Running head: PERSONAL THEORY 1

Personal Theory Paper:

Solution Focused Brief Therapy

Jasmine Wyche

Mercer University
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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

In addition to being short-term, solution-focused brief therapy tends to deal with present

interactions. Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is efficient in enabling school counselors to

provide effective counseling to their clients (Sklare, 2015). These clients may include young

children from many diverse populations. When focusing on solutions rather than problems, the

counseling becomes brief. This works well with potential school counselors with larger

caseloads. Counselors should strive to place an emphasis on a student’s strengths and resources

in order to build their confidence.

SFBT is a postmodern therapy that is future-focused in nature. This is a goal-oriented

therapeutic approach to brief therapy. It was developed initially by Steve de Shazer and Insoo

Kim Berg at the Brief Family Therapy Center in the early 1980s (Corey, 2017). It is based on the

assumption that most clients have the ability to enact change quickly while creating problem-free

language as they strive for new realities. Rooted in optimism, this theory mainly emphasizes

strengths and resiliencies of clients. This is done by focusing on a person’s exceptions to their

problems and conceptualized solutions. Counselors come in to help a client break repetitive and

nonproductive patterns and allow them to maintain a positive outlook of their troublesome

situations, growing, and doing things differently. For this theory, when helping others enact

positive change, there are 3 rules: “If it is not broken, do not fix it”, “Once you know what

works, do more of it”, and “If something does not work, do not do it again…do something

different” (Gladding, 2019). The key component in this theory is understanding what the

problem is versus a nonproblem.

In choosing this approach, I feel like it can connect to the way I choose to take on

challenges in my personal life. I believe that the way we live in our realities is highly influenced
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by our environments and can be socially constructed. I like to think that it is always possible for

me to be able to focus on the journey ahead instead of harboring ill feelings towards the past or

the “now”. Being in control of your own direction is also something that is really important to

me. You do not always have to look back at past trauma or troubling situations to grow in your

life. Giving a child a chance to experience this feeling of ultimately ignoring what caused a

problem but striving towards change and gaining solutions is something that I would always like

to help with.

Structure and Goals

I navigate through the world as someone that is accepting of everyone and anything. I

like to describe myself as eclectic or eccentric with no boundaries or ties on what I can do or

expose myself to. When I meet others, I look past many things. Everyone is important and

should be made aware of that. Seeing past the pain, struggles, and conflict that someone may

have will allow you to see the goodness that they obtain. I live with a sense of compassion in this

way where I try to understand that everyone has a story that has led them to where they are at

this very moment. If I were becoming a school counselor that will use a SFBT approach, I would

understand that students are more than whatever they are going through. Focusing on the

problem would not be the best decision, but I would be prepared in a sense that I see the value in

everyone and their potential to grow.

I am also the kind of person that is very in tune with their own feelings. I believe that this

is essential when becoming a counselor in general. When you’re aware of the way you feel, you

can build that foundation of positivity with a client. I believe that this also entails maintaining the

ability to articulate, share, and behave in ways that are consistent with what you’re feeling and

the attitudes you may experience. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and reactions with others, no
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matter if they are negative or positive. If I was working with a student, this would allow me to

not only share my happiness in their moments of accomplishment, but my sadness when they are

feeling down as well. In SFBT, my attitude would be essential in creating a sense of trust

between me and the students involved. I can combine my personal attitudes to the theory by

showing families how they can use their strengths to construct solutions, which can in turn

influence our relationship positively.

Honestly, at the root of it all, I am an empath. Empathy allows me to have the capability

to understand what others may be feel by putting myself in their place. Even though there are

some other theoretical models that require empathy within the counselor and client relationship,

in SFBT, empathy sets the tone for the therapeutic experience. I would not want a student to be

boxed into a static identity, or simply become defined by only their problems. I admire the

concept of not being on the outside looking at my students, but rather attempting to see things as

I look to them. Paying close attention to what a child is feeling and being perceptive is something

that I believe will make them comfortable. A safe space where a student feels as if they have

someone that is being receptive to their emotions is something I would love to create.

