effectively when coming from this place. So the aim here is to release that client that you're interacting with from their constant preoccupation with their failures, or why the problem is a problem in the first place and give them a new perspective off fresh look at things that they previously maybe lacked. Lastly, it seeks to help your client find exceptions. What is an exception? It's nothing but a time when the problem didn't occur, right? So these expectations are solutions that they already possess, and they innately are capable of finding within themselves if they operate from a solution . Focused perspective. Ah, lot of times when you talk to people, it's not that they don't know water, too, or that they're incapable of solving their problems. It's just that they don't really think off that right now, when maybe the side or in some sort of under source ful emotional state like sadness, guilt or where there really problem focused? Does this make sense? Okay, now let's look at an example to help understand the differences between the problem focused thought process and the solution focused our trusses. Let's look at how healthy versus obese people might enough thinking about their own situation. Let's say you have two people who want to lose a few pounds. Jonah's the healthy one and ladies obese. If you've ever spoken to people who are obese or have been so for a long period of time, you'll find that they find it a lot harder to break out of their thought patterns and the behaviors that they're engaging in Dan, people who do actually maintain a healthy lifestyle. This means that laddie is more likely to be problem focused when he thinks off. Or someone brings up this topic off him having to lose a few bones, right? So if in case John was the one who found himself string away from his diet or his exercise routine and did actually put on a few pounds, he may be able to bounce back a lot easier and get back to his healthy ways within a few weeks simply because off the previous patterns that existed and a solution focused approach that he decided to follow. But here's the kicker. If you actually went upto laddie and asked him how he could lose those parts or for times when he was not fat and how he usedto lead his life. Back in the day, you'll find that maybe he might be able to provide the solution for himself. No, that's performed something as simple as eat less crappy foods and exercise more might be one of his answers. And believe me, there may have been times where Lad he was actually doing this, where he was eating less crappy foods and actually exercising more. As soon as he may reveal this information, he may go back to saying, But I really tried that already, and it didn't work for me. There's no point I'm never going to be able to change. Now you may be thinking, How is it that the same person who got caught up in the problem off obesity right now also has the solution for it? See whether or not he will be ableto act on the solution. That is the real question Water boils Don't do is that if Laddie is to think more like John and actually solve his obesity problem, he has to strive to frequently operate from a solution focused perspective. Does this make sense? So it's not the fact that we don't know what to do. Our clients don't know what to do in that situation is that part of themselves that allows them toe act on what they believe. It's that information put into action that makes all the difference, right? So everyone is capable of solution focused thinking. When this muscle that lies within each and every one of us and any claim that you talkto is activated and exercised frequently, it really is brought to a place off stent. Then it becomes possible to really overcome any challenge or obstacle that is put in front of us or that the client might be facing right now. Does this make sense? See, I want to reinforce this point here once again. It's not that yet. Line doesn't know what to do. It's a question off Will Day. That's the subtle difference. Will they do what is required by thinking in a solution? Focused manner? This is where we need to draw our attention toe both as helpers. Ondas individuals were looking to improve on a personal level. See taking ownership and control for your situation becomes a lot easier when you operate from a solution focused perspective, because at least that way we're actually looking to improve the situation, right? So what is the actual crux of this? It's that solution focused. Thinking is any day going to beat our problem focused thinking. When you really break it down, you'll realize that solution focused. Thinking is a choice. It's a choice for you. It's a choice for your client to really take up this process within themselves, because that's going to change the entire world. While the other problem focused side is going to close things up. It's going to maintain the problem, and it's going to keep things the way they are. That's why a solution focused approach is always, always going to be more pragmatic and superior to just analyzing the situations problems for really prolonged periods of time. Look, at the end of the day, being solution focused is a practice and a proactive choice that we make the think and operate from. If one wishes to remain problem focused, it's their choice. But as a solution focused helper. You need to really understand that if you're going to use a safety effectively it's your duty to step in and apply the principles that you'll be learning in this program. All right, It's that perspective that you need to bring in that will allow you to really assist your client toe not only lay the groundwork in the client helper relationship, but actually help find real world solutions that can help eliminate problems and help you move ahead with them. Does this make sense? What's interesting here is that if you're looking for solutions that will serve you or help the clients that you're working with, it can really help break down the cognitive structure off the problem even before the solution is ever found. I'll say that again. If you're looking for solutions that will serve you or help the people that you're working with, it helps break down the cognitive structure off the problem. Even before the solution has been found bonded on this, just the simple shift off being solution focused can have a profound impact on the outlook and the actual process of finding a solution versus being problem focused with your thoughts. All right, here's your assignment that I'd like you to start off with a leg to think off three problems that you're currently facing or have faced recently. I like your list out some of the exceptions off when those problems weren't actually problems. Start practicing the start process off solution focused arts. It can actually help reduce or eliminate the problem. I'd like you to create an understanding as the waters that difference. Now, as you think of these solutions, wherever you're thinking off a solution versus thinking off a problem, what does it actually mean to you? What are those emotions that you experience? I'd like you to take some time to actually complete this assignment and really bring in understanding to your own self as the what happens when your problem focused versus when you're solution focused. I'd like to end with this. Remember that problem focused stock is going to help create problems, whereas solution focused stock is going to help you create those solutions. Ponder on this. Complete the assignment and I'll see you in the next lecture. 4. Normalizing Experience: Another unique aspect off solution focused therapy that makes it really different from other approaches is what's known as this capacity to normalize certain experiences. So most modern approaches have this notion. We're practitioners, coaches, doctors. Te typists really look at their clients as the problem that they are problematic, that they are somehow the ones at fault. See as a therapist myself, if I had to share my perspective with you on this, it would be that wherever or whenever I encounter other caregivers, like doctors or clinical psychologists, their first thought is What's wrong with this person? Why is this person sore messed up? How did they end up getting to this point? And how did the problems turn out to be this bad? When I do believe that this approach is important under the right circumstances, like where we actually need to get down to the problem. What you need to understand is that we all look at problems in our own unique way, with our own unique perspective. All right, when we look at a problem from only one angle, that's all that we have to contend with, and all we have to work with is that angle and nothing else. This can lead us to feel or get stuck with the problem. See, your clients are not problems or burdens. They are people just like you and I, who really are looking for help when you open up your own mind and that off your clients so different possible solutions that are actually available. You take one step forward towards not only building a solution focused thought process, but you also create a different perception off yourself within the person that you are serving. So you can create an amazing perception. Ah, helpful perception that is going toe. Help your client find that solution by simply opening up their mind and not looking at them as the problem or somehow they have caused this issue. See, it's that non judgmental approach that is going to make your different in the ice off her plane. When we work with our plants, we strive to show them that there are multiple ways of looking at things that they don't have to look at the glass as always, being half empty. If we actually open their eyes to various possibilities that are available to them, they will realize themselves that the glass can be seen as half full if they decide to, and that there are solutions if they begin looking for them. See, it's within this capacity off solution focused therapy that you are going to be able to bring out a solution focused thought process that is going to allow your client to find that solution, right? No. Let's look at what solution focused stock is actually all about. It relates to different aspects off your own planets, life and behaviour that encourage them to find those resource is, even though they may be lacking it right now and really rely on themselves in a new and different way like they may have not done before. So the solution focused approach to therapy or coaching looks to use a bunch of different tools and techniques that are designed to direct both the conversation itself and shift the client's perspective towards a desired goal. Right, so it's the goal that they choose. Everything is done for the client here. Everything that we seek to achieve through solution focused therapy is for our clients. So we used this solution focused stock to leverage upon the capacity to think of solutions in order to create a platform so that their client is able to look at things in a new and different way to achieve their goal. And we do this in some way by using the capacity to normalize and experience. So in SF meaty, we shift that perspective that your client may have with regard to their problems by making them seem normal. See when you're working with others, simplistic, common and otherwise pathological labels like Depression, anxiety or she's just crazy sometimes like that get thrown around and can be shifted to something that is more comforting to really help describe a person and their problems in a better way. The very act off categorizing people in this way suggests that they are that way all the time. So if you say that someone is depressed or someone has depression, it might create this. Tartarus is in their mind that this is who they are. This is how they are all the time, so we want to break out of that because that's exactly what they aren't. Look, if a couple is, say, disengaged, does this mean that there are never times when they are not disengaged, See labelling draws a lot of attention away from those other times. Those exceptions and save meaty looks at problems as a normal part of human experience. That what we think off as crippling challenges that can never be overcome has really just normal life cycle complications, right? So as helpers, we do have the option of changing our terminology and our overall viewpoint off. Problems from degrading and dysfunctional do something that really inspires confidence in our planes. All right, what normalizing relates to is that when we see a problem is a problem, it's just another part of human experience, and that's okay. It doesn't mean that we don't play the experience or diminish the seriousness of the clients. Worry it really means that we are just shifting our approach to discuss these problems in a way that is less dramatic and less worrying. Right? So let's look at an example. No, let's say a corporate employees who is struggling to balance home and office life comes to you. Your plan might say something like this. I'm struggling so much. I mean, I wake up in the morning, make breakfast, send these kids off to school, get ready myself and then head off the work. And once I get there, my boss dumps so much work onto my head that end up losing my mind. Eventually, when I do manage to drag my tired body home, I need to start helping my kids with their school work before I finally feed them and put them off to sleep. I mean, I hardly have any alone time to spend with my husband, let alone do the things that I like with my kids. The office work on the relationship with my husband. I can't really find any balance, and it makes me feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders these days. See, as a helper, your reply could be something like this. So from what you're seeing so far, it seems to me like you're stressed. It's like you're feeling pressure from a long period of time, isn't it? Look, when you have a problem, it's easy to feel alone and detached from the things that are going on around you, and the same can be said about their plans. But by normalising the experience off their problems, you can make them feel like water facing isn't really that bad. It isn't catastrophic, weird or even shameful. With this simple shift, they'll start to see you as someone who gets them but also see themselves as less vulnerable than before moving forward. You could say something like this, you know, based on what you've told me, this is actually what a lot of people face, right. As a working parent, I mean, you do so much for your kids. You work really hard at the office and yeah, sometimes it can be challenging, but you seem to be handling it quite well. It's just that this emotional weight off it all, that's what seems to be getting in the way right now, isn't it? There's a way that you can find balance in your life if you're looking for it. But welcome to the world off a working parent. I know its not easy, but we can find a way to work around it. What we're attempting to do here, it's simply normalizing the experience off what it means to be a working parent. Also notice how the dawn off the shark organization a solution focused everything that we started off with the perspective that your client hard with regard to their problem, it was slowly shifted into a solution focused thought process. See, you need sensitivity and care in your tone and approach again. You don't have to downplay or dismiss their challenges or problems, but you can acknowledge them in diligently to make it seem like another part oflife guard do. This is what we try to do when we try to normalize a catastrophic bad experience or really any problem that your client might be facing right now. If you can contain that explosion that happens within their mind or in their life and make it seem like something that they can overcome, well, that's what's going to make this process a lot easier. That's what's going to allow them to start looking for solutions by shifting their perspective off the problem. I'll see you in the next lecture 5. Collaborative Thinking and Conversation: in a typical therapy session, that lion is usually the one who contributes the solution. However, in an SFP session we usually operate from this collaborative perspective, where both parties that is yourself as the helper and also your client, all the group of people that you're working with, they both contribute equally to the conversation. All right, what makes this process different is that the solution is constructed by both the client and the helper. See, your clients are experts on themselves. They already have the solutions that they are after. We, as helpers, need to strive to empower them enough, contribute to the conversation and share our perspective in order to help bring out that solution. All right, so the client is not really helpless or it doesn't make us the expert. When we're talking to a client, we work