One of my weaknesses is being overly eager to shout about what is unique about solution-focused work and failing to acknowledge what there is in common with other approaches.
I know when I am doing this when I have course participants ask me -is it still okay to talk about problems? People are often surprised to hear in my answer that I spend most of my time in solution-focused work talking with clients about problems!
You will have probably recognised yourself that when clients are attempting to describe their best hopes and preferred future, they often make reference to their problems.
We can have one foot in the problem but we want our hips going in the other direction!
We acknowledge problems but as always add in a solution-focused twist. This acknowledgement is especially important when discussing emotions. We are careful to give clients permission to experience their emotions and view them as a resource. For example:
- How will you know when you are being angry in the right ways? or
- How will you notice when you are arguing with your husband in the right ways?
Solution-focused health improvement encourages us not to chase problems but to maximise our input towards solutions. We can rest assured that the problems will find us and when they do we can simply utilise them for firming up the preferred future.
How will you notice when you are responding to problems with a twist? And don’t forget your hips!
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