Elliott Connie
Founder/PresidentElliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution...
It’s a new year, and that means it’s time for a shift. I’m ready to revisit our big, in person conference that we used to do, and I’d love to see you there! Let’s get together later this year in Ontario, Canada and improve our SFBT skills.
I want to tell you a story. When I first started teaching Solution Focused Brief therapy, I would go to where everybody would hire me, like if people would ask me to speak at a conference in Europe or in South Africa or wherever I would go. And that’s what I would do. And then eventually I got this idea that I wanted to start a training organization that would utilize online medium to reach an audience.
And that was the beginning of the Solution Focused universe. And it was amazing. We had hundreds, thousands of people joining our community and attending our workshops online. And the amount of people we reached was extraordinary. But then around 2017, we started realizing that online alone was not enough. So we wanted to host an in person event, but not like a conference the way we typically think of conferences at the, you know, the local hotel and workshops in this very sterile environment where you go down the hall and everybody attends a workshop.
We wanted to make it extraordinary, we wanted to make it an event, we wanted to make it a community, we wanted to bring people together. So we decided that we were going to host an event in a resort. And it was gonna be like familial, it was gonna be close. You know, a lot of times you host these events and they host them in like Nevada, they host em in like Vegas.
And then at the end of the day, at the end of the training day, people disperse to go to casinos and go to shows. But we wanted to provide meals for our audience. So like when they were done, we would have meals together and we wanted to provide breakfast for each other. And then when the, when the day got started, everybody felt together. And then when the evening was over, people went and enjoyed the resort, they went to the spa, they went to.
It was, it was amazing. So In February of 2018, we hosted our very first in person conference underneath the guy, underneath the umbrella of the sfu. We hosted it in Ontario, a place called Niagara on the Lake in Ontario, Canada. And this beautiful hotel called Pillar and Post. And that was the beginning of an amazing journey. The next year we hosted an event in Taos, New Mexico, similar thing.
We found this amazing resort, brought people together in the most beautiful place maybe I’ve ever been to this day. The next year, in 2019, I’m sorry, in 2020, so we were in Pillar and Post in Ontario, Canada. In 2018, 2019, we’re in Taos, New Mexico. And then 2020, we were on a lake in Austin, Texas. And it was beautiful. I mean it was, the whole thing was just absolutely amazing.
And then the world changed. Literally. I’ll Never forget hearing this rumor about this thing called COVID 19. And we were being told that it was in Asia and it was in Europe and it wasn’t going to come to the United States. And the morning of the first day of this conference, I got an email from somebody who’s. They were at the conference, they were in the resort, they were in the building and they weren’t feeling well.
Like, you know, I’m not, I’m not feeling terribly well. I don’t think I’m gonna make it. I feel like I have the flu. I was the first confirmed Covid person that I had ever heard from. We hosted our event, everything went well and went amazing. But a few days later, the world shut down. And from that moment on, we have not hosted our famous extraordinary in person online or in person conference since.
But I find myself again feeling the way I felt back in 2017, feeling like our amazing online community, which now is the largest training community in the world for solution focused therapy, our amazing online community. We need an in person event. So we’re, we’ve decided let’s go back to where it started. Let’s go back and kind of restart this process the same way we started it before. So we’re going to go back to Ontario, we’re going to go back to Niagara on the lake.
We’re going to go back to where it all started, but this time make it even bigger and even better because we have more resources now than we did then. And I guess the reason I’m making this video and telling you this whole journey is to ask you a question and then make a statement. The question I want to ask you is we’re going to host this later on in the year.
We’re still working out the details, so I can’t share those things now. We’re going to give you plenty of time, like months and months and months to plan. So don’t worry about it coming up too fast. So my first question is, do you want to come hang out with us? My first question is, are you interested in coming to an in person event again? I know the world has gotten scary.
I know the world has gotten crazy. I know America doesn’t feel safe to people and rightfully so. I know America is not safe to people. We’re going to go back to Ontario. We’re going to go back to Canada where the magic started and recapture that in person magic and do it again. So my first question is, are you interested in joining us in Ontario, Canada and Niagara on the lake and put on a really special event as we once did before.
And my statement is for me to just say thank you. We would not be where we are today if not for your love, support over the years, encouragement. The whole journey has not been easy. You guys have been behind me the whole time and I want to see you there. So leave a comment in this video if you were there that very first event in February of 2018.
Leave a comment in this video if you remember those early days. Leave a comment in this video if you’re interested in joining us in the 2026 version when we attempt to bring in person events back through our organization and leave a comment in the video just to show your love and support because it means the world to us. Thank you.
Elliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution focused approach to help them move their lives from the current problems towards their desired futures. As well as being the Founder and President of The Solution Focused Universe, he is recognized around the world speaking at national and international conferences and events throughout the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, England, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Holland, Canada, and Asia training practitioners to apply solution focused questions and techniques in their work. He has authored or co-authored 4 books including “The Art of Solution Focused Therapy”, ‘Solution Building in Couples Therapy”, ‘The Solution Focused Marriage’, and ‘Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma’.