together, and we arrive at a place where we can create that sense off resourcefulness within the client and then help them face the problem in a more effective way. CNOSF media. You could think of it like this that two heads are better than one. There are two experts in the room at any given point of time in a session or if you're working with many people. Like I said, you are going to have a lot of people who are going to collaborate share their own viewpoints. And then we're going to find a way out together, right? See why Look, Land might be an expert on himself or herself. You are going to be an expert in solution, talk and solution focused thinking. It's using this perspective and knowledge that you are in it together that makes your job and the client's life a lot easier. Does this make sense? So the nature off this conversation can be informal at times. Yes, it is possible, but it actually helps in building that overall sense of report and taking your client to a place where they're going to be comfortable with you and thus create a change a lot faster . So the therapeutic process in itself, the collaborative nature that comes from using solution focused therapy, it can be adopted in any place where there's a conversation to be had. So regardless of whether you're in HR, you're in therapy. Your in counseling, your in teaching or training coaching. It doesn't really matter. Using this SF BT process off, collaborative and joint contribution to the solution or formation of the solution is going to help you not only shape the overall process that is going to help create the change, but also the solution in itself can be found together. Setting the tone of this conversation by making that other person feel like an equal can actually help them feel like, Oh my God, this person gets me and that is going to help them open up and find absolution together with you. So remember that there is no perfect solution or one single way to solve a problem, right? Each and every person has this capacity within themselves, especially your client to serve themselves, and they can find the solutions. It's your job to guide them and help find that resourcefulness within themselves empowered them in a way to find the solution. All right, so use this collaborative approach, come together as two individuals who are fighting for the same cause and help your clients find the solution to their problems. I'll see you in the next lecture 6. Applications of Solution Focused Therapy: Where is solution focused therapy in use? Where can you apply these principles in order to get great results? There are a few places where SF BT is already in use, like psychotherapy and counseling, drama, abuse, addiction and even sexual medicine. Social work. Teaching human resources, life, sports and business coaching, motivational speaking, training and mentoring. All of these incorporates some aspect off solution, focused thinking and therapy. But here's where it gets really interesting. Even areas like law, advocacy, business and entrepreneurship also can use these principles of solution focused therapy. If you examine the applications off this therapeutic process, you'll realize that there's really no restriction where you can use water about, learn and really applied. This to great effect so long is that there's a conversation to be had with someone. They're struggling with a problem and they need a solution. You can apply the principles of solution focused therapy, right? What matters most is this. I'd like to put a question to you. How would you like to take this moving forward? How would you like to go about using these principles, molding them and shaping things in a way where it benefits the clients that you are going to serve. I'd like you to ponder upon this and really think about how, when, where and the specific aspects of the context of how we're going toe Apply all of these principles moving forward. Really think about this because I believe that asking performed questions like this about how you're going to take this information and put it into action is what is going to help you evolve as a helper and really go about serving your clients. Think about this and I'll see you in the next lecture. 7. History of Solution Focused therapy and Evolution of the Model: Where did solution focused therapy begin? How did it evolve to be watered yesterday? We have to thank the creators off S FBT, Stevie Shazzer, Enzo Kinberg and their colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This private institute was started in 1979 when some off the staff at the Research Community Agency who were drawn to the Palo Alto Mental Research Institute model or worse, popularly known as the Emory model off therapy, grew tired off the agency's constraints and set off on their own. So, just like any great innovators, they decided to stay away from the norm and try and do something different. Steve Dish Ezer is one off the primary architect off this process, and his writings were among the most inventive in this approach. He was a scholar as well as a clinician, and he was intrigued by Gregory Bates and theories of communication as well as Milton Erickson's pragmatic ideas about how toe influence change and someone again he was strongly influenced by the Emory approach to therapy while working at Palo Alto in so Kim Berg, his wife, she was another one of those primary architect off this model. She trained therapists from all over the world and authored many books, applying the solution focused approach to a variety of problems and settings like alcoholism, marital therapy and even family based services to the poor. Along with these two people, there were a number off others who were involved in the conceptualization and application off the solution focused model in a variety of different areas, including whiner Davis, who applied this to marital problems below Hallen, who created a new form of therapy. What's called as possibility therapy along with you von Dolan, who applied this in trauma and abuse settings and even agency settings. Ive elliptic applied this toe, wife battery and assault. Scott Miller applied this toe Alcohol and Drug treatment services, and John Walter and Jane Peller applied this to the workshop setting. So from what you can see here, you realize that not only has a safety model evolved in its own right with regard to how it is carried out in a therapy session, it's also evolved in terms off where we apply it on a regular basis. So it's comforting to know that you will be able to use this in any setting that you decide to converse with a client and really, it's going toe. Be a matter of how you go about using this to great effect in a way that you see fit. I'll see you in the next lecture. 8. The Outlook and Basic Model of Solution Focused Thinking: what is the outlook and the basic model that solution focused therapy operates by? We're going to examine this now in this lecture. The outlook behind this is that people are constrained by a narrow view off their problems . What this means is that if someone does face a problem, they have a very narrow viewpoint of it. They have a very finite idea about how they can go about solving this. Typically, this perpetuates into a rigid pattern off all solutions where they face a problem. Try something out and that, you know, really doesn't give them the kind of solution that they want. And it's usually a Band Aid approach. So what typically happens is that people put a range of limitations on the possible alternatives that they could use to deal with their problems. And even though they attempt to find a solution, it usually leads to an unsatisfactory outcome. And because it leads to an unsatisfactory outcome, People don't really question the solution that they attempted or the behavior that they engaged in, and because they continually engage in these false solutions or behaviors that don't get them. The results that they weren't they constantly end of redoubling their efforts to solve the problem in the exact same ineffective way, which gets them to start thinking and feeling about the situation in a way that really doesn't serve them well. In that, that problem focused thought and talk gets reinforced. Water boils don't do is this people think, by applying the same or similar strategy to solve a problem that is not really getting solved in the first place, that they will somehow get the results that they weren't so they tried to dome or off it. They try to do things a lot harder and even better in their own mind when in reality, what they need is actually a better strategy or a new strategy in itself. So in this situation, if they did actually question their solution or the behavior that they engaged in, and they considered a new possible meaning that hey, what I'm thing is not working and they need to do things differently, then there's a likelihood that they're going to adopt and really take up a better approach to solve the problem. This only comes when they consider the meaning off a strategy that has clearly failed. Does this make sense. So it's only under these circumstances that they are going to find a new, better and revolutionized approach that is going to help them solve the problem. All right, now, let's look at an example to understand this better. Let's say you're in need of money, say, $5000. You put yourself mentally in a position where I can, I will. And I must make money only using this stream off income, which in this case is a second job. As a clerk, you work overtime. But no matter how much effort you put in, you just don't get the outcome that you warned in relation to your monetary target. So what happens? You don't really question the act off getting a second desk job as a means to earn more money. So you keep going. You keep trying harder and harder, working longer and longer ours, even though that is not going to help solve your financial problems and get you those 500 G's. Does this make sense? However, if you start to question your strategy when it's not really working and it's not getting you the result that he weren't you put yourself in a strong position to make a change. And maybe you decide to get a better ah, higher paying job or another career part which will serve as a solution to your problem. See, when most people feel they really take it upon themselves as they are somehow failures, they take that failure to heart that if I feel a few times I am the failure, I am the one to blame. So using this outlook, you can demonstrate off flow chart and really late things out about how your plant can find a solution to their own unique individual problems. All right, so what's the basic model off S FBT? Well, it draws inspiration from the Emory model in that people really need only a slight shift in the perspective in order to realize their full potential. This shift is usually achieved by changing the way people talk about their problems in the first place, which relates to how problem talk plays such a significant role with regard to the maintenance off. A specific problem because it's usually negative, focuses on the past about how things didn't work out back then and implies somehow that these problems that your client might be facing at one minute see a solution. Focused Helper operates from the belief that solutions are unrelated to the origin and by spending too much time talking and trying to understand the origin off the problem. We are engaging in MAWR and more problem focused talk, which is really what you want to avoid as you apply solution focused therapy by staying on this trend off problem focused thinking. It keeps your clients from recognizing effective solutions that they've already used in the past or could come up with no see. Problems persist in the way people defined situations in the misdirected actions they persist in taking. I say that again, problems persist in the way people defined situations and in the misdirected actions they persist in taking, As Ludwig Wittgenstein put it, The world off the happy is quite different when you compare it to the world off. The unhappy see the language off problems is very different from the language of solutions . Something as simple a self talk went problem focused can lead to a perspective that maintains a problem. But by shifting to solution focused stock, it can transform the entire world of the person who is struggling. The subject off NLP or neuro linguistic programming examines the impact off language on the brain and the mind by simply changing our mental and verbal language through solution focused. Start. There comes a neurological change, and new neuronal pathways and connections are formed within the brain. What does this mean? This means that by simply thinking differently by changing your thought process or that off your clients and moving that language pattern. Toby More solution focused. You can change the way in which your brain works, or that off your clients, in order to dramatically increase the likelihood that problems are going to get solved. So remember, solution focused stock is always going to be positive, hopeful and future oriented. And if you leverage upon this breaker Clarence off their problem talk and into a place where they are talking differently about their problems, they're going to be more solution focused Well, that is going to create a dramatic internal shift, their entire perception their world is going to change. So as a helper, you need to take them to that place, take them from their problem focused, talk to a place where they're talking about solutions. Remember here that the future is negotiable. People know what is best for themselves and really, they're experts on their own lives. If they know what is troubling them, you better bet that they know what they need. Toe, I'll say that again. If your client knows what's troubling them, then they know what they need as well. While you're talking to a client, a common as safety philosophy question to ask them is, Is there anything else I should have asked you all that you need to tell me? See, sometimes taking a step back with your client is moving a step forward. I'd say that again. Sometimes taking a step back with your plant is moving a step forward. Occasionally, you need to set aside your own frame of reference as much as possible to explore what their client is really thinking. What they believe is a great solution for their problem. Remember, regardless off the simple complications that your client may be struggling with right now, they are really highly resistant and resourceful individuals who have the capacity to come up with constructive solutions. If they're decide toe, it is your duty as a helper to help unlock this potential within them by helping them make their decision toe, engage in solution focused stock and shift their understanding. This is how therapy works with regard to solution focused art in action. See, the premises died. Your client has the skills needed to solve the problem, but somewhere they have lost sight off their ability to do so because off the way in which they're engaging with themselves using problem focused stock. So we create the shift number one by focusing on what is working and less on what is not. And second, we search for the abilities that lie within our clients and help awaken them in a way that is going to empower your client to actually find the solution that they're looking for. So we go about setting goals where we collaborate and really integrate ourselves into the therapeutic process with the client and help them create realistic and concrete goals that are future oriented. Also, we change the language that the client is using, so we look at the problem in a different way by changing the language, see instead off looking what lies beneath the surface and identifying hidden meanings like other therapies, We mostly look at the surface itself in solution focused therapy. The premise is this. What we talk about and how we talk about the problem actually makes a massive difference, and this difference can be leveraged upon. To make a difference for the client, right. We also engage in negotiation in that the meanings that are arrived at at a client's situation are developed in the form off a negotiation in order to understand or uncover what's really going on. What this means is that when you talk to your plan and you hear them share a problem with you through techniques like normalization and by manipulating your own language as a solution focused helper you can build a fresh new perspective by simply negotiating the meaning off water plant is going through. By changing the language that you use, you can go about creating something different for them to look at. So let's say your client is going through a hellish divorce. You could negotiate the meaning off this, and as time goes on that things will improve, that things will get better or you could share that this is a temporary situation or