SOLUTION FOCUSED BRIEF THERAPY
What is Solution Focused Brief Therapy?
Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a collaborative approach to change that begins with a simple but radical question: “What are your best hopes from our work together?”
Not “How can I help?” or “What brought you here” but what do you want to be different as a result of our work?
This might sound simple, but it represents a fundamentally different way of working. In SFBT, we don’t categorise people based on their worst days or habits. We don’t start by dissecting your problems. Instead, we begin with your hopes from our work and explore your past, present or future through that lens.
Focused on Solutions: Your Questions Answered
How is SFBT Different?
I don’t see people through the lens of diagnoses or labels. Whether what brings you here is part of who you are, or an experience you’d like to shift, we focus on the life you want – not what’s “wrong” with you.
Here’s the thing: the way we talk about our experiences shapes how we experience them. When we talk about difficulties as if they’re permanent fixtures – “I am depressed,” “I have anxiety” – we’re creating a particular, fixed reality. The difficulty becomes a thing, something that defines us.
SFBT works differently. When we’re working with experiences that can shift – like anxiety, low mood, or feeling stuck – we don’t treat them as your identity. They’re part of your current experience, but they’re not who you are, and they’re not your whole
story.
Problems aren’t permanent states – they’re experiences you want to change, situations that are uncomfortable right now and that you’d prefer to be without. They’re part of your current experience, but they’re not who you are, and they’re not your whole story.
When we focus only on what’s not working – categorizing and labeling people based on their difficulties – we miss everything that is working. This keeps people stuck rather than moving toward what they actually want.
What Happens in SFBT Sessions?
We start with your best hopes – not any old hopes, but your very best hopes. The word “hopes” is important because it signifies belief in the possibility of change. You can only hope for things that are possible, that could happen.
From there, we explore what life would look like when these hopes are realised – or when they were already present, in whatever shape or form. This means we can talk about your past, your present, or your future – whatever is most useful.
The difference is we’re looking at them through the lens of your hopes, not through the lens of problems. Every conversation is different, shaped by what you bring to our conversation. The questions I ask help you notice what’s already working, what resources you already have, and what becomes possible when you’re moving toward what you want.
Session by session, we focus on the changes that fit with the life you want. The work is as brief or as extended as is useful to you – there’s no predetermined number of sessions, no protocol to follow. When you feel you have what you need, we’re done.
Who is SFBT For?
SFBT is for anyone who wants something to be different in their life. It’s particularly well-suited if you:
- Want practical, focused conversations rather than lengthy analysis
- Prefer to be seen as capable rather than as someone with problems to fix
- Value collaboration
- Are interested in building on what already works rather than only examining what doesn’t
The word ‘hopes’ is crucial. We are not asking clients what they wish for, what they desire or indeed what they want. We ask what people’s best hopes are; not any old hopes but their very best hopes. So why is the word ‘hopes’ important and it is important in my view because it signifies the presence of belief in the possibility of change. We can only hope for things that are possible, that could happen. We can desire anything but we can only hope for the possible. So when we ask people about their ‘best hopes’ we are inviting them to connect with their ‘belief
