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...
Many claim that SFBT does not honor the client’s history, and that’s both false as well as dangerous! If we were to ignore the History we completely miss the Heroics. Let’s talk about why it’s important to honor the past in client work.
History matters. It matters in the global context, and it matters in your personal life.
For me, I became interested in history at a very early age. And I can remember being a young kid and my dad making me watch this movie called Glory, which is about the Civil war in the 54th Massachusetts, which was a Union unit in the military that tried to take over, ultimately, Fort Wagner. But in the movie, they depicted coming down to South Carolina and fighting all of these battles. And there was this fort in that movie called Fort Sumter.
Now, Fort Sumter’s history is actually very interesting. This is actually the place where the Civil War began. The first bullets, the first cannons, the first shots were fired right here, which is a fort that was originally a federal fort, a Union fort. It was taken over by the Confederates. They maintained it for about five years, and then the Northern states took it over again.
When you walk around here, there is so much history, and so many heroic stories in this particular battle.
Now, in America, we’re trying to eradicate certain parts of history associated with the African American cultures, and other cultures, too. And also there’s this rumor, this myth that Solution Focused Brief Therapy does not attend to the client history.
I am appalled and offended as what is happening in America about, removing the impact that African Americans have had historically. But I’m also appalled and offended at the thought that a therapist would not be interested in the client’s history.
Just like if you remove the history of what happened in places like this, you remove the hero stories of what happened here. If you don’t pay attention to the client’s history, then you remove their heroic stories, and you remove the heroes that have shown up in their lives, and you remove the epic things that they did along their journey.
Now, not everything in our history is positive, both as a culture and a society, but also as people. Not everything is positive and wonderful. But you can’t just remove everything because you end up removing the history of the heroic stuff. You end up removing the positive aspects, and you end up not attending to the things that could lead towards change.
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’.