that a lot of couples go through this today. Does this make sense? So even though your client might be going through a particular problem by simply negotiating the meaning by changing the language by making them look at things differently by reframing, you can negotiate to create a fresh new perspective off the problem at hand. What this also implies is that we can uncover the real problem by negotiating the meaning with our plant. So a helper could say something like this relating toe the exact same example where they're going through a hellish divorce. It's just a non observation, but from what you've shared so far, it seems to be that more than the fear of separation for you, it's the fear off being alone, isn't it? So we negotiate our way to the route off the problem whenever we use solution focused therapy. Also, we look at the amplification off exceptions, so the premise here again is that your client already has three effective solutions. There are situations when they don't face this problem, and those can be used in orderto create the solution or discover solutions that have been used in the past and then a play them no and really shift our focus to that. We engage a lot in positive Doc, and the premise here is that if you talk positively, you end up thinking positively, which causes you toe, act positively and inadvertently solve problems. So it gets a lot easier to talk to our plans to talk differently about their problems than it is to really get them to change their behavior. I'll say that again. It's a lot easier to get our clients to talk differently about their problems than to get them to change their behavior. So by shifting their perspective on language through positive talk and getting them to talk about their problem differently, we strategically work to change their thinking and behavior. Does this make sense? Lastly, the solution that we come up with is going to be constructed not only with our inputs but also the input off the client where we both give our inputs and we try to find a solution that is going to get the client the result that they're after This is very different from other forms of therapy, because here, as a helper in the formation off the solution, we are formally involved moving ahead, we will explore the exact role that you will be taking up with regard to this and how we will go about constructing the solution with our client. This is more or less the overall model and the inner workings off solution focused therapy . Feel free to go through it again if there's anything that you haven't understood, and I see you in the next lecture. 9. Problem Assessment: How do we go about using different assessment tools in solution focused therapy? This is what we're going to explore in this section. When we look at problem assessment, we look to keep things short. We're really looking only for a brief description off the complaint from our clients. So what do you need to understand here is that when it comes to understanding your clients problem in solution focused therapy, less is actually more. You need to only know enough to understand what the client is going through, but not so much that they start engaging in problem talk. At the same time, you want them to feel like they've been heard and understood. It's this delicate balance that you seek to maintain as you strive to get an understanding off where your client is with regard to their problem. Does this make sense? In fact, the less you know, the better things actually will be. This limited information perspective is what makes s fbt not only better, faster, but also more effective in its own unique way. You can leverage upon this approach to get ahead within a very short period of time with acclaimed and ensure that they actually get fast results. So as soon as you get a just off the problem that your client is going through, you get a basic understanding off water really facing and what you're dealing with with regard toe them in relation to their problem. You can move on immediately to the next step. What does that entail? This really involves your first bout with solution focused stock, where you ask them about how life will be different or how things will be different once that problems are actually solved. It's important here to realize again that your client has been caught up in a pattern off torturing behavior that is problem focused, and it's not really serving them. But by shifting them out off this place in their mind. Early in the interaction, they quickly start building a fresh perspective off themselves. Does this make sense? Next, you ask your client about non problematic circumstances. In other words, you ask your client about times in their lives where the problems do not happen or are less severe. This elucidates and stresses on the proactive nature off a solution focused assessment. Here are a few questions to help you get started with this process. Like What do you think the problem is now? How will you know when the problem has been solved? How will you know? You don't have to come to me anymore. What will those tell tale signs be what will have to be different for that to happen in terms off your behavior, thoughts and feelings. How will you know things are different. What will you notice is different about others involved in the same situation with regard to what you're facing right now. Have you ever been in a situation where what you know describes the problem Wasn't a problem with strategic questioning like this. You are gaining a better understanding off the problem and your client through their firsthand account, but also by engaging in positive talk and really thinking about how things are going to go moving forward by using a positive frame, you can begin to make a client feel really good within a short period of time. By staying with this process at the start of the indirection, you can make quick progress with any client that you might be working with right now. So use this effectively and I'll see you in the next lecture 10. Perception orientation v/s Emotional focus: what is more important in solution focused therapy, the perception that your client has off their problem, or the emotions that they're going through well. In this approach, we give more importance to the perception we ask more about the idea that they have about the problem rather than what they feel about it. So while most other therapies might give a lot off attention and understanding toe how the client feels about their situation and their problems, solution focused therapy usually seeks to understand things from a cognitive perspective. This reinforces the realistic here and now oriented approach off this form of therapy. Again, we don't want to downplay or dismiss our clients problems. We just shift our focus away from the problematic feelings that accompany problematic tart and talk. Does this make sense so far, So we acknowledge them on the position that they're in. See you want to communicate, embody in understanding without having to go too deep into those feelings. By getting a fair idea and understanding of how the Klan perceives the problem, Weaken, begin affirming their position. See, you want to acknowledge where your plant is coming from. All clients in some way shape or form warrant some kind of indication that the helper has understood their point of view that guides their actions. So by saying simple things like I understand, I get you, I see where you're coming from. All of these statements can help communicate empathy and understanding without having to go way too deep in peer clients. Feelings so strategically work to understand your clients. Perception off the problem while maintaining healthy balance where they feel like they have communicated their feelings and have been understood without spending too much time on how they feel about things. All right, remember, in solution focused, brief therapy, your client is the expert on what they want to change. You don't have to be a authoritative, but the role you do take up is that often active mediator every time that they begin toe worry, start to feel side or get into an under source ful state every time they engage in problem talk. So wherever necessary, you're going to break that thought process and behavioral pattern by intervening, and you really take up an active position to move your clients away from their worry state and towards their solution. Does this make sense is this clear so far. See as a solution focused helper. You don't really try to determine what's wrong or how to correct the problem. In fact, the onus is on your client to do all of this, but by giving your client the responsibility as well as their liberty, to reach a state to really help them tap into their own resourcefulness, where they start to engage in solution focused stock that is going to allow them to improve . All right, follow through with this practice the different aspect off, how you're going to go about looking at being that person that you need to be while practicing each and every one of thes processes, and I'll see you in the next lecture. 11. Future Questioning and Collaborative Goals: Another aspect of the solution focused approach that makes it different from other forms of therapy is that we strive to set goals together with our claims. See, as helpers, we don't necessarily set the goals for our clients, but instead we enable them to do it for themselves. See solution. Focused Talk incorporates future oriented questions, and these future oriented questions are usedto help enable goal oriented thought. So when we look at solution focused therapy, we get our clients thinking about their future. In more concrete terms, we get them to look at things more simplistically on. More pragmatically, we get them to see the future in the no. So we get them to start thinking about possible solutions right from the get go. Does this make sense? So how we engage without planned, how we help them look at things differently by asking them future oriented questions can actually help them set their goals and really go about creating amazing perspective shift that is going to allow them to find the solution. So in your own sessions, you could ask them questions like this. What needs to happen as a result of having this conversation? What are you looking to achieve here That would allow you to look back on this and be able to say that Hey, this was a good idea. What needs to happen to make sure that this will not have been a waste of your time? What do you think would be considered as this problem being solved? Did anything happen to improve the problem for which you have decided to come here today? Notice how all of the questions are solution and future focused, like what needs to happen. How can we solve this problem? Can you define in your own words a future where the problem doesn't exist? A very pragmatic and sensible way off helping your client establish what they are working towards? You can use these questions to really help establish very clear and pragmatic goals. Is this clear? So far? Remember, the helper and the plant are going to begin working together from the get go. Now, based on the answers that your clients give you, you can start working with them to construct a more detailed and clear description of the goal that they wish to achieve So you can use clarifying questions to confirm their intentions and desires as well as the nature of their goals. All right, here, as your client starts to make more and more sense off what they really want, you could start asking confirmation questions like this. Is this what you really want? Is this what you seek, or is it something else that you're after? What is a better way to describe what you wish to achieve? Can you share in clearer terms? How do you like to move forward with this? Can we evaluate what you've shared so far so that we can establish a clear part for the future so that you can actually solve your problem this time? Use questions like this to clarify wort your client warrants and get a better understanding not only for yourself, but also to help them get on track. All right, use the strategy, refine your capacity to question your plant, and I'll see you in the next lecture. 12. Progress Checking, Reflection and Action Recalibration: in solution focused therapy. We have the option of checking our clients progress in a strategic way where we can get them to reflect on the situation at hand, how things are going and also help them with regard toe recalibrating their actions to get different results. So once the goals have been detailed and said, you can ask your plan to assess their current level of progress in relation to that goal, you can achieve this by using one of the most useful tools available in SF Bt and that is a skill. See, this is what can tell you how far away from their goal that they actually are, and later the same skill can be used to determine what specific actions will allow your plan to move towards that goal. All right, You do this simply by helping them imagine a scale off 1 to 10 where one represents the problem at its very worst. And then is the point at which where the problem is completely gone away or your client a scoping so well that the problem is no longer problematic. Alright, Usually, when your client first comes to you, a lot of the times you will find them a lot lower on the scale. They may even struggle it. The thought of imagining water. It might be like to achieve their goal and really have their problem go away. So it will take all of your resources to get them to think differently under the circumstances. So you've got to be ready for that. If N gives the situation, demands it. If your client does, I didn't find new problems. Then you can make a new scale to depict their desired outcomes for those specific problems and then evaluate their progress towards new solutions. Does this make sense? What this means is that if, in case a new problem that wasn't identified before does come up in the interaction, you can design a new scale and really over the length off, different sessions that you have with your client, visit them again and really examine their progress with regard to the goal that they have said associated with that new problem. All right, so make your plant assess their progress in relation to each of their goals, whether they are actually moving closer towards the solution or not. If the are getting results, then that means that they are moving upon the scale. I need to keep taking the same actions and really scale their capacity to continue doing the same thing. If in guest, they aren't getting the results that they weren't. If they aren't progressing, then the scale really stays the same. Or in some cases, their numbers might reduce, depending on the situation. If your plan is in this position where they are struggling the North seeing results, they're really not moving on that skill. Maybe allow them to consider recalibrating and manipulating their actions. Take new and different actions. Take better actions, apply newer and better strategies so that they can engage in doing things differently that actually get them measurable results. All right, so you keep relying on this assessment process throughout the course off your meetings with your clients, and you frequently seek to help them improve their thinking and get them clarity with regard to what they really want. Have them reflect on whatever they're doing and really empower them to take better actions to improve the situation. All right, keep this up with your clients and I'll see you in the next lecture 13. Client Motivation and Classification: when you're looking to assess where a client stands with regard to their problem, you need to understand their motivational level. In this lecture, we're going to classify our clients and really understand where they stand with regard to the change that they're looking to make. So we need to recognize this motivation for change within our client. This aspect of assessment in the solution focused process cannot really be understated. So you've gotta know where your client stands in relation to the goal that they are looking to achieve on a mental level. How much are they willing to push? How much are they willing to give up in order to get what they want? What are they willing to do or not do as a result off how they're thinking right now? All right, All of this and more gets answered. Once you understand your clients motivational level, there are a few internal questions that you need to ask yourself in order to determine your clients motivational level. Okay, so things like how badly does your client want to make this problem go away? How motivated is my client toe? Achieve a meaningful solution? Where does my client stand with regard to their problem, and are they really ready to work in order to make a change? Can my client really get the results that he or she wants? What will