1st Edition

Doing Something Different Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Practices

Edited By Lorna L. Hecker Copyright 2010
    344 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    344 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Many books on solution-focused brief therapy provide histories, overviews, and uses of the approach. Doing Something Different does not do any of those things. Instead, it provides those interested in the solution-focused approach with a plethora of ideas for practice, training, and simply enjoying the solution-focused approach and its practice in therapy, consulting, coaching, and training. It contains a varied and rich array of interventions, training ideas, uses with different populations and approaches, and resources written by contributors who represent many countries and viewpoints, and who are well known in the training and practice of the solution-focused approach. Chapters are presented in simple language, as befits the solution-focused approach, and complement the many serious and whimsical sections of the book, which include practice and training ideas, favorite quotes and stories, “outrageous” moments in therapy, and a list of solution-focused songs. Anyone who enjoys the approach in any manner should find something that grabs the interest and tickles the senses and sensibilities. Readers will come away informed, thoughtful, and entertained.

    Section One: Interventions and Practices

    1. The Optimal Zone Scale: Coert Visser

    2. 7-Eleven: Frank Thomas

    3. The Solution Focus: A Universal Tool, Carole Waskett

    4. Scaling Agency with Clients when they Begin Taking Antidepressants, Frank Thomas

    5. Using Scaling to Assess Couple Readiness for Therapy, Lee Shilts

    6. Solution-Focused Assessment, Clare Scott

    7. A Convergent Couple Scale, Paul Hackett, Kevin Ball

    8. Dis-ease Free, Kathryn C. Shafer

    9. A Colorful Solution-Focused Game, Tomasz Switek

    10. "Visitor," "Complainant," "Customer" Revisited, Philip B. Ziegler

    11. Appreciating What Works in the National Health Service, Carole Waskett

    12. Sparkling Moment, Evan George

    13. A Singing Miracle, Mark Mitchell

    14. A Clinical Exercise: Common Ground, Heather Fiske

    15. Using Scales with Multiple Goals, Coert Visser

    16. Focus on Microprogression in Solution-Focused Conflict Resolution, Gwenda Schlundt Bodien

    17. Reducing Personnel Turnover Rate from 50% to 10%, Paolo Terni

    18. Opening for Brief Coaching Sessions, Paolo Terni

    19. A Solution-Focused HR Professional, Gwenda Schlundt Bodien

    20. Resiliency and Change, Liselotte Baeijaert, Anton Stellamans

    21. Coaching for Resilience, Liselotte Baeijaert, Anton Stellamans

    22. Strength-Based School Meetings, Jay Trenhaile

    23. Responding to Bullying in Primary Schools, Sue Young

    24. Solution Focus in UK School -- One Therapist's Practice, Paul Avard

    25. Extreme Listening: Taught by People with Aspergers Syndrome, Vicky Bliss

    26. Big Brother, Lyndsey Taylor

    27. Engaging the Imagination, Rob Black

    28. Breaking Down Barriers, Paul Avard

    29. Working with Chaotic Families, Lyndsey Taylor

    30. Paper, Scissors, Stone: An Interactive Family Scale, Paul Hackett

    31. Diabetes Education and Support Group: A Different Conversation, Tommie V. Boyd, Yulia Watters

    Section Two: Training

    32. How Do People Learn SFBT?, Tomasz Switek

    33. A Goal-Setting Questionnaire, Brenda Zalter

    34. The Miracle Question, Brenda Zalter

    35. Strength Identification, Lorenn Walker

    36. Solution-Focused Dominoes, Tomasz Switek

    37. Quotable Quotes, Brenda Zalter

    38. E-Mail from the Future Supervision, Steve Freeman

    39. The Artful Diagnostician, Bruce Gorden

    40. Circle Exercise, Arnoud Huibers

    41. TAKEN DRUGS, Ian Johnsen

    42. Stuck in Isomorphism and Coaxing the Way Out: Via Less Dolorosa, Bruce Gorden

    43. Scaling Practice, Heather Fiske

    44. A 10-Minue Solution-Focused Interview Training Exercise, Heather Fiske

    45. Workplace Training Exercises, Heather Fiske

    46. Four Constructive Conversations, Heather Fiske

    47. Description, Reflection, Speculation (DRS), Ian Johnsen

    48. The Worst Things You Could Ever Hear in a Therapy Hour, Bruce Gorden

    49. Evidence-Based Supervision: Identifying Successful Moments in SFBT, Sara A. Smock

