Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)
in Houston, TX and Online
What is Solution Focused Therapy?
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a process that helps people change by constructing solutions rather than dwelling on problems. The focus is on finding solutions to reach personal goals and improve interpersonal relationships. Current symptoms are not targeted nor are past events, experiences or explanations. Rather than searching for the causes of the problem, the focus is on defining the changes you want in your life and making them a reality. A solution focused brief therapist helps you clarify your goals and envision your preferred future without today’s problems. The two key therapeutic goals are: (1) how you wants your life to be different, and (2) what it will take to make that happen. Solution focused brief therapy helps you take practical steps towards your goals.
A Focus on Solutions & Resources
This type of therapy tends to be shorter-term than traditional psychotherapy.
Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg of the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee founded by Shazer and Berg originated this form of therapy.
SFBT therapists believe that the client is the best expert about what it takes to change his or her life.
The SFBT therapist helps the you identify elements of the desired solution, which are usually already present in your life.
The therapist’s role is to help you identify solutions that will remove the barriers to having the life you want.
You then learn to build on these elements, which form the basis for ongoing change.
What Does a Solution Focused Therapist Do?
The therapist helps the client focus on the future and how it will be better when things change. Creating a detailed picture of what it will be like when life is better creates a feeling of hope, and this makes the solution seem possible.
It is important to develop a set of specific, detailed goals. These goals drive the therapy process and keep it focused and efficient.
- The therapist encourages you to identify and to do more of what is already working.
- The therapist guides you to identify what doesn’t work and to focus on doing less of it.
Your therapist uses focused strategies such as looking for exceptions, the miracle question, coping questions and scaling questions to help you identify skills and resources to achieve your goals.
Why Solution Focused Therapy Is Usually Short-Term:
A good brief therapist will not focus on limiting session or time, but rather on helping clients set goals and develop strategies to reach those goals. Focusing on the client’s goals and the concrete steps needed to achieve them usually takes less time than traditional therapy.
SFBT therapists aim to provide clients with a treatment plan in the most efficient way possible so that clients can achieve their goals and get on with their lives. As a result of this focus, the counseling process doesn’t explore triggers, causes, explanations or symptoms.
However, it can also be beneficial to get to the root of perpetual problems that arise in one’s life, which can also be a part of other therapy processes.
Types of Problems That Solution Focused Therapy Addresses
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is an effective way of helping people solve many kinds of problems where they may already have some available solutions.
Depression, substance abuse, relationship problems, and many other kinds of issues can be addressed in SFBT. Since it focuses on the process of change rather than on dissecting the problem, more serious issues may require different treatment. The SFBT therapist’s job is to help clients transform troubling issues into specific goals and an action plan for achieving them.
In The Miracle Method, authors Scott D. Miller and Insoo Kim Berg describe how to create solutions with these steps:
- State your desire for something in your life to be different.
- Envision that a miracle happens and your life is different.
- Make sure the miracle is important to you.
- Keep the miracle small.
- Define the change with language that is positive, specific, concrete, and behavioral.
- State how you will start your journey rather than how you will end it.
- Be clear about who, where, and when, but not why.
Solution Focused Brief Therapy FAQ's
There are several ways to know when you would be doing yourself a favor by finding a licensed, professional solution focused therapist to work with.
- You’ve tried several things on your own, but you still have the problem.
- You want to find a solution sooner rather than later.
- You have thoughts of harming yourself or others.
- You have symptoms of depression, anxiety, or another disorder that significantly interfere with your daily functioning and the quality of your life. For example, you have lost time from work, your relationships have been harmed, or your health is suffering. These are signs that you need the help of a trained, licensed professional therapist.
Reach Out to a Solution Focused Therapist
If you would like to get started focusing on your goals and making positive changes in your life, reach out below.
Get Help From a Specialist in Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)
An Phong “AP” Vo
AP is an experienced therapist with a diverse background that contributes to successfully helping couples find solutions that work.
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Elizabeth Lowrey
Elizabeth’s specialties include problematic alcohol use, addiction difficulties, adjusting to chronic illness, grief, loss, anxiety and depressi…
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Erica Billings
Erica specializes in working with new parents including adoptive parents and LGBTQ+ families and people who are experiencing grief, death, berea…
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Greta Bellinger
Greta’s passion is to help individuals live an authentic and meaningful life through self-acceptance and compassion. She provides a space of emp…
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Holly Lark
Holly specializes in working with adolescents, adults, and women. She is passionate about helping clients work through life transitions, behavio…
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Jehanzeb Dar
Jehanzeb provides individual, couples, and group therapy services to people from diverse racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, sexual orientati…
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Jennifer Castro
With over 10 years of experience in the mental health field, Jennifer is passionate about helping you work through grief, anxiety, OCD, disorder…
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Jennifer Oates
Jennifer hopes to help you reach your academic, professional, and/or personal pursuits. She has experience working with women, military, first r…
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Jessie Blakely
Jessie has over 10 years of experience working with children, adolescents, young adults, parents, and families. She specializes in a range of ne…
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Kelsey Engdorf
Kelsey enjoys working with teens, young adults, and couples to help them build the lives they want and make meaningful changes.
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Maggie Burkett
Maggie enjoys working with children, teens, and adults experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, abuse, PTSD, self-harm, etc. Maggie is also a c…
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Marcie Dinkin
Marcie works with parents, young adults, and teens, together or individually, to assess what the major issues and roadblocks are, address any hu…
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Rebecca Perez
I’m passionate about helping people overcome life’s challenges. Whether you are struggling with a personal crisis brought on by trauma, relatio…
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Ron DonLevy
Your feelings matter and you deserve to be heard. Ron will join you on your journey of personal growth, healing, and change.
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Shannon Forbes
Shannon offers affordable counseling for adults & couples. Her specialties include anxiety, career concerns, depression, grief & loss, ocd, trau…
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Steven Serrano
Steven is a bilingual (English & Spanish) psychotherapist. Steven’s experience includes counseling individuals, couples, families and teens in t…
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Terra Ousley
Terra works with clients who struggle to find clarity in their careers and those experiencing issues with anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and life…
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Tiara Runyon
Tiara offers a collaborative approach, fit to suit your individual needs. Her experience includes working with those facing life transitions and…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTWhat Clients Are Saying
Helped me Forge a Great Foundation
My counselor helped me process some difficult issues and helped me forge a great foundation for the future. She really understood how to make the space I needed to reach my goals with therapy and I could not have asked for more empathetic and generous support.
Alabama