it take for my client to reach a place where they are so motivated that they can make the change that they're looking for a reality? After you've gotten a fair idea as to where your client stands in terms of their motivation , you can assign a category that fits how they're thinking right now as well as how they're behaving at this point of time. Now let's look at the three different types of solution focused clients based on their motivational level. Let's start things off by looking at this categorization by examining visitors. Ah, visitor is a person who is not really in the market for change, in fact, there in a session with you, because someone else insisted that they come there. Typically, this is someone who has been forced and it's coming. They're not really out of their own will. They don't really have a complaint and don't really want to be talking to you in the first place. How do you deal with them. You don't really offer them any suggestions or seek to convince them that they need help from you. What you do want to pay attention to is how they were referred. Who the real client is in the sense that because someone else has reported that this person is involved or is contributing to the problem, you really want to see whether this person is the client themselves or the person who has reported them is the one toe be given more focus. Okay, So if they have been pressurised into taking therapy or any form of help from you, ask them what needs to happen for them to feel compelled to ask for help in relation to the person that put them there in the first place. For example, let's say the mother has brought in her child for a session. Figure out the pain points are the areas of improvement where you can add value to sway them, where they are going to be in a position toe, add value to the therapy session that they've come for, where they are good working towards something that they desire. Sometimes even simple questions can help in a situation like this. Like I know your mother has brought you here against your will. So can you tell me what has to happen to get your mother off your back? How can we make the best off our time together here? Really? Stick to your guns with visitors because they might be reluctant to participate. Initially, as a helper, you have to really use all of your skill and engineer ITI in order to break them out of their state if you're really going to help them and also help yourself to have a productive session together. If somewhere at some point of time you believe that the visitor is so reluctant that they will not gain anything from their sessions with you or it's not really worth your time, then it's probably a good idea to consider terminating the sessions completely, or at least until a point where they are ready to start seeking help from you again. Part of their reluctance might actually be associated with the problem talk that they're so good at. So perhaps, if you can shift them towards solution focused thinking, then they may be able to see you differently as well as the problem that they're involved in This is for you to judge by first asking those questions, qualifying the client to make sure that they're in the right place and really understand their motivation for your own self, while simultaneously checking how much off a visitor your client really is. In other words, it's clear if they fall into the visitor category. But by your own judgment, how much would you say the odds are off them, budging and really cooperating with you? All right, Does this make sense? You want toe assess with regard toe How much off visitor they actually are? How competent are they going to be with regard to dealing with the therapeutic process in a way to solve the problem? Now let's look at the second category off client motivation that consists off complainants . A complainant doesn't really have clear complaints, but knows that there is a problem and that they need to deal with it. Typically, these are the people who blame external factors for the problem, in the sense that it's because of certain people are unfair circumstances that they're in this situation. Sometimes parents might seek therapy because their Children are the ones having problems. But while parents of these Children might see the need for themselves to be involved in the solution, parents off older Children may think that it's actually only the child who has a problem and see it as well. It's not my problem. It's up to him to fix things now. This could be something that's related to drugs, depression or even undesirable behaviour. The point here is that the circumstances do not necessarily change a complainant's nature. Wives coming for couples counseling because their husbands don't communicate and husbands don't come in because they feel the same way about their wives. Here again, it's important to acknowledge that since they don't see themselves as a part of the problem , they're unlikely to see themselves as a part of the solution. I'll say that again. Because they don't see themselves as a part of the problem, they are unlikely to see themselves as a part of the solution. How do you deal with these guys? Well, you can start by suggesting noticing certain exceptions in the problem behaviour off the other person. So what this means is that by solving the problem, how will things change for them. Okay, What do you want to pay attention to? Here is this. By accepting their viewpoints by giving them frequent compliments strategically and really observing exceptions to the pattern of behavior where the problem is in full flow, you can go about shifting their perspective in order to find a solution together. You can incorporate this into your own repertoire by examining the following example. Now as the helper, you may go about questioning things like this. How can I help you? The gland might say it's my daughter. All she does is hang out with her friends. She never does her homework and she never helps out around the house. You could replay with this. So how can I be of help to you? The client might say nothing I've ever done seems to make a difference. She just doesn't want to grow up and take responsibility for her own self. Now, with such a client, a solution focused helper. After having gained a basic understanding off, the problem needs to shift from problem. Focus. Talk to solution focused Stock helper. What do you think needs to happen so that your daughter will become a little easier to live with the claim, Prayed to play something like this. I mean, she has to start doing her homework. I keep telling her that she won't get anywhere unless she finishes high school. Your reply could be something like this. Now, that seems like a very big change. But suppose that did happen. Suppose she did start doing her homework? What would your daughter be saying about how you are different with her? Then your client might replay with this. She hates it when I nagged her. So she'd probably say that I wasn't nagging her as much anymore. North This how we as the helper in the situation? At no point do we challenge our clients notion that the problem is her daughter. But by talking about solutions, the conversation comes around to how the mother might actually behave differently as a part of the solution rather than deflecting their relationship and or involvement with the problem. Okay, so what we're doing here is really focusing on that solution focused stock and deflecting our deviating our attention to how the situation can be dealt with in a different and better way. The final category off client motivation that we're going to examine with regard to OSF be declassification is customers. Customers have clear complaints and are ready to take action. You could be more direct in guiding these clients towards finding a solution that is going to serve them. How do you deal with them? Well, you move directly to establish goals and then start looking for solutions because it's always going to be easier to work with people who are ready to make those changes. You can go about creating a fast paced process that is going to allow you to use thes s FBT principles a lot faster and a lot more effectively. What do you want to pay attention to? Here is how can you go about moving this motivated plant towards their outcome fast. See, because a customer is always going to be in a mental state where they are already doing a lot of things right where they may have minor problems. Are there in a motivated state at best to solve their problem and do so quickly? You can also engage with them in such a way that they solve their problem fast. All right, the point that Steve the Shazzer, the creator of solution focused therapy makes here is that these three categories be it a visitor, complainant or customer? The aren't really qualities of character as much as they are really qualities off the mental state of the individual. At that point of time that you're dealing with, as well as the relationship that is going toe evolve over a period of time as the therapeutic process continues. See, this relates to your power to help your client break out of their problematic patterns, using your speaking skills and applying the solution focused stock process. Does this make sense? You would be surprised to know how much you can do once you get her plan to start thinking differently. Following that, you can build your trust with them. Really Start thinking about how we can move forward and help them start taking those actions that are going to get them results. All right, so with what might seem at the time, like an unmotivated complainer, your job as a helper is to engage in a solution, focused conversation, complementary plant and even possibly give them an assignment to observe exceptions to the problem. Okay, so whatever it is, don't push your client to change. Be magnetic, draw them in and really make them want to change by shifting attention away from the problem that your client is facing and moving it towards possible solutions. US. A helper can really mould the relationship that you have with your client and shape it into one where they really become a customer for change. All right, this power lies within you. You can use this assessment process within SF BT, and really integrate these strategies and look to create that perspective that your client is going to achieve. Were there after this time that they are going to get the results that they're after next. We're going to look at the actual therapeutic techniques that you can use in a session to really amplify your ability as a solution. Focused helper. I'll see you in the next lecture 14. The two main strategies in Solution Focused Therapy: Now that you have built up a strong foundation with regard to house solution, focused therapy actually works as well as the assessment procedures. Now you can start looking at the therapeutic techniques that you will actually use in order to help your client get results. Now there are two main strategies in solution focused therapy. But before we get into them, we need to understand water strategy actually is a strategy is nothing but a proven method or a method that has a very high likelihood of getting a result that we want for our plant . So throughout this process, we will be using to primary strategies that are going to be highly effective in bringing our plan toe a place where they're going to be thinking in a more solution, focused manner as well as moving towards what they want. So the first strategy that we're going to look at is a well focused goal. Well focused goal is something that is highly essential within the framework of solution focused therapy. Why, primarily because we need to know where we're headed. If we arbitrarily having ideas toe what we want when ever going to get there. We're never going to develop a very effective, action oriented process to go about getting ourselves to our destination. Does this make sense on the other end? We also want to be generating solutions without powerful solutions that will allow us to deal with the problems that we're facing. Currently, we won't be able to take our client to a place where they're going to start seeing themselves capable off achieving these well focused goals. So everything within solution focused therapy is basically revolving around these two processes. One being creating well focused goals. Assessing our progress towards hitting these goals and constantly generating solutions, getting small results that will allow us to build momentum and eventually get so the goal. Another thing that makes solution focused therapy unique is that sessions are usually brief . Appointments may be made one at a time, based on how many are deemed to be enough by you the helper. But usually we find that 3 to 5 sessions on average, are enough for solution focused therapy sessions. So what does this mean? It means that whenever you interact with the client, because off how solution focused therapy works because of the solution focused approach, we are going to end up completing what we're after, achieving those goals in a much faster way. So this doesn't mean that we're trying to do a less convincing job that we don't care as much. It's just that solution focused therapy works in such a way that we get fasters all soon for our client. So this can transmute into or change into a longer relationship based on the needs of the client, based on how you're working with your client as well as the context in terms of the area, so many different factors that contribute toe how we're going to go about applying this and how we're going to go about delivering results for your client. All right, so this is the basic framework off the therapeutic techniques involved in solution focused therapy. You'll find that any of the things that we do moving ahead will incorporate either creating goals and assessing our progress towards them or generating solutions within the client. I'll see you in the next lecture 15. Problem Description: the first therapeutic technique that we're going to look at within solution. Focused therapy is problem description. With the terrible verdict process underway, you can start with a small description off your clients problem. So this is usually when your client first comes in. You warned them to start talking about their problem in brief terms, work always from the client's frame of reference. Try to get as much information as possible from their point of few. This relates a lot to the empathy concept that is the our capacity to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Remember, even though solution focused therapy is not that oriented towards another person's emotions , your client is going toe. Have to relay some off those emotions to you. They have to convey how they feel, and at the same time, you need to build your perception off your clients problem, just as they have built their own. So whenever they share their own frame of reference there sharing their problem with you acknowledge and appreciate were planned for their perceptions and how they look at themselves in relation to that problem. Creating this overall picture is what is going to allow your toe work with your claimed in orderto find a proper solution. So let's say you really want to create a strong sense of connection with your client early on in the interaction, really get them toe open up and describe their problem. One of the easiest ways to do this is through matching and mirroring. Matching and mirroring is simply doing exactly as your client does, or if you're sitting opposite them, doing the exact opposite thing off what they're doing with regard to their body. What does this entail specifically? This means that you really match your clients language and mannerisms based on how they do things. So let's look at poster, for example. Let's say your client is leaning back. You need to lean back as well. Let's say that leaning forward, you lean forward as well. What's their specific department? Their behavior or demeanor like How did they walk? How did they talk? Try and replicate diet? What are the specific gestures and movement that they are engaging in? What are those specific ways in which they move their hands or their head when they're trying to talk or describe something? All you need to do is replicate that. So let's say your client is giving you a thumbs up when they're talking about something positive or the found a solution, you give them a thumbs up right back, like good job. That's exactly how you go about doing it. If they give you a thumbs down, then you replicate that. Oh, so that didn't work out. Okay, that makes sense. Are you getting this? So far? All you do is use those same physical movements to accompany the words that your client is using and sometimes even incorporate those specific words that they have used. But the primary thing here is to use the same physical movement and really make them feel connected