    50. Training Therapists for SFBT Group Work: A Multidimensional Approach, Adam S. Froerer, Sara A. Smock

    51. Psychiatry Should Be a Parenthesis in People's Lives, Harry Korman

    52. When the Client Doesn't Follow the Script, Joel Simon

    53. Semaphore, Metaphor...Two-by-Four, Frank Thomas

    54. Certificate of Competence, John Wheeler

    55. Toolbox for Work-Life Balance, Brenda Zalter

    Section Three: Theory

    56. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Watercolours, Paul Avard

    57. Neuroscience and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Or How SFBT Can Change the Brain, Philip B. Ziegler

    58. Change We Can Believe In, Paolo Terni

    Section Four: Stories, Poetry, Quotes, Songs, Outrageous Moments in Therapy, Solution-Focused Quotes, and a Bibliography

    59. Friday Night Service, Harriet Kiviat

    60. Michelangelo's Secret Weapon, Carole Waskett

    61. Creating Calm Out of Chaos: Using Solution-Focused Techniques with Family Members, Harriet Kiviat

    62. Insoo, Jay Trenhaile

    63. The Damn Dog, Thorana Nelson

    64. Poems, Dvorah Simon

    65. Solution-Focused Haikus, Frank Thomas

    66. Solution-Focused Song Titles, Frank Thomas

    67. Favorite Questions, Quotes, and Ideas, Various Contributors

    68. Quotes that Sit well with Solution-Focused Approaches, Various Contributors

    Section Five: Outrageous Moments in Therapy

    69. An Unusual and True Answer to the Miracle Question, Jeff Change

    70. Liar, Liar, Philip B. Ziegler

    71. F**k-Off Therapy, Dvorah Simon

    72. T-Shirt, Paul Hackett

    73. Over-Developed Emotions, Chris Iveson

    74. Outrageous Moments in Therapy, Paul Hanton

    Section Six: Resources

    75. Solution-Focused Quotes, Various Contributors

    76. Contributions of Steve de Shazer (1940-2005) to Brief Family Therapy, Janet Campbell

    Biography

    Thorana Nelson, PhD, has been practicing and teaching family therapy for over 25 years. She is currently a Professor of family therapy in the department of Family, Consumer, and Human Development at Utah State University; a clinical member and approved supervisor of AAMFT; a founding member and member of the Board of Directors of the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Association; and an author and co-editor of several books.

    "Doing Something Different is something delightfully different. For those who consider solution-focused therapy an over-simplistic therapy-by-numbers, it could be a revelation. Experienced practitioners, lots of them, working in a wide range of settings, demonstrate the high level of creativity the approach can inspire in therapists and in clients."Brian Cade, MFT, co-author, A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy

    "Wide-ranging in scope and practical in application. This exciting book is a solution-focused treasure chest, chock-full of fresh, innovative ideas that therapists, trainers, supervisors, and managers will want to apply to their practice immediately. I highly recommend this book for those new to solution-focused brief therapy and experienced practitioners as well!" - Jim Duvall, Editor, Journal of Systemic Therapy; Director of Training, The Hincks-Dellcrest Institute, Toronto, Ontario

    "This book shows Solution-focused Brief Therapy to be thriving, and it shows that it can fit many client groups and care agencies well. It also shows us the personal interpretations and local dialects used by many of its exponents, which are subtly altering it. Readers can go to it for sound new ideas for their practice, but--departing from the behavioural emphasis of the approach--the different ways of thinking are just as captivating. ...a good read for experienced professionals." - Robert Cumming, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, Vol. 39, No. 3, June 2011

    "The structure of [this book] is emblematic of the solution-focused approach. Each of the 76 chapters presents something different from the previous one; interventions, interesting quotes, anecdotes, case studies, diagrams, transcripts, tips and more are offered by 42 international contributors. The usefulness of creative practice in order to discover 'what works' is the theme which unifies the book. It is remarkable that although the chapters of the book are so colourful and the backgrounds of the contributors so diverse, the book manages to retain such a sense of coherence." -Kirsty Entwistle, University College London in Journal of Mental Health, February 2012