Solution-oriented practice, also known as solution-focused practice, is an approach that concentrates on helping individuals move towards their desired future by leveraging their existing skills, strategies, and ideas, rather than dwelling on the problems they face.
Solution-oriented practice is a therapeutic and coaching approach that shifts the focus from the causes and history of problems to the desired future state and the steps needed to get there. Instead of analyzing what went wrong, it explores what the individual wants to achieve and identifies existing resources they possess to make positive changes.
Core Principles of Solution-Oriented Practice
Based on the reference, the key principles of solution-focused practice (a term often used interchangeably with solution-oriented practice) include:
- Future Orientation: A primary focus is placed on the future the person wants to create, rather than analyzing past difficulties or current problems.
- Strength-Based Approach: The practice highlights and utilizes the individual's existing skills, strengths, resources, and past successes (strategies that have worked, even in small ways).
- Focus on Solutions, Not Problems: Instead of extensive problem talk, the conversation centres on identifying solutions, preferred outcomes, and exceptions to the problem.
- Learning from What Works: Encourages learning what can be done differently by examining what has been effective in the past or what is already working in some small way.
This method is built on the belief that individuals have the capacity to solve their own problems and that small changes can lead to significant results.
Origin
Solution-focused practice was originally developed in the USA during the 1980s and 1990s. Pioneers like Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg were instrumental in its development at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee.
By concentrating on desired outcomes and existing capabilities, solution-oriented practice offers a hopeful and empowering perspective for facilitating change.
