Solution Focused Practice in Asia

Debbie Hogan, Dave Hogan, Jane Tuomola, Alan K. L. Yeo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317283775
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychotherapeutische Beratung

This book is a collection of solution focused practice across Asia, offering case examples from the fields of therapy, supervision, education, coaching and organisation consulting. It demonstrates the usefulness of the solution focused approach in the Asian context by providing practice based evidence, and highlights the diversity of application. By sharing real case examples in action across Asia, it is the aim of this book to stimulate the curious and inspire the converted. It gives readers a taste of what it is like to use this approach within an Asian context, in different areas of practice and within a broad spectrum of clinical issues. The examples offer exciting and creative ways in which solution focused practice can be used within the Asian context – with the hope that more practitioners will be curious enough to give solution focused practice serious consideration as a viable, evidence-based practice.

1
Introduction to Solution Focused Practice in Asia

Creative applications across diverse fields

Debbie Hogan

This book is an ambitious project, and very timely. With the growing interest in the solution focused (SF) approach in Asia, this book is a celebration to honour the growing number of solution focused practitioners across Asia and their inspiring work.

This chapter begins with the significance of this book on the SF approach in Asia and highlights the chapters in five key sections – therapy, supervision, education, coaching and organ-isational work. It offers the reader a brief overview of the history and development of the SF approach and the key solution building tools that characterise this approach. It ends with a brief overview of the applications of SF work in Asia and areas for further development and firmly establishes the Asian presence in the international network of SF practitioners.

Its time has come — the significance of this book

My first workshop in solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) with Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer was in 1999, and in 2000 I took a full program with Insoo and other trainers, many of whom are part of this book project. It radically changed my clinical practice and impacted my personal life. A few years down the road, I started collecting impressive stories from my supervisees and trainees, thinking someone should write a book on SFBT in Asia. Some were stories from my own cases, which I thought were amazing examples of how clients can change so dramatically with this approach. I remember saying to John Henden that someone needs to write this book. He responded in a very gentle and convincing way that I should do it. Dave, my husband and business partner, met Insoo at our 2006 Asia Pacific Solution Focused Approach Conference and was already a ‘convert’ of the SF approach. We talked often about our appreciation for the SF approach and its impact on our work, and we started to talk about writing a book. Alan Yeo and I had become close friends when we attended the training with Insoo. Dr. Jane Tuomola, a clinical psychologist, attended our SFBT training in 2010 and became highly skilled and a strong advocate for SFBT. A few years later, I knew the time was right when Jane and Alan agreed to partner with me and Dave as editors of this book.

In the twelve years that I’ve been teaching the SF approach in Asia, one of the most frequently asked questions during training has been, ‘Yes, but does it work in Asia?’ Since SF practice was developed in the United States, sometimes there is a hesitation to accept it as relevant within the Asian context. My typical response was, ‘Let’s find out. Experiment with it, and I’m curious what you discover.’ Now, we can definitively say that, ‘Yes, it does work in Asia and here is how.’ We have a growing body of work and experienced practitioners who have found creative ways in which this approach can be applied.

Five areas of practice

This book has five key sections, which highlight SF practice in Asia – therapy, supervision, education, coaching and organisational consulting. We invited SF practitioners we knew across Asia to share their experiences and how they adapted it to their cultural context.

This is a seminal book, a collection of 50 chapters by 48 different authors, and their work represents 11 countries across Asia – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Cambodia, India, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. This is only a small step in representing SF practice in Asia and limited to only what the editors are aware of. Undoubtedly, the scope and breadth of SF practice in Asia is much more than what can be covered in this book. We hope this is just the beginning of more to come.

Therapy. The largest section includes 12 chapters on SF therapy in private practice, general hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, community settings and outpatient clinics. The chapters describe SF work with adults, children, couples and families with a variety of presenting problems such as psychiatric diagnoses and psychological issues, parenting issues, communication issues, relationship issues, school based issues, and health issues including speech problems. The professionals writing the chapters include psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, social workers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, trainers, coaches, consultants and business owners.

Supervision. There is growing interest and recognition that supervision needs to be part of good clinical practice. Seven practitioners describe their supervision experience in different situations: group supervision, peer supervision, supervision of teams and staff and individual supervision.

Education. Using solution focused practice in education has been one of the most successful applications of the model, besides in therapy. Eight different chapters highlight the benefits of this approach in schools from different vantage points: from working with primary school children to adolescents, dealing with school bullying, and at risk youth, to working with multiple stakeholders including the school, parents and students.

Coaching. The interest in coaching is exploding in Asia. Eight coaches describe their experience in different coaching contexts: with executives, CEOs and business owners; using metaphors in coaching; using coaching in occupational therapy; team coaching; cultural adaptability and the importance of correct translation for coaching in China.

Organisations. Using solution focused approaches in organisational development involves a multi-layered approach to address the entire organisation at many levels of engagement. Eight authors share their experiences in working in children’s homes, big conglomerate organisations, dealing with change management, integrating systems thinking, and facilitating leadership development.