My Role as the Counselor

First, it is expected that clients coming into a solution-focused therapy environment will

be ready for change. Every student that comes into the counseling suite has the potential to be

effective clients. In another theoretical approach, simply focusing on the problems will prevent

students from recognizing the ways that they had previously dealt with them. As a counselor, I

will find the advantages and positively focus on the solutions and on the future of the students. I

would maintain a not-knowing position which allows me to be curious about, affirm, and be

guided by the stories of each child. Students will be expected to reorient themselves to find their
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strengths by using solution talk. My job would be to help them understand that there are

exceptions to every problem and by talking about these exceptions, we can find clues to effective

solutions. This can also help them gain control over what seemed to be a personal difficulty that

they would never be able to get over.

I would expect each student to be able to identify exceptions to their problems and

organize their own thinking around these exceptions instead of around the problem. Though

those in solution-focused brief therapy environments are less resistant, clients still only show one

side of themselves most of the time. As a counselor, I would encourage students to examine

another side of those stories that they carry with them. I want them to understand that no problem

is ever constant, and change is inevitable in your life. Every individual is different and so are the

solutions. I want every student to be aware of the changes that are happening. Even the smallest

of changes can be enacted to resolve present problems that students have brought into

counseling. Lastly, I would be cooperative with the students I help rather than trying to control

how they come to understand their problems.

The Counseling Process

Some of the key techniques in solution-focused brief therapy are exception questions,

scaling questions, and the miracle question. If these techniques are used in a routine way without

developing a collaborative working alliance, they will not lead to effective results (Corey, 2017).

Therapy is best guided by the students’ goals, perceptions, resources, and feedback. Therapy

should not be determined by any absolutes or rigid standards outside the therapeutic relationship.

SFBT is based on the notion that there were times in clients’ lives when the problems

they identify were not problematic. These times are called exceptions and represent news of

difference. In this instance, solution-focused counselors ask exception questions to direct

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students to times when the problem did not exist, or when the problem was not as intense.

Exceptions are those past experiences in a client’s life when it would be reasonable to have

expected the problem to occur, but somehow it did not (Corey, 2017).

In The Miracle Question, the counselor asks, “If a miracle happened and the problem you

have was solved overnight, how would you know it was solved, and what would be different?”

Students are then encouraged to enact “what would be different” despite what they perceive to be

problems. Asking a student to consider that a miracle takes place opens up a range of future

possibilities. Each student would be encouraged to allow themselves to dream as a way of

identifying the kinds of changes they most want to see (Corey, 2017). This question has a future

focus in that a child can begin to consider a different kind of life that is not dominated by a

particular problem. This intervention shifts the emphasis from both past and current problems

toward a more satisfying life in the future.

Scaling Questions are used when change in human experiences are not easily observed,

such as feelings, moods, or communication, and to assist clients in noticing that they are not

completely defeated by their problem. Scaling questions enable clients to pay closer attention to

what they are doing and how they can take steps that will lead to the changes they desire (Corey,

2017).

Case Example

I have worked with a student named M.K. at the high school level. She was diagnosed

with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and could also be schizophrenic. M.K. has a history of

speaking about issues with her self-esteem and confidence. She visited the counseling office on

several occasions to speak with us about enhancing her confidence and self-esteem. She also

comes into the counselor office in the morning to do daily affirmations. I will start by trying to
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figure out what her hopes are when it comes to making a change in her life. To determine this,

we would work on goal seeking and I would ask what difference the change would make in her

life. In the past, she has explained to me that she has hopes in building self-confidence. In

discovering what hopes that she has, I would then try to explore the preferred future by asking

the miracle question. The miracle question would be “If a miracle happens overnight and you

were more confident in yourself, what would be different?”. Then I will go into asking scaling

questions. The scaling questions would involve me asking where she is in the present moment.

Whether good or bad, I want to figure out how she got to where she is and what her next steps

may be. I would also ask a scaling question that would involve trying to figure out what her next

sign of progress is. To conclude I would complement her and assure her of the resources and

resiliency that she already possesses in order to enact change in her life.
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References

Corey, G. (2009). Student manual for theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy

(10thed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Belmont,

CA: Brooks/Cole. ISBN: 13-978-1-305-26372-7

Gladding, S. T. (2019). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice. (7th ed.). Pearson.

Sklare, G. B. (2015). Brief Counseling That Works (3rd ed.). Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin Press