to you on an unconscious level. So these specific gestures, when matched, can dramatically effect the report that you create with your client and affect the interaction overall, in a very positive way, is this clear so far, the next thing that you want to look at his eye contact now this is not going to be too much. It's not going to be too little, but it's going to be enough to make your plan to feel like they are connected with you. right, So sometimes relying on warm, comforting eye contact is going to be your best bet in a therapeutic session. While talking to a group, you can engage with eye contact maybe 3 to 5 seconds with each person before you move onto the next. Remember that you want to feel connected toe everyone that you're talking toe, so creating systematic change with regard. Here I contact really making everyone feel like a part of the interaction. That is what is really making everyone feel like a part of thean direction. That's what you're striving for. Even breathing rhythm, when matched, can really create a strong sense of report. Pay attention to this the next time you're talking to someone, just notice whether you are bought in the same breathing rhythm. If they're excited that breathing rhythm is going to be fast and yours is going to be a swell, you're usually going to be connected in this way based on the other person's emotional state as well as your own water found is that if you can manage your own emotional state, you can manage your breathing pattern. You can manage different aspect off your own self. It becomes a lot easier to guide the interaction after you have created a sense off report . All right. So additional to the matching and mirroring technique, you can actually use your claims. Own language back onto them. House is going to play out in an actual therapeutic session. Let's look at the snow helper. So you were saying that you want to do something about being sore? Dis organist, Am I right? Plant? Yes. I can't keep track of half of the things I'm supposed to be doing. And I end up scrambling to turn in assignments at the very last minute. I really hate myself for that. Sometimes I think I just don't want to be doing this job anymore. Helper. So you think that maybe being disorganized has something to do with not really liking the work you're doing and that you've been feeling discouraged and down on yourself? Is that right? All that we're doing here is sharing our Clarence words backward to them. It's exactly what they've said, but it's coming from you. And once you say this, you ask for confirmation. This on a very deep level, creates another sense of connection with our client because when they talk to us when they're sharing and opening up regarding a problem water does is it makes them look atyou very differently. It causes them to feel a sense of connection when they feel like you understand them when they feel like, Hey, this person gets exactly what I'm thinking. This person has been listening the entire time. They're going to be in a much stronger place to look at you as the ideal person to find solutions with them. Does this make sense? Once the therapeutic process is underway in solution focused therapy, it's really a good idea to find out. Water Plant has already tried in the past to solve their difficulty. What the Senate days is that just asking them about their attempted solutions, what has worked or what has not worked? That is going to give you a fair idea as to where your client Stein's on a mental level, if not a reality level with regard toe where they're headed, see, people usually attempt various strategies to deal with their problems, and depending on the context, most of these efforts may have been more or less successful. Either way, these previous items are solutions. No play an important role in the client's perception off what works and doesn't work for them. Now there will be occasions where your client attempts many tactics that don't really get them results that is giving them unsatisfactory outcomes or the experience Some results on some occasions and managed to achieve bandage solutions on their own. See, in such a situation, it's up to you to help your plants step up their approach, really find new and innovative ways to meet the challenge of turned and strive to find powerful solutions using this entire solution focused therapy process. All right, work with them and soon both off you will be headed to what could be, hopefully a problem free or at best, a problem reduced life. I'll see you in the next lecture. 16. Goal Setting: How can we go about setting goals within the framework of solution focused therapy? Now, whenever you're setting goals with your plant, it's important to acknowledge a few things after hearing and acknowledging your client description off their problems and what they tried to do about them. Remember, you want to establish clean and concrete goals. So once you get a basic idea off, Water Client is actually facing hold. How they're really struggling water attempted in the past and what has really worked out or not worked out. You begin establishing clear goals. This is another aspect of the pragmatic heart process with regard to how solution focused therapy actually works. So you get your client toe translate Vega and poorly shaped goals what might be ambiguous in their mind into something concrete and something like that they can really act upon by asking various questions. All right, so here are a few of those questions that you can ask your client in order to help them set these goals. Specifically, how will you be doing this? How will the two off, you know, when you have solved their problems, how will things be different? What specifically will tell you that you've reached your goal, What will be the first sign or at the very best, the smallest step that will tell you that you're moving in the right direction? What else needs to be considered? Remember, the clarity is power clearer, the gold easier. It is to measure progress moving ahead and at the same time, the easier it is to really understand water client is after giving your plant this power off. Clarity with regard to work, they warned, is one of the best things that you can help them achieve within a therapy session. So here's another example off how you can use this in an actual therapeutic process. So let's say the woman is looking to get along a little better with her husband. Can you tell me more specifically what will be happening when the two off you get along a little better? What will be different? What specifically will your husband notice that will tell him you are getting along as opposed to not getting along notice in this example? How, as the helper you asked the woman who warns toe have a better relationship? What will you be doing differently again? Pay special attention to this method of questioning. Part of the process of solution focused therapy is helping your clients about creating constructive action, water the actual solution focused processes that they're going to use within themselves in order to move ahead. What are the actions that they can do in order to create a change? Again, the onus is on the self, not so much on the other person. Based on the context. You can frame things in a way that if they start working as individuals to solve the problem, then they're going to be in a much better place to actually find a solution. What does this mean? This means that instead of forcing the other person to change, which is always going to be a bigger challenge, it's going to be a lot easier for you to talk about certain things, talking a solution focused manner by asking the right questions to get the individual to change later, both of them can come together and really start interacting in a way to see that. Hey, I'm putting in some effort and you're putting in some effort. Now let's work together. Let's become this cohesive unit that can go about solving this problem. All right, This is what you're striving to achieve whenever you're either setting goals are really trying toe get both people. If there are two people or more within the framework off the problem see, useful goals are those that are going to be specific and that are going to include positive actions. So whenever you're framing their questions, you want to make sure that they incorporate this aspect in as well. They're also going to be modest enough to be achievable. So again it goes back to how solution focused therapy is going to be very simplistic with regard toe. Hey, these are the facts. This is what we have to work with. This is what we're working towards and this is what you need to do. So while it's good to have a long term goal, it's important to realize that in the short term, always having achievable goals that are accomplished one after another can really help build momentum and shift the mind set off her client in a more efficient way. This is the hidden power, I believe, off solution focused therapy where we helped push our clients into taking actions that they really want for themselves but haven't been able to really get themselves to do so far. The premise here is that by me doing something small and actually achieving it, I'm taking one step closer and feel like doing more. I'll say that again by me doing something small and actually achieving something. I'm taking one step closer, and I feel like doing even more. Now Engage your client powerful E. And get them thinking about the results that there, after through this goal setting face, make them talk pragmatically and realistically about what they want. Talk about how they're going to take action and follow through toe. Actually, yield results this time. Practice this part and I'll see you in the next lecture. 17. Miracle Questioning: a technique that has not only versatility but a profound impact on a therapy session is medical questioning. It was first used in solution focused therapy by In So Kim Berg. When she was interviewing a woman whose life seemed out of control, she asked her What needs to happen In order for things to be better, the woman replied, I'm not sure I have many problems. Maybe only a miracle will help, but I suppose it's too much to expect. Kim, picking up on the client's words, identified something that had a lot of potential here. She said, Okay, suppose a miracle did happen and the problem you've come with is solved. What would be different about your life? See, when the woman asked this question to Kim Surprise, this woman who had initially seemed so overwhelmed and helpless began to describe a clear and realistic picture off a well functioning family. Thus was created one of the mainstays and favorite techniques of solution focused therapy. The medical question. The medical question can be used literally in almost any therapeutic session. In order to dramatically shift the thought process off the client with regard to their problem as Steve the Shazzer phrased it. No, I want to ask you a strange question. Suppose while we were sleeping tonight and the entire house is quiet and then a medical happens. The miracle is that what brought you here to me is finally solved. However, because you are sleeping, you don't know that the miracle has happened. So when you wake up tomorrow morning, what will be different? That will tell you a miracle has happened. And the problem which brought you here is finally solved. Ah, very profound question. In a very performed picture that Stevie Shazzer was painting here. The medical question allows their client to envision an unlimited range of possibilities with regard to what they're actually trying to achieve. It activates a problem solving mindset that may or may not have been there before. But it gives a new perspective a new insight with regard to how they can go about dealing with their challenges. And ultimately it gives them a mental picture off their goals. So it's these three elements that come together with regard to how they can go about dealing with their problems simply by asking a very powerful question. Think of this like a tennis player visualizing the perfect service that will allow him or her to win the point. First they think about the various areas that they could possibly perform a service. Now. They may have performed well in the past, where they've delivered goods, services and that has allowed them to win points. Or there might have been times when they put their services in certain places that caused them to lose the points. But nevertheless, there are an unlimited range of possibilities that they can really explore with regard to where they want to serve at the same time, because they have two different ideas, one has achieved the result. That they weren't the other has not helped them achieve the result that they want with regard to winning the point. So they start thinking about Hey, this is where I served last time and that didn't win me the point. This time I'm going to serve here, and this time it's going to work. So you create an entire mental picture off the problem. You help them see things in a different way, and that changes their perspective. Does this make sense so far? See the medical question is truly powerful because it allows your client to look way beyond water currently struggling with right now. It may not necessarily eliminate the problem. Deliver that killer blow with regard to how they're looking at things. But it will be ableto really help the move past what has been obstructing them so far. So if you can help encourage your client to begin doing these things despite the problem, take those actions despite having those challenges in front of them. Certainly the problem may not loom as large. Let's look at an example. Let's see. If Mary weren't as shy, she'd get closer to people and have more fun. If, with her helpers encouragement, Mary begins to take risks in her relationship and chooses to have fun, then her shyness may become less off a problem and less often, obstacle in her life. Does this make sense? So the medical question will allow you to give your client a new perspective? Ah, fresh look off what life could be like without the problem ever having been there or a life where the problem does not exist? Practice use of the medical question early in the interaction with their clients and you will start to see the process of getting results for them become a lot easier. I'll see you in the next lecture. 