Overview of solution focused practice

Brief history

Solution focused brief therapy was developed by Insoo Kim Berg, Steve de Shazer and their colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the late 1970s. It has its roots in the early work at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, and was fluenced by the work of the innovative psychiatrist, Milton Erickson. Insoo and Steve were drawn to finding a way of working that was effective and efficient, and that helped people to make progress on what was important to them. They began in an inner city outpatient mental health centre, working with mostly psychiatric clients. For over 20 years they observed their sessions, noting what helped people to change and what sustained those changes.

What is SFBT?

Solution focused brief therapy, also known as solution focused practice, is a goal-oriented, future-focused approach to brief therapy. While there is great respect for the client and their problematic state, there is a strong emphasis on co-construction of their desired outcome based on what the client wants to be made better or changed. SFBT is known for its attention to language and how questions are constructed. The focus is on listening to clients’ words and language that support what they want in their lives. Listening for what is important and what clients value is central as these are key motivators for client change. Identifying and utilising clients’ strengths and capabilities remind the clients that they possess competencies that can be leveraged. SFBT requires discipline. Instead of formulating theories about the nature of the problem, the practitioner remains curious and interested in what the client wants to be made better.

Major tenets of SFBT

These three tenets serve as a guideline and characterise the basic philosophy of SFBT.

• If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. If something is working well, there is no need to change it. If the client has already solved the problem, don’t intervene.
• If it works, do more of it. Find what is working for the client and encourage them to continue. Sometimes clients don’t realise their own brilliance.
• If it doesn’t work, do something different. No matter how good a solution sounds, if it does not work, do something else. Working creatively to explore what ‘different’ looks like is key. It has to be a difference that makes a difference.

Key solution focused process tools

Goals

What needs to happen in this session so that it will have been worthwhile for you?

Good goal construction is a key foundation. Knowing what the client wants, or at least having an idea of what they want, is important for good collaboration. Most clients know what they don’t want. It takes time to help the client articulate what they do want. Often, clients have not been asked what they want from the session that will lead to progress outside of the therapy room.

Miracle question

Suppose tonight after you go to bed, while you are sleeping, a miracle happens and all these things we’ve been talking about are solved. You don’t know the miracle occurred. How would you discover that it had? What would be the first small clue that something was different?

This is an invitation for the client to imagine life without the problem. This process enables the client to access creative imagination to construct life as they would experience it with all the blocks removed. It helps the client create useful information about what they would do when the problem has been solved. As more details are revealed, the preferred future is created.

Scaling questions

On a scale of 1–10, where ‘10’ represents you at your best, and ‘1’ being the opposite, where are you today?

Scaling allows the client to view where they are in relation to where they want to be. You can scale progress, confidence, ability to manage, completion of a task, coping, etc. Ten is always the presence of what is desired, and 1 is the opposite.

Exception questions

When was the most recent time that you could have overslept but you managed to get up on time?

These are powerful questions that explore times when the problem could have occurred but didn’t. It draws from the client’s past experiences, when the problem was absent and encourages them to consider what they did that contributed to the positive difference. It becomes a gentle reminder that if they did it once, they can do it again.

Relationship questions

Suppose you did keep silent when your son comes home late, instead of scolding him. What difference would that make for him?

SFBT is based on the interactional view that when one person responds differently, it changes the pattern in the relationship and new patterns can be developed. These questions evoke creative thinking that opens up possibilities.

End of session review

The therapist wraps up the session by affirming the client’s strengths and capabilities and things the client has done that contribute to what the client wants and co-creates a small step that will help the client stay on track with the progress they want to make.

Follow-up sessions

What’s been better since our last session?

The therapist remains curious about small signs of improvement and seeks information on what the client did and how they did it. Being persistent in exploring small changes in the right direction helps the client stay focused on information that supports the changes they want.

The key assumptions of SFBT and the therapist’s stance on ‘not knowing’ embody the philosophy and spirit of this approach.

Full details of solution focused brief therapy can be found in Interviewing for Solutions by Peter De Jong and Insoo Kim Berg (2013). In most areas of practice, the same core ideas and tools are applied. For coaching and organisational consulting, refer to Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKergow’s The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change SIMPLE (2007).

Applications in Asia

Solution focused practice was initially developed in the therapy context. Its impact and wide appeal quickly became apparent as it spread into education, schools, supervision, coaching and the corporate world. It spread beyond the borders of the USA into Europe, Africa, Central and South America and Asia.

The solution focused approach has been embraced in many different areas and settings in Asia. SF therapists have worked within a wide spectrum of clinical issues, such as depression, anxiety, stress, phobias, eating disorders, self-harming, suicide, obsessive-compulsive disorders, Tourette’s syndrome, trichotillomania, schizophrenia and bi-polar disorders. In fact, the clinical e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Biographies of the editors
• The contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements from the editors
• Confidentiality
• 1 Introduction to solution focused practice in Asia: Creative applications across diverse fields
• SECTION 1 Solution focused practice in therapeutic settings in Asia
• SECTION 2 Solution focused practice in supervision in Asia
• SECTION 3 Solution focused practice in education in Asia
• SECTION 4 Solution focused practice in coaching in Asia
• SECTION 5 Solution focused practice in organisations in Asia
• Index