Programme

2019 ConferenceBath Spa University

Thursday July 11 & Friday July 12

WelcomeWelcome to the 16th annual conference of the United Kingdom Association of Solution-Focused Practice (UKASFP), its second venture into Bath, and we are delighted this time to be in the wonderful surroundings of Bath Spa University.We are hugely grateful to the University for giving us the use of their main campus free of charge, and we are sure you will agree that it provides a great setting for our conference.

We have very much enjoyed putting the conference together, and the collective and interactive ethos that we are keen to promote, which has been present from the beginning of our planning. We have appreciated the support of the UKASFP Committee, and of Jim Bird-Waddington, the UKASFP Chair, and Martin Bohn in particular. In organising the programme, Carolyn Emanuel and Marc Gardiner have provided invaluable help. We are looking forward too to Marc’s Zebra Collective colleague, Zoe Stephens, joining us for the opening plenary.

Thanks too to all the Bath people who are giving us their time in supporting the conference, from the Student Services team at Bath Spa University and from the team made up of friends and family of Rob.

A conference wouldn’t be a conference without presenters and we have appreciated all the submissions we have received, the number and diversity of which attest to the vibrancy of the solution-focused approach. It was heartwarming to receive such an immediate positive response from Anne Rambo, who has travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to be with us, and from whom we are looking forward to learning about the use of solution-focused practice for social change.

From a lot closer to home, we are delighted to have John Henden and Lucy Johnstone as keynote speakers. It is important that as a solution-focused community we engage with important developments in neighbouring fi elds. The publication of the Power Threat Meaning Framework last year was a landmark event, and we are grateful to Lucy, one of its main authors, for agreeing to join us.

A warm welcome too to Elfi e Czerny and Dominik Godat, and Hearty, their solution-focused motor home. We are pleased to be another stop on their SF Tour, now on its European leg, having travelled across North America from 2017 to earlier this year.

Thank you to all our presenters, and to all of you who are attending this conference and who together will make it the conference it will become. We are all bringing sparkling moments with us, and we look forward to the many more which will be created during these two days, and to all the eff ects that will ripple out from the conference in the days, weeks and months ahead.

With warm wishes

Guy Shennan and Rob BlackCONFERENCE HOSTS

Your 2019 Conference HostsGuy Shennan AssociatesGuy formed Guy Shennan Associates in 2010, following his time working with BRIEF. It provides a vehicle for his diverse solution-focused activities, including training, therapy, coaching and supervision, often undertaken in collaboration with a variety of solution-focused friends and colleagues.

Guy has co-trained and presented at conferences with, among others, Rob Black, Carolyn Emanuel, Paul Hackett, Yasmin Ajmal, Jane Lethem, Andrew Turnell, Jonas Wells, Rob Cumming, Adrian Pugh, Martin Fletcher, Barry Golten, Esther de Wolf, Sander van Goor, and GPs Clare Thormod and George Farrelly. He also developed the BRIEF Diploma and co-led it for its fi rst fi ve years alongside Harvey Ratner, and ran the fi rst BRIEF International Summer School with Chris Iveson in 2009.

From 2014 to 2018, alongside his activities as Guy Shennan Associates, Guy was the Chair of the British Association of Social Workers. A whole new area of collaborations developed as a result of this role, including in actions for social change. Since stepping down as Chair, Guy has taken this experience of campaigning into his solution-focused work, and has been working alongside Marc Gardiner and the Zebra Collective, and with other solution-focused practitioners in the Solution-Focused Collective.

Guy Shennan Associates continue to provide the highest quality solution-focused training and supervision, and individual and team work - www.sfpractice.co.uk

Bath Spa UniversityRob Black is the Mental Heath and Well Being Service Manager at Bath Spa University. We are grateful to Bath Spa University for providing us with our venue for #UKASFP2019.

The conference is taking place on the main campus in Newton Park, in grounds designed by the great English landscape architect, Capability Brown. The Michael Tippett Centre, which is at the centre of #UKASFP2019, is the only purpose built concert hall in Bath.

Voted by students nationally in 2017 as one of the top six creative universities, Bath Spa’s “Green Focus” policies also earned them “First Class Honours” in the People and Planet Green League in 2015.

The university’s origins date back to 1852 and the Bath School of Art. The current Bath School of Art and Design is at the Sion Hill campus in the north of Bath. Bath Spa University is the UK’s sixth biggest provider of Teacher Education.

In recent years, it has been frequently ranked in the top 10 modern British universities by The Sunday Times. Its Chancellor is the actor, Jeremy Irons.

Guy Shennan & Rob Black

Sparkling moments at the conferenceGet your cameras ready - you might need to get snapping quickly, especially if the ‘sparkling moment’ you see or otherwise experience is a spontaneous one*. Your phone will already be full of sparkling moments, and it might be the place to record a few more - as might your diary, your head, Instagram, the back of an envelope, Twitter…

If you record some in photos on your phone, then the option of making them collective arises… Snap, and send - to conference2019@ukasfp.org - and/or tweet them, or share them on Instagram, with the hashtag #UKASFP2019

* Steve de Shazer wrote about spontaneous and deliberate exceptions in his 1988 book, Clues. You might deliberately create some sparkling moments at the conference, while others will be spontaneous, we’re sure.

Poster PresentationsThere will be poster presentations in the Commons Atrium. This is near where lunch will be served. We will inform conference participants when the presenters will be available by their posters.

Katherine Parkin, Ali Shippey, Morag McWhirterA Different Kind of Conversation: the development of Brief Solution Focused Therapy in a community team for moderate to severe mental health difficulties.

