Training Resources

Solution focused practice is a question based approach. Watching first sessions in particular will develop your skill in mastering the language and build your confidence in maintaining the flow of a solution focused conversation. These three videos are based on real cases and show the interviewer adapt his/her language to the context given: there is one young person hoping to change her lifestyle and two adults dealing with big issues in their lives. There is also a short clip of a follow up session, which gives an example of an instance when change has occurred since the first session and small changes have made a significant difference.

Kidge interviewing Jim:

• Jim is dealing with difficulties in his relationship with his partner Sheila. He wants ideas as to how to move forward. Sheila believes that he needs to talk about difficulties in childhood, but solution focused questions enable Jim to focus on their relationship and describe in detail what it might look like if some changes occurred.
• Although he currently places himself at a 1 on a scale, where 10 = the relationship as he would like it to be, Jim says that he thinks that in the past he took steps that were 'too big'. A solution focused conversation appears to help him think about small signs of success.

This video will be useful to anyone involved in supporting personal or professional relationship issues or a situation where someone has been sent to 'change'. A clip of the follow up session has Jim describe an evening with Sheila that measures 8 out of 10 on the same scale! He says: "I went away [from the first session] knowing I wanted things to work out with Sheila. That evening gave me hope. I know how to make her happy and things are getting back to how they were".

Naomi interviewing Gladys:

• Gladys is a full time carer of her adult son. She is dealing with physical issues, including recent panic attacks and needs help with housing. Solution focused questions help her describe how she is managing and she identifies the need to have 'more time for myself', so that she can feel 'calmer'.
• Currently at 3, where 10 = managing her life better, Gladys identifies changes that she can make. There are some housing issues that she will need help with, but a solution focused conversation helps her feel that she can make small changes that will make a difference to her everyday life.

This video will be helpful to anyone who supports people in dealing with acute issues such as housing or caring for others. Gladys is an older person who benefits from a conversation that enables her to become more aware of the skills and resources she is using in her day-to-day activities.

John interviewing Tamara:

• Tamara is a young woman who recognises that a man who thinks he is her boyfriend is actually a pimp who keeps her stuck in a life style of drugs and sex-work. Tara wants to be 'normal', escape a life she doesn’t want, be able to have Sunday dinner with her mother again and eventually go to college.
• Attentive listening by the interviewer, use of Tamara's own words and explorations of what's wanted, help Tamara decide that the meeting might help her make a plan. The Miracle question evokes poignant details of what's wanted. Self-scaling and scaling through the eyes of others help Tamara notice what is already relevant to what she wants. The meeting concludes surprisingly with a re-arrangement of available resources which makes sense and could be the turning point in her life she is ready to make.

This video will be ideal for people working with young people and/or people working in sexual exploitation, drug and alcohol misuse and offending who could easily start a meeting by saying that seeing other professionals has been a waste of time, want something specific to be sorted out and are initially at a loss to know how to move out of a life that others will be thinking is not good for them. The video shows how the Solution Focused approach honours the wisdom of the client and can turn a potentially argumentative engagement into a fascinating search for solutions.