Brief solution focussed therapy

What is brief-solution focused therapy?

Brief solution-focused therapy is a type of systemic psychotherapy. We offer this type of therapy to young people of all ages and their families, to build on their strengths towards positive changes.

The model is based on the thinking that every person affects and is affected by people around them. We understand solutions to problems by listening and working with the whole family.

Brief

No more session than is necessary.

We will work with you to clarify what will be happening when you no longer need to attend sessions.

Solutions, not problems

Our clinicians think with you and your family to identify what would be happening in the future if the problem is happening less or not at all. Our conversations will focus more on solutions. This is because thinking about solutions helps to identify the strengths you already have.

Focused, not forced

We will aim to focus our conversations upon a future where the ‘problem’ does not exist or is presenting less, as well as the times in the past when the problem has not existed or presented less.

Therapy

2 or more people talking, with some other people offering additional thoughts to help.

The purpose of our sessions are for us to engage in conversations that you find helpful in moving away from the problem you came with

4 steps

We help you work out these 4 questions:

1. What do you want?
2. How will you know when you have it?
3. What are you doing already to get there?
4. What would be happening if you were a little closer to what you want?

Who are the solutions team?

 Your solution team is made up of anyone in the your life who supports you and will be able to help you work towards achieving your best hopes. Members often include parents or carers, and siblings, but might also include other people who are important to you, such as teachers and youth workers.

In the clinic

Sessions usually last 1 hour.

Experienced family psychotherapists and other mental health professionals will work with you and your team to help work towards your goals. These different professionals will bring together a range of creative ideas tailored to every unique problem. There may be 1 or 2 key workers in the room with you.

There may also be a reflection team, who are not always in the therapy room.

Reflection team

This is a group of mental health professionals who will listen to the therapy session and give some reflections halfway through the session. This team may include trainees.

Typically, the team will sit in a different room where they can see and hear you but you cannot see or hear them. Sometimes the reflecting team may sit in a corner of the same room as you. This might be via an online link or a one-way screen.

The team will then join the conversation halfway through the session to have a reflective conversation between themselves about what they have seen and heard, focusing on what everyone’s strengths.

This might sound a bit weird, but families have said it is really helpful.

What will happen at the first session?

In your first appointment, we will give you the chance to ask any questions and think about what you would like to achieve from the therapy. The goals we set together will help you to know when they are achieved.

We will offer up to 6 sessions, which are usually every 2 weeks.

What have families said about this?

Our families express that it is nothing to worry about, and can actually be fun.

Sometimes you forget the strengths that you have got and the things that are going well already, this really helped.