Having trained in BSFT, we developed it as a stand-alone intervention, and began weaving it into our general clinical practice alongside other approaches.

We will describe these developments, the evaluation of their effects, on staff and patients, fit with the recovery-focused model, and future research plans.

Katherine, Ali and Morag are Community Psychiatric Nurses in Cambridge Adult Locality Teams, working with patients with moderate to severe mental health difficulties, with many years’ experience in NHS inpatient and community settings.

Dorothea ReadUsing the Solution Focused Approach in a Hospital Setting

We use SFBT and Clinical Hypnotherapy to help people though their chemotherapy. With a preferred future in mind, we use hypnosis to create deep relaxation to aid recovery. My poster looks at the work we do, the research behind it and a case study.

Dorothea is a Solution Focused therapist and Clinical Hypnotherapist, with a background in nursing, who works part-time at the University Hospital of Wales. She has a private practice in Cardiff and is a lecturer and supervisor in hypnotherapy.

The Solution-Focused Collective A solution-focused manifesto for social change.An interactive poster which will enable conference participants to contribute their ideas to this collective endeavour.

The Solution-Focused Collective - is a loose and fluid grouping of solution-focused practitioners from around the world, who share a belief in the potential of the solution-focused approach for helping in the creation of social change, towards greater social justice.

Tim Newton and Andrew Gibson, UKASFP CommitteeUKASFP.org – Promoting and Developing SFP onlineThe UKASFP’s new website is a major resource for our members, full of information and many interactive features.

All conference participants, including non-members, can log on to ukasfp.org and contribute to the message boards for the duration of the conference.Seek out Tim and Andrew to find out all you want to know about the website and the new app.

About the UK Association for Solution Focused PracticeThe seeds of the UKASFP were sown at meetings in Birmingham and Lancaster in 2002 and 2003, and it took off at its first conference, in Preston in 2004. It is now the leading membership organisation in the UK for practitioners and enthusiasts in solution-focused practice, who come from every context you can imagine where people communicate with other people to help change to happen.

2019 has seen the launch of our brand new website, ukasfp.org, and we recommend a visit where you can find out all that is on offer.

By joining up, you can become part of an interactive community of solution-focused practitioners, on the website and in regional groups around the country. If there isn’t one in your area, the UKASFP can help you start one up. You can also apply to be an accredited practitioner, via the association’s pioneering accreditation scheme, which has attracted interest beyond our shores.

Follow us on Twitter, at @ukasfp, and join in the conversation there too, and on our Facebook page. Watch out for the online magazine, Solution News, and the Solution-Focused Podcast.

And keep on coming to our brilliant conferences!

thur

sday

Jul

y 11

I tim

etab

le

thur

sday

Jul

y 11

I tim

etab

le Registration

Performance

Welcome Sue Rigby, Vice-Chancellor, Bath Spa University

Opening Plenary Hope in Conversation and Action Guy Shennan, Rob Black, Carolyn Emanuel, Marc Gardiner, Zoe Stephens

Morning break

Lunch

Plenary Trauma-informed practice: the Power Threat Meaning Framework and a solution-focused perspective Lucy Johnstone & John Henden

Afternoon break

New books & articles launch

UKASFP AGM

Barbecue & cabaret in the Walled Garden

9.00

10.00

10.30

10.30

11.45

12.15

1.15/1.30

2.30

3.45

4.15

5.30

6.30

7.30

wor

ksho

psw

orks

hops

miChAel TippeTT CenTreSolution Focused: Happy talk or catalyst for change? Anne Rambo

neWTon 101 ‘Pragmatics and Paradigms’ - the Thinking Behind the Solution-Focused Approach Arnoud Huibers

Commons 111 SF DJing for and by Young People Tara Gretton

neWTon g08 Solution Focused conversations and hope in a local community Kidge Burns & John Bulloch

CAsTleBlowing the SF trumpet: Promoting SF to the NHS & other public sector organisations Catherine Mallorie & Jim Bird-Waddington

CAsTleDoors to hope Jody Merelle

Commons 223 Hope in Further Education Janine Waldman

CAsTleA detailed analysis of SF work with 400+ clients Clive Whittaker, Teresa Byrne & Kevin Hogan

Enhancing homelessness services Jim Bird-Waddington & Steve Flatt

miChAel TippeTT CenTreWhat’s better? ‘It’s worse!’ How to keep hope alive in follow up sessions Harvey Ratner & Yasmin Ajmal

Commons 223Helping people to “get it”: hope-inspired actions in the training context Anne-Marie Wulf, John Wheeler, Kidge Burns, Naomi Whitehead, Tara Gretton

Commons 111A new metaphor for facilitating SF Team Collaboration John Brooker

neWTon 101 Boys in Mind - a solution focused approach to working with boys Kate Murphy & Jim Cumpson

CAsTle Solution-focused practice in the University - supporting students Emma Maynard, Chris Ward and Rob Black

neWTon g08Hopefulness in the face of climate breakdown, biodiversity extinction, and pending economic and social collapse - possibility or pipe dream? John Sharry & Fred Ehresmann

Opening plenaryThursday, 10.30am I Room: Michael Tippett Centre

Guy Shennan, Rob Black, Carolyn Emanuel, Marc Gardiner, Zoe Stephens

Hope in Conversation and Action‘Here we are now on the journey of our hope’ Morgan John Rhys, 1792

thur

sday

I am

Marc Gardiner

marc has worked in social care and community work in plymouth, UK, for 30 years, mostly outside formal psychotherapy, e.g. managing mental health services (introducing solution-focused approaches in a national charity as a key element in its strategy to build a recovery culture), youth & community work, social & environmