Presenter: Edward J. Perka, Jr., CASAC, NCNTT, MaineHealth Center for Tobacco Independence
Brief Solution-Focused Therapy is a short-term therapy that focuses on setting goals and working out how to achieve them. It’s about the future rather than the past and promotes positive change by encouraging the client to focus on what they can do, rather than what they can’t. Traditional techniques tend to focus on exploring problematic feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, and then providing interpretations, confrontation, and client education. In contrast, Brief Solution-Focused Therapy helps clients develop a desired vision of the future where the problem is solved, and then helps the client to marshal the strengths and resources to make that vision a reality. Thus, each client finds his or her own way to a solution based on his or her definitions of goals, strategies, strengths, and resources.