Helping young people

talk about problems

A solution-focused approach

11/21/16

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Why use a solution-focused

approach?

11/21/16

Identifies strengths/useful strategies

used before
Encourages ownership of ideas
Young person takes responsibility for
positive outcomes
Dont have to be a counsellor to help
Non-threatening
Just one tool in your toolkit of skills
Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Preferred Futures
Ask the young person to:
Imagine tomorrow is a fantastic day. Describe it
in detail, starting with when you wake up.
What would be happening differently to now?
What do you see yourself doing that is different?
How will others know that you are having a
really good day? (e.g. parents, teachers, friends)
What will others be doing differently to tell you
that you are having a good day?
What will they/you be doing instead?
11/21/16

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Preferred Futures

Can be used very briefly

E.g. If child is complaining they cant
get organised, use the questions
provided to work through.
If very little time, one question:
Imagine you were completely organised.
What would be happening differently?

11/21/16

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Scale questions

11/21/16

Useful for finding out:

- what the person believes is ideal
- where they feel they are at the
moment
- what would be good enough for them

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Developing scales

11/21/16

Imagine a scale from 1 to 10 where

0 = the worst that things can be
10 = the young persons ideal situation
What would a 10 look like?
Where are you now?
What is stopping you from being lower down
on the scale? (i.e. positives)
Where would be good enough for you on the
scale?

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Look for positive

exceptions & strategies

11/21/16

Help them identifying times when:

- they have been further up on the scale
- they have dealt with difficulties in a useful
way
What was useful in the past?
What helped you to cope in the past?
Which people were helpful?

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Sample Scale
0

10

A.Where are
you now?
You choose
0
(e.g. not even
getting out of
bed)

B. What
makes you 3.5
and not 0?

E. Where on
the scale would
be good enough
for you?
F. If you were at 7,
how would things
be different?

D. Child
describes 10
(their OWN
perfect
situation, not
yours)

C. What else
makes you
3.5?
11/21/16

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

Zooming in on good enough

0

What
would
they
notice?

10

Who would notice

when you are at a 7?

How would you

know when you
were at a 7?

Has there ever

been a time
when things
were at a 7?
What was
different about
those times?

What were you

doing differently?
11/21/16

(Looking for
POSITIVE
EXCEPTIONS)

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

What were others

doing differently?
9

Moving up the scale

0

10

Imagine you
were just one
point higher on
the scale
What would be
different if you
were at 4.5?

11/21/16

Who would
notice that you
were at 4.5?

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

What would
tell them that
you were at
4.5?

10

Monitoring progress

11/21/16

Help the young person to keep track of:

- when s/he is just one point up on the scale
- what is happening at those times
- who is noticing a difference
- what they notice is different
- when things are much higher up on the scale

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

11

Assessing progress

People can self-assess:

Where they are now on the scale
The skills/qualities needed to get there
Whether they are satisfied with their
progress on that goal
Useful strategies that they can use
again
What else needs to happen for
progress to be made

11/21/16

Eliza Smith, Wesley College

12

When things are not likely

to change

11/21/16

Use coping questions/scales:

E.g. If you were coping better with
this situation, what would be
happening differently?
Useful for identifying avenues of
support (within family, at school,
among friends)
Also can identify helpful/unhelpful
thinking/reacting
Eliza Smith, Wesley College

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