18. Exploring Exceptions: when we are interacting with our client in a solution focused therapy session. One of the things that we do is probe for exceptions. We try to find an expand on times when our clients did not have the problem that they're currently struggling with. This can invite them to recognize that some potential solutions may already be within their grasp. Such probing involves asking water called exception style questions. So how will these exception questions actually take shape? Let's look at that. No, I asked them like this when in the recent past, might the problem have happened? But didn't What is different about those times when the problem didn't happen? How have you let your partner know when he or she does something that makes a positive difference to you? Are there any exceptions? Are occasions where you don't struggle or don't have too much difficulty again? Finding exceptions in the recent past can be really helpful because your clients can remember them in greater detail. This is the recency effect. If you can capitalize on this really see water specific incidents are in the recent past. A listed those and have your client recall them during the session, it becomes a lot easier for them to find our times when the problem wasn't really a problem . So since these exceptions have just happened, it's very plausible that they could happen again. After identifying what these exceptions could be on a very basic level, we look to find clues about them. We look to expand on these exceptions and really get down toe water client did or what they thought off differently that allowed them to see some sort of result. Look, when your clients recognize that they were able to avoid or even overcome the problem beforehand, their outlook toward it. My change, Which means that if they have actually attempted something, they've seen some results, they've managed to deal with it, you know, in a sort of effective way. It may seem less insurmountable when they come to you, so they just need to be reminded off what they have attempted and really run through those emotions again and really find hope in their capacity to solve the problem. For example, Mary may remember times from a social encounter where she was about to give in to her shyness while talking to a small group, but she didn't. She may have found the confidence within herself and worked up the courage to go and speak up. See, it's these occasions where she made a powerful decision to change her situation. That may be exactly watching needs in order to help herself grow into a more confident person so that her problem of shyness doesn't come in the way anymore. So exploring exceptions in this weekend allow you to work with your client and really, as a helper, you can work with them to build on their past successes. If for any reason this fails and your client feels like they have never, ever been any exceptions to the situation where the problem has always been a problem, you could ask something like this. Oh, but why aren't things worse than what you're describing? The media play with something like this? Oh, they have been. But I managed to persevere at the time, I managed to turn things around from being unbearable, tolerable. This is the clue you've been looking for jumping by saying something like this. How did you manage that? And from there you can build upon that to really look towards a possible accomplishment that they have achieved. Does this make sense? You really want to capitalize on any clue that your client is giving you where there is an exception to the problem where they have done things differently where they have seen some sort of result. So we leverage upon that, and we make them build upon their own confidence with regard to what worked in the past powerful stuff that you can use to really help bring your client out of rock bottom. I have to stress here on the importance off you being willing to persevere in the face off a client who is hard to shake out off their problem. Talk. Remember? Sometimes it can be a challenge to break the person sitting opposite you into a more resourceful emotional state, where they're constantly talking about their problems and not really looking at things from a different perspective. See, you've got to be willing to work with that person and ask them really powerful questions so that they can really pull out the clues themselves. And then you can work together with them and strategically expand upon these exceptions. Does this make sense? This is in part a way to help build the confidence of your client, but also have them look into their own capacity and desire to be resourceful about the problem that they're currently facing. See, even when it sometimes seems like we don't have the resources immediately available, we can use coping questions to deal with that. This is what we're going to explore next. Coping questions can help your client recognize that they are way more resourceful than they currently realize, just because they have endured the problem that they have struggled. But they have survived so long they are somehow coping in a unique way. So elaborating on this, really understanding how they're coping can be powerful for the solution. Focused process. So here are a few of these questions like What keeps you going under such difficult circumstances? How come things aren't worse? What have you done to keep them from getting worse? What are the things that have kept this situation from spiralling out of control in the past? You've been dealing with this pretty elegantly, despite the challenges. How did you do it? See if your client provides useful answers to these questions again, jump into track the clues hidden within their words and build upon them with questions about how their endurance and coping strategies that they've used before can be used again now and maintained in some way at the same time looking at how more effort can be brought into the deal in order to make the situation better, All right, see, what we're doing here is that we're looking for previous solutions, exceptions and various goals that they have with regard to what they want to achieve. This allows us the helper, to really punctuate their perseverance, how they have been so influential with regard to how they have dealt with the problem in the past and how they can continue to do so. You want them to realize their own resourcefulness, and this is where your solution focus talk is going to come into play. All right, see, you want to keep solution. Talking the forefront. This may require different skills from those used in traditional, problem focused therapies, but most of the time when you are engaging in other types of therapy, a lot of focus is going to be given to the missing clues toe. What caused or what maintains the particular problem that is at hand right now. Solution Focused therapy, however, is concerned with using clues that are available to help your client really realize what kind of progress they're making with regard to their problem and identify solutions that are going to actually get them results. No. How are we going to apply this in an actual session in order to help understand how we can elicit and bring focus to the exceptions while talking to a client? In this situation, let's look at a mother and her child, Cheryl, who are having communication issues. This is how the conversation might play out in In a safety scenario. The mother begins by saying this. She comes home and then she just ignores me. She acts like I'm not even there. She comes home from school and just runs into her room. Who knows what she's doing in there but have a feeling that it's not good shattered? You say we fight all the time, so I just go into my room so we don't fight Mother. See, she admits she tries to avoid me. I don't see why she can't just come home and talk for a little bit about school or something like she used to do. No us. The helper can jump in here. Wait, wait, wait. When she usedto shadow, When did you use to come home and tell your mom about school? Said it. Oh, I did that a lot last semester. Helper, can you give me an example off the time that you last did that, Mother. Oh, wait. I can tell you it was last week. Actually, she was all excited about her science project getting chosen helper. So tell me more. What day was that, mother? Oh, it was Wednesday. Helper. What were you doing, Mother? I think I was getting dinner ready. And she came in all excited and asked her what was up. And she told me her science project was chosen for the display at school helper. Wow, that's really cool, Mother Ilya, it is helper. So then what happened, Mother? Well, we spoke about it for a while. Now the helper can intervene here with something like this. Cheryl, do you remember this shadow? Sure I do. It was only last week. I was pretty happy again. The help us is. And would you say that this was a nice talk between you two shadow. Sure, that's what I mean. I don't always go into my room like my mom claims. Helper. Was there anything different about that time last week that made it easier to talk to each other? Mother? Well, she was excited. Shedded my mom. Listen to me. She wasn't going around and doing anything else. Helper, while that's a great example. Thank you. Now, let me ask you this. If it were like that more often where Cheryl talked to you about things that were interesting and important to her and where you Mom, you listened completely without doing other things. Is that what you to mean by better communication? Both of them are going toe. Agree? Yes. Precisely in this example, we have used a variety of different solution focused interventions. Let's look at what we did know. See, First we looked for exceptions to the problem. We looked and we tried to find out where were those incidents what happened in their life, where what they were facing as a problem now with regard to their communication wasn't really a problem. And then we punctuated their perseverance and we stressed upon that particular exception. We found certain clues, and then we expanded upon how they ended up finding it within themselves in order to deal with the problem in a different way, and they have done it. So we leverage upon that and we remind them that they have the capacity or they have done things in the past in such a way that allowed them toe experience, a different situation. Enjoy a solution that is within their grasp. So we congratulate them on finding this within themselves. Lastly, we connected the exception toe their goal. We asked them how their goal would be reached if this exception were to occur more often. This is how you explore exceptions in SF bt simple and straightforward. Yet it's going to be very powerful for you to use with your claims. Seek to develop your capacity to communicate this aspect effectively, and I'll see you in the next lecture 19. Scaling Questions: bringing in scaling questions into the forefront off How you go about assessing your clients. Progress can be one of the most powerful techniques that you can use in your solution focused therapy sessions. But there's more than one reason why you should use scaling questions. Let's look in the back first. It's used to help assist you as the helper, and your clients talk about vague topics like depression and communication, particularly when it's going to be difficult to identify certain concrete behavioral changes and goals that are needed to be brought into the light. Also, it helps your plant build their confidence and shows them measurable results, which will reinforce the resolve and make them want to take more action. Scaling questions can also be powerful because they will allow you to overcome resistance with your plant. So let's say they warn something they aren't really ready to put in the effort right now. They are in truly connected to you. They aren't really connected with the therapeutic process by asking them scaling questions . You can help overcome all of these challenges and really get to what needs to be done. Ultimately, it's going to encourage them to think differently and work hard toe ultimately solve their problems in So Kim Burger and Steve Dish as a used this in their own unique win the therapeutic process and really refined it toe make it water. Yesterday, the helper asks, for example, a depressed client on a scale of 1 to 10 with one being how depressed you felt when you called me and then being how you feel the day after the miracle, How do you feel right now? The client might say Ah to now as the helper, you might reply with something like this. So you feel a little better than when you initially called me. How did you achieve this improvement? Or you could ask, What do you think you need to do in order to achieve a three? See, in this week, you end your plant can identify and nurture small changes towards their goal rather than being stuck in the I'm so depressed or I'm not kind of thinking, and that's what really makes up such problems. So you don't want them at polar extremes. You want them to be in a place where there really clear about where they stand with regard to their problem as well as what they want to achieve. So, as I previously said, by asking scaling questions that help you quantify your clients, confidence that can actually maintain the resolve can be truly helpful for the entire therapeutic process and to build a relationship and really refine your process as a solution. Focused helper Let's take another example here on a scale of 1 to 10 how confident are you that you will be able tow? Avoid losing your temper this week. Look. Asking scaling questions is not only a useful way off anticipating, but it allows you to disarm any kind of resistance that your client might be exhibiting. It also prevents them from going back to their old ways, and this time it brings them to a place mentally where they're going to be committed to change again. The premise that this works on is that now I'm starting to see some noticeable results that I want. I'm able to measure my progress, so I'm going to continue thinking and behaving this way because it's working out for me. This is the mental picture that you're trying to create within your claims. Mind if they get this message and repeated constantly in their mind. They're going to start looking at things very differently. They're going to start seeing the problem as well as themselves in a way that they haven't seen it before. So it's all about creating that momentum. Using scaling questions. Now, how do you use scaling questions in a conversation? Here's an example of how we can use this. When a couple who wanted to improve their communication Susan and Jim, came to you, the session might go off something like this helper. What I want to do now is scale, that problem and goal. Let's say one is as bad as the problem could ever be. Where you never talk, you only fight and avoid each other all the time. And on the flip side, let's say 10 is where you talk all the time with perfect communication and never fight Susan or that's pretty unrealistic helper. Of course, that would be ideal. So where would you say it was for you? At its very worst? Maybe right before you came in to see me Susan or it was pretty bad. I don't know. I'd say a two or three Jim Oh, yeah, I'd say a to helper. Okay, a two or three for you, Susan. And a two for you, Jim. Okay. Now tell me, what would you be satisfied with when the therapy session would be over and successful? Jim, I'd be happy within eight. Susan. Well, of course, I'd like a 10 but I know that's unrealistic. Yeah, I think it would be good for me, Helper. What would you say it is right now, Susan, I would say it's a little better because he's coming here with me and I see that he's trying. I would say maybe a four. Jim. Well, that's nice to hear. I wouldn't have thought that she'd put it that high. I would say it's a five for me. Helper. Okay. Ah, four for you, Susan. And a five for you, Jim. Also you both wanted to be an eight for therapy to be successful, right? Will pause here to see what has happened in the intervention so far. First off, as we have used scaling questions, it's an assessment device aimed at the solution focused thinking and action process that we're looking to deliver. That is, if it's used in each session. The helper and the clients haven't ongoing measure off their progress. So that's the first thing when you actually measure your growth right. Secondly, the act of questioning this way acts is a powerful intervention method because it allows you to focus on the previous solutions and exceptions while punctuating new changes as and when they occur. Does this make sense? So far, See, Scaling tells us if things can be better if things can stay the same or if things can get worse. But because we're dealing with actual numbers here, we can tell by how much the change is actually happening or not happening. If the scale goes up and things get better from one session to the next, the helper can complement the client and get details about how they were able to actually make these changes. This not only supports and solid defies the changes that they made, but it also leads to the obvious indication that they need to be doing more of the exact same thing. If things stay the same, however, the client can be complimented on a two least, maintaining their changes if not for letting things get a lot worse. So whenever things do get worse, you can always use coping questions and really identify what they're doing, which is taking them down the wrong road without getting too much into the problem. You could ask something like this. How did you keep it from going down? It's very interesting how often that simple question can actually lead to a description of the changes that their client have made, in which case you, as the helper can complement and support as well as encourage them to do more. If that change. Does this make sense whenever you feel that your client is making any kind of positive progress, even though it may be an exception, even though it may be something that they're doing toe cope better with the problem? You can compliment them if things do, for some reason, get worse or go back to the way that they were previously. Don't ever blame or put your clients known. Remember, stick to your solution focused stock process and labelled that as a strategy that really didn't work out. Simple. OK, now let's get back to the conversation that we were having with Susan and Jim. They're now back for the next session, and it's time to see how they're doing and whether there is any kind of improvement or not . Helper Susan, Last week you were at a four on the scale of good communication. I'd like to know where you are this week. Susan, I'd see a five helper five. Wow. Just in one week. Really? Susan? Yes. I think we communicated a lot better this week. Helper, How did you communicate, Susan? Well, I think it was Jim. He seemed to try and really listen to me a lot more helper or that's great. Can you give me an example off when he listened to you a lot more, Susan? Well, yes, yesterday, for example, he called me once a day at work and away went retreated. Helper. Sorry to interrupt, but he calls you once a day. Susan. Yes, he does. Helper, I am just a little surprised because not all husbands call their wives every single day. Susan, he's always done that. Helper. Is it something that you like that you wouldn't want him to change? Susan? Oh, yeah, for