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Years ago there used to be a television show called “Whose Line Is It Anyway”. This was an improv comedy show where the actors had to act out skits without any preparation. Recently, while watching old reruns of that show, I realized how similar this was to the Solution Focused Approach. That’s what this video is about.


Several years ago that used to be a TV show called whose line is it? Anyway, uh, there was some comedians and actors. I used to love this show and it was an Improv comedy show where the host of the show guy named drew Carey would get one of the actors and he’d say, okay, so you are a a man in a grocery store and your grocery bag just broke. And they would act out the sequence and they would play these improv comedy language games. And as I, as I think about solution focused brief therapy and thinking about like, you know, what is it about this approach that makes it so dynamic but also so difficult to learn. And I think one of the things that’s difficult too, it makes it difficult to learn and I really want to make this point to you guys is solution focused brief therapy.

It’s unscripted. And I know that when we’re learning to be psychotherapists and we’re learning to masters approach, so many of us are looking for a script and I see it all the time. Like how many of those things you see on Facebook where it’s like a step by step guide to dot, dot, dot, or the 12 steps to utilizing.dot, dot will solution focused brief therapy doesn’t work that way because we don’t get our questions until our client answers our previous question. So solution focused brief therapy. It’s like Improv therapy. It’s an unscripted way of doing therapy and that means we have to practice the skill of Improv. We have to practice the skill of trust with the practice, the skill of confidence. Knowing that when my client answers the previous question, I will be able to build another question going towards their desired outcome. That really is it.

Like that is the nature and essence of solution focused brief therapy. And I really think that’s at the foundation at the heart of what makes this approach so difficult is it requires that we instead of learning the 12 steps to, or the guide to or the step by step process of we just have to learn to take the client’s responses and build a question with that response, moving towards the client’s desired outcome. That’s, that’s what makes us approach so dynamic. That’s the process of learning and mastering solution focused brief therapy and learning to be effective with this approach. I think if you try to learn the steps to the guide to then you miss the essence and the skill involved in learning how to build a question using your client’s responses. So I hope this video helps you. I hope it makes sense. I’d like to, I want you guys to really get how to practice solution focused brief therapy because I think it doesn’t lend itself to thinking about the way we learn other approaches.

You really have to think differently to learn and master solution focused brief therapy and I think it starts with understanding. This is Improv therapy. This is unscripted therapy. So if you try to learn the script, you’re going to put yourself in difficult situations. You have to learn the skill and the craft and you have to practice. So thanks for watching this video. Please like share, subscribe to my channel, head on over to elliottconnie.com and check out all the free things I have available and I will see you guys in the next video and never, ever forget you are always just one question away from making a difference in your client’s life.