sure, Helper. Sorry. Please go on. No, You are telling me about yesterday when he called Susan. Well, usually it's kind of a quick call, but I told him about some problems that I was having, and he actually listened to me for a really long time. He seemed to care and even gave me some good ideas to deal with it. That was nice helper. So that was an example off. How you would like it to be when you can talk about something like a problem. He listens intently and gives you good ideas and support. Am I right, Susan? Yes. Helper Jim. Did you know that Susan likes you telephoning her at work and listening to what she had to say? Jim? Oh, yeah, I guess so. I've been trying really hard this week to improve things Helper. So, by your own standards, would you say that? Compared to your two or three from last week, you feel the communication has actually improved? How much would you reach it? No, Jim. Oh, I see a five or six helper. Excellent to see you. Feel like you're making progress and seeing some results. Good job. What else have you done to try to make the communication better this week? And just like that, you keep scaling, keep examining exceptions and solutions and move forward in your own sessions with your clients. Does this make sense? All we're doing is assigning a number toe the problem that your client has spoken about also to measure their progress with regard to the goal that they have said and how practical the solution is, whether they're actually seeing results or not by actually measuring things. This example that I shared here shows how going over the scale with the couple served as a vehicle for tracking their progress, and now you can do the same. Remember, small changes will always lead the big changes here. As the helper, all you need to do is gather more and more information about small changes that their client is making on their own. That has actually led to an improvement on the skill. This would naturally suggested them, that they continue doing the things that are working and do a lot less off the things that are not look as the solution focused process takes scores over a few sessions, you and your client will find that it's the small changes that lead to the big ones by building up the momentum off small changes and noticing results that are actually happening . You'll find that airplanes are going to want to work a lot harder and faster than they previously have. And this is what is going to allow them to fill their own mind with solution focused art, as well as taking action that is going to empower them. With this process of scaling, you can identify and deal with a multitude off different problems that their client is facing. Identify and target them individually to mediate on guide, progress in therapy and so much more. These are the benefits off scaling questions. Use them efficiently and often whenever you feel they fit the situation and I'll see you in the next lecture. 20. Compliments: What can we make off compliments? Compliments are an expression off. Praise, esteem, respect, affection or even admiration. In a safety, this takes a different turn. You could say something like this. Wow, How do you do that? Amazing. How did you manage that? That's unheard off. Tell me the strategy you used to pull that off. See, the phrasing calls to attention the fact that the client has already achieved something rather than asking questions like, Have you ever had a job there before? Doing so invites clients to describe their successes, and us helps foster their self confidence. Does this make sense? Remember, Toby, effective Your compliments should point the words water do more off. Not what to eliminate. You don't overtly say things like, Hey, you should know more of that. No, not at all. That's not the approach. Be subtle. Be suggestible on occasion, an obvious well, communicating your message whenever you feel it fits the context. See, most clans know what's wrong but have usually run out of ideas about how to avoid repeating the same old ineffective solutions, right. So in your sessions, highlight those successful strategies and keep clients focused on the ones that are actually working as you drive them forth with your solution Focused stock. Okay. Can you do more of that? Great. I'll see you in the next lecture. 21. Summarizing and Giving Feedback: you've identified and expanded on the problem. You've set goals, explored exceptions and scale your clients progress all the while complementing and using a solution focused stock toe. Help break your client into a new reality. Now you're reaching the end of the session. What do you do next? That's what we're going to look at. No, as a helper. Now it's time to take a 10 minute break to talk to your client. About all that has been shared during the session, while summarizing your aim is to bring it all together. This can be in terms off water claims spoke about during the session. The breakthroughs they made, any areas that they can work upon and so on. You basically look to bring the session to a close in an effective way. Think of this like a wave. The water keeps building up as it reaches its highest point, and then it comes crashing. Known in the session, something similar happens. There's a build up in the discussion that peaks and peaks and eventually comes falling down as the session draws to a close. Does this make sense so far, even though it is the client in reality, that does all the work in their life to improve their situation in the session by taking a short break and bringing it all together. All of this can really cement a collaborative mindset in the eyes off your client. All right, here's how you go about setting this up. Assuming your average session is about one are long. Here's how the last few minutes will go. Keep in mind that it's best to be flexible with time to really attempt to solve your clients problem. But if you are working under the clock or maybe in a firm where you're not the one who's the decision maker, you can accomplish this anyway. By working around this. It's all about time management and giving enough time for this break in the session. All right, No, this is how your transition into a break when you're reaching the final minutes off the session helper. We're nearing the end of the session, and I'd like to give you a 10 minute break. This is to give your time to think and reflect about what has been discussed so far, because any important ideas that came up or to make any decisions or plans think about whether the session has been helpful and how you would like me or us to be further involved in this while you're thinking I will consult with my team. If you're working with a team and usually in solution focused therapy, there is maybe one or more therapists, or you could just review your notes. After that, we will get together and think about what you have shared today. I'll be curious to know what stood out for you. I'll also share my thoughts with you. Then we can work together to achieve something that will be useful to you. All right, so how do you sum arrays using solution focused therapy? Remember that this somebody message begins with a recap off water helper heard the clients say during the interview. This typically includes you relaying what the problem waas water. It's by ground is and the client's goals, as well as the precession progress and their strengths. You could say things like this. What I heard you tell me today, Mr X, is that Did I hear you correctly on these points? Is there anything off importance that I missed out on or something that you would like to add. You can use this template and really go about creating your own summary in your sessions. Let's go back to the example of Susan and Jim to help understand this summary ization process better. What I heard from you today, Susan and Jim, is that you had initially been struggling with your communication before you came in, since we began therapy together and before you came in. Today things have shifted and your goal of talking lovingly and fighting less while looking to improve your relationship together had been coming together quite well. If I do say so myself. Susan currently use Standard A six, while Jim you standard a seven on a scale of good communication. Now that's pretty amazing for a couple that was fighting bitterly just a couple of weeks ago, don't you think so? I wonder how you managed it Honestly. Nevertheless, doing as you have been doing lately seems to be working for you. I understand Susan that you would like to bring that score up to an eight in the next two weeks or so, and Jim, you would like to take it up and keep it at a nine direct. Hear you correctly on all of these points. Great. I'd like to know before I tell you what I feel. Is there anything off importance that I missed out on or something that you would wish to add? This is how you summarized the discussion in solution focused therapy. You can use this in any of your sessions. All right? Nothing fancy. Just a revision off what was shared during the session. This recap or summary ization is usually followed by a statement reflecting the helpers reaction. That is your reaction off the session. So how exactly do you go about delivering your reflection in a session? First, do you go about expressing empathy for the client's situation? This can take ship in terms off a statement. Like, I understand that this communication problem you've been facing is a real challenge. For you are I can tell that you've been hurting dealing with these problems on your own. Once you've communicated that feeling that hey, I get you or rather your client fields or how this person was really listening. This person really cares and gets me. Once this is felt by your client, you can move on to complimenting complement your client on any pre session changes or strengths that they have shown. Like I was impressed by how many times you've tried to make things better, or I'm amazed at how far you've come with regard to your personal communication in tumultuous situations. All right, then you move on to commenting on their overall progress in relation to their goals here. Ah, final examination off the scale can really help. In fact, it can be revisited at the start or the end off every session. If you desire it. Where did they begin? Where do they stand? No, where are they headed? Water. The things that are helping them move towards their goals and what is holding them back Right now, all of this can make up the gold discussion aspect off your reflection. If you are working with more than one person, you could talk about the same stuff but in relationship to the people who are actually involved, for example, discuss how they're moving towards a common goal or an objective, and how they're getting closer to what they would all like to experience. It's all about communicating that joint mindset, all right? Is it fine so far. Finally will be looking next at how you can go about making these suggestions to your client in an effective way. Really build on the positives that have come out of the session and I'll see you in the next lecture. 22. Action oriented suggestions and Closing the session: now that you're reaching the end of the session after your reflection, your transition into giving suggestions about building on the positives that their client has been exhibiting. For example, Susan, I suggest your notice where Jim does when he calls that you warned him to continue doing Jim, I would suggest you try to notice what's happening when she responds positively to your communication and to continue with what really works. There's an actual strategy to giving suggestions in solution focused therapy, and we're going to explore that next. Remember, all suggestions are given toe strive Toby action oriented, meaning that the client is to do something toe improve their situation. As you begin giving your own suggestions, you need toe help. Examine how you can go about doing this for your client. Get them to follow through with what they really want and really get them toe experience that change as something that they're creating. Okay, so here's the exact process you can follow in order to give your client suggestions in your next solution. Focused therapy session. You start off by giving them the Formula First Session task. You say this between now and the next time we meet, I would like you to observe what happens with you that you would like to continue experiencing. All right, Once you do this, you can tell them to do more off. What works? Since you said that you usually talk together when you're alone. Try to spend more time alone whenever you can see if you can do that once or twice a week and observe what happens. So quite simply, you tell them toe continue doing more off the positives and really accentuate on that. Next, you tell them to do something different. Now you've mentioned that when you rely on Susan to be the one responsible for taking care of the house while you're away on work, she often fails to do it. Maybe you should try doing something different. Don't you think so? Here, the suggestion to do something different can be given as an experiment. It's best to have them come up with the thing that they need to do differently versus doing it yourself. But you could give them a possible scenario to work towards that might benefit them. If that's what your client actually needs. For example, why don't you try something different. Jim, how about you bring Susan along for your next work trip and have a house sitter managed the house? That way, you, too, will get more time together. This is how a simple suggestion can turn into an action that your client can take. Tow em back to their situation positively. Next, you ask them to go slow. This suggestion is designed to help your client overcome the fear of change by asking about any negative consequences on warnings against trying to bring in change way too rapidly. This has to do with the pragmatism associated with solution focused therapy. Again, as much as we want our client to find their solution, we want to make sure that they reach there at a time when they are ready and mentally prepared to deal with the full scale off the change that they're after. So it's sometimes sensible toe. Ask your client to go slow based on the context. OK, put for the question like this I have worked may seem like a strange question. Could there be possibly any advantages to think staying the way they are? This is certainly put, and when your client hears this, it helps them engage in their own thought process, where they can go about examining things themselves. Look at their actions, their current position as well as their progress rate all right. Ultimately, they will be the ones who decide if they are moving at the right pace or not. But remember here, the collaborative nature off this exercise is to question them toe, think and, if needed, have them come out with it to slow down. All right, Next you ask them to do the opposite. This suggestion is based on the notion that many problems are maintained by previously attempted solutions. Suggestions that their clients tried the opposite of what they've been doing is going to be particularly useful for problems that exist between two or more people here. We want them to re examine the meaning off. The results they've been getting so far are certain solutions that they've attempted really a good fit to help solve the problem again. Here, we want them to engage with their critical thinking. Let's say a single parent is having trouble with her child. If schooling a child for being bad is not working, the client can be encouraged to start praising him for being good. See, we're asking them to do the opposite off what they usually do. Let's look at another example. If our husbands attempt tow, avoid conversations with his wife about the relationship isn't working. He could try initiating them when he's in the mood. This depends on your own budding capacity to come up with various new possible solutions for your client to attempt. When things are not working, always see if you can ask them to try doing the opposite off what they normally do. And let's see how things pan out all right. Lastly, you asked them to engage in the prediction task. You say this before you go to bed tonight, predict whether the problem will be better or the same tomorrow. I'll say that again before you go to bed tonight. Predict whether the problem will be better or the same tomorrow. Again, we are getting them toe. Think using the's profound statements tomorrow night, Ray today and compare it with your prediction. Think about what may have accounted for the right or wrong prediction. Repeat this every night until we meet again. Notice how this task is framed as you can see the compliments and suggestions off the summation message continued the basic trust of the solution focused approach. Okay, So drawing attention to the clients resources and encouraging them to capitalize on their strengths in orderto focus on solutions rather than problems can really help them out big time. So used these suggestions laid out here effectively and close the session with a minute long discussion off what they will be doing before the next session, as well as how the upcoming sessions will take shape, operate in this manner, integrate all the aspects of the therapeutic process. And I promise you, you will not have any problems bringing your client out of their head and see solutions that are readily available to them. All right, I'll see you in the next lecture. 23. Future Sessions: Now you've gotten the therapeutic process going. You've been helping your client discover and apply solutions in their life. What's next? In subsequent sessions, that airplane does decide to come back to you. You spend your time doing a certain set of different things. You spend these future sessions finding, amplifying on measuring their progress. You help them create a cooperative mindset. First off, you also inquire about their progress by using the scaling process. You also get them to describe and detail any movement that they're seeing towards their goal. Are they getting results that they want? Are these actions that they're putting in working? What are they actually doing with regard to creating a change in order to move towards their goal? Also, you look at their role in terms off obtaining the solution, and you help them make it a reality. Lastly, you plan for the future moving forward. All of this is what you seek to achieve in the future sessions that you have with your plane additional toe, helping them find, amplify, and really make sure that they're tracking their progress toe insure that they get the solution. So here you can pretty much carry on with the safety process feeding off of previous sessions and really direct them with regard to moving ahead with specific action steps. If they need to make a change, you can ask questions like this. What's better or what happened that you liked this week? Get them to elaborate every now and then. Tell me more. Walk me through how the two off you managed to do that. And don't forget to compliment them. Oh, wow. That sounds great. What part off that did you especially enjoy? Oh, and what else is better? What do you think the next step might be? Listen, on a scale of 1 to 10 you say your progress is nowhere to five. But what would you be thinking and doing if that turned into a six? Are you getting this so far? If in case there isn't any obvious progress to be noted, you can ask coping questions like, how do you keep things from worsening further? What do you think might be helpful in a situation like this? What do you think the next step should be? Okay, never forget, no matter how challenging it might be for your plan to matter how big the problem might seem. It's up to you to stay with the solution focused therapy process, get your client to complete all of their sessions with you and continually direct them in an intelligent fashion towards their desired outcome. All right, provided you have successfully navigated that problem. Thought on talk in every session, and they feel like they're making some sort of progress. Your client will eventually reach that 10 and be rid off majority of their problems. I promise. You remember, you are growing as a helper with every client that you help using solution focused therapy . This is one of the easiest and most effective forms of therapy out there, and you can get massive results for your plant using it. But it's up to you to master this process and continually practice everything so that you get it right. Pay special attention to how you manage yourself in every session because that will reflect in your mind and how they look at things as well. Okay, work hard to master the therapeutic techniques and I'll see you in the next lecture 24. Benefits of and Working around the negatives of Solution Focused Brief Therapy: I really don't want any stone left unturned with regard to your knowledge of solution focused therapy. That's why, in this lecture, I'm going to share with you some of the benefits off this process, as well as working around the negatives that are associated or have been identified with regard to solution focused therapy. What are the benefits? Why is this actually a preferred choice of therapy and training? Really, there are some great benefits toe having solution focused therapy as a part of your repertoire and applied wherever necessary because it really is simple yet powerful. Now let's really look at these benefits and why this is so profound. First off, it's brief and pragmatic. Keeping things Schardt helps uncover possibilities within a short period of time. Since most one on one interactions are likely to get over within a few sessions, it can help make every meeting productive, along with the time that I spent in taking action outside off it. Second, SF Beauty focuses on building on what works and helping people identify what they want, rather than what they don't want hurriedly, because we are searching for exceptions to behave as solutions. What the desired outcome is is usually on the surface ready for exploration, even though it has not been readily apparent just yet. This can turn the simple act off looking for exceptions into, AH, powerful intervention for your client. Now isn't that cool? Calling attention to past successes here helps people rediscover their own and their best coping strategies. Fort Lee. It incorporates the miracle question by tapping into the medical question you have at your disposal an amazing tool. Because not only does it allow your client to see things for what they are, but also it helps them imagine things as they might be. The reason why this works so well is that with a little bit off health visualizing and assisting them with regard to how they can use the power of their imagination, your client can actually mentally practice seeing themselves succeed rather than fumbling and feeling as they previously might have. Lastly, a collaborative relationship that comes out of solution focused therapy is most likely going to help you and your clients succeed. See what makes this more than just empty optimism? Is that in you a solution focused helper, the client has a courts to help guide them towards a better future. Okay, so the nature of the relationship that makes up s FBT as we know it makes it possible to dramatically increase the likelihood of success. Now it's up to you to leverage on the relationship that you're creating with their client to really take them one step closer towards their goal toe, where they're going to push themselves and actually achieve it this time. All right. Now, just like there are certain advantages associated with solution focused therapy, there are some drawbacks. Let's look at the criticisms now. First off, a safe BT is quite young is a therapeutic format. If you compare it to all the other forms of therapy, it's quite early in its stage of evolution. S safety has been associated by many critics with being a cookbook style set of techniques that has really led some people so think that the treatment process can actually be reduced to a set of formula techniques. No. Is it really true that all you have to do in solution focused therapy is asked someone a medical question and then get them to talk about times when the problem wasn't a problem? Is it really that simplistic? No, of course not. I see with any therapy that we seek to examine, there's often going to be a tendency toe. Emphasize waters, actually, distinctive. Like when using a medical question. The search is for exceptions. We use scaling questions and compliments. The unique features of solution focused therapy are kind of deceptively easy to describe, But what you'll find is in reality, just like any therapy where you're dealing with a client who is challenging, it does a great skill to implement. Now there's no need to get this hardened by hearing this. If you're new to this are you may face some challenges along the way. Listen, I know what you may be thinking, Vikram. I really do want to provide solution focused therapy for the people I'm working with, and I do want to experience the joy of helping my clients with it. And believe me, you can see it's just that sometimes you need to realize that you need to work with this kind of therapy, just like anything else. It takes time to master. You need to be able to position yourself toe practice the assessment and therapeutic techniques to really do justice to this process. Okay, if we are to prove the critics wrong, you need to know that as a solution focused helper, you need not only be great with solution focused therapy, but you need to strive to be a great conversationalist without to serve people. Does this make sense so far? Second, it guards off from empathy and understanding. When you insist on focusing on solution focused stock, it may lead your client to feel disconnected at times. See, people want to share their stories and problems. When they walk into a session with you, they warn someone toe, understand what they're struggling with and have you be willing to help them look reassuring. Someone that there's nothing to worry about isn't ready. Reassuring, is it? I'll say that again. Reassuring someone that there's nothing to worry about isn't very reassuring. See, it can make your client believe that their feelings aren't valid if they are constantly looking at only the bright side of things. And sometimes acknowledging your clients feelings may actually be necessary. No, this most people aren't very eager to be changed by someone they feel that hasn't really understood them, and it's important to acknowledge that now. I believe that while this is a valid criticism with regard to solution focused therapy, there is a way to work around it. Either you could, at the very start off the session, explained the nature of the kind of therapy that you're going to be dealing with and how you can work to explain the short term nature off this therapeutic process and how your client has to participate with it in order to get the results that they weren't see that way. They know that they don't have a lot of time with you in order to achieve their goals. Additionally, you could ask them to express themselves in brief. Set aside a few minutes, if you can, in every session where they're free to talk and really share their feelings. If something does come up mid session and it hurts the flow of the indirection, you could just ask your client to share it later. I'm sure they would understand it's all about how you set the tone and frame the interaction and position yourself as a qualified helper. They can even maintain a journal toe, went out their feelings there, see If you are looking for the resources, you will find them. That's your own capacity off resourcefulness that lies within you as a helper. But at the end of the day, here's what it really boils down to. If your client can feel, notice the word. If your client can feel like you have understood them and their problem, then report has been established and you have achieved an important milestone in the therapeutic process. Granted, the client wants to be understood, and they want to really feel that empathy from you. But if you can set the terms off the therapy session early on, communicate that feeling that they are in the right place, that you get them. You shouldn't really struggle with this point, all right, you can be emphatic on understanding while still being solution focused and striving to save time. Thirdly, is the nature of the relationship genuinely collaborative in solution focused therapy? What's interesting is that there is this perception that helpers can end up pressurizing their clients into discussing only the positive. There's also a possibility that because you have set the tone that you will not be going deep into the client's feelings, in this form of therapy, and they may learn to keep their complaints toe themselves when they're around you. So it's important to be aware of this and turn it into a plus rather than keep it as a minus. It's not that you ignore the negatives and solution focused therapy, but you acknowledge it early on and that the focus of the indirection is really going to be on getting things rolling and pushing your plan towards the outcome that they weren't okay . Lastly, helpers may be in a rush to fulfill their own agenda. No. Sometimes relating to the connection that you build with your client, it can be seen that the speed and success off the solution focused approach that is constructed is going to be heavily reliant on the relationship that you share with them. This is the grease that actually keeps the eggs else turning, if you know what I mean. If for any reason you fail to listen to the clients and make them feel understood, it might actually hurt your chances at success with your plan. But remember, so long as you seek to care, you seek to solve and you seek to help your clients really look to create a relationship that you value and that comes from a genuine place where you're looking to serve and deliver for your client. You shouldn't have any problems with solution focused therapy. At the end of the day, you are there to serve your plane. Remember that on an individual level or in a group, whatever the case may be, as long as you create a powerful relationship that is built on trust, care, compassion or really any other attributes on, and you're able to communicate that you are there to help them out. What some people might call a negative aspect of solution focused therapy can be turned into a positive. That's really the nature off solution. Focus. Talk again, isn't it? If you're looking for a problem, you will find a problem with something. But if you're looking for a solution, you're looking for something that works, or at the very least, you're looking for something that could work. You're always going to be in a better position again. Remember that it's this mental frame or mindset that you choose as a solution focused helper that is going toe allow you to make this entire process work for you. See if you're coming from a place where you truly want to create a relationship that you value and you genuinely care about helping and serving others. Whether you use solution focused therapy, you use cognitive behavioral therapy, Ari beauty or really any technique. It's your ethics that need to be at the forefront. I'll say that again, regardless off any therapeutic technique that you use, your ethics need to be at the forefront. If you are going to be the helper that you can be for your plants, it relates toe having that burning desire to really help other succeed. And when you look at all of this, that's really the main prerequisite needed to achieve great things with solution focused therapy, isn't it? Arrive at this place in your own mind and seek to use solution focused therapy to fulfill the bigger goal, and that is to help your clients. I'll see you in the next lecture 25. Questions to reflect on: answer all of the's questions to yourself. They will not only strive to make you into a better solution focused helper and a service person, but they will also assist you to engage in a critical thinking process that is going to be highly important if you're going to use this overall process to its best effect. Here are the questions First off, When might it be important toe? Understand why problems develop? When might this not be important? Second, when a friend tells you about a problem, try to inquire about the exceptions. Or did this experiment teach you? Record your thoughts after you have done this next, water. Some practical differences between accepting a negative goal that is, to get rid of something undesirable and trying to come up with, say, a positive goal to make something good happen or have something happen more often. I'd like you to create a sense of distinction between these two types of calls. Fourth, who are the people you would like to serve using solution focused therapy? In what context do you see yourself using all of this and with which population? Fifth, What aspect off solution focused therapy Do you find most challenging, which is that specific assessment tactic are that therapeutic technique that you need to spend more time on. All right. Lastly, what are the other skills? Both therapy or take a non therapeutic that you can bring to the table. Integrate into your process off using all of these techniques and help your claims achieve their goals. Think about this. Spend some time trying toe. Understand your own self with regard to how you're going to not only apply solution focused therapy but also evolved as an individual who is striving to help others. Think about these questions. Answer them. Take some time with it and I'll see you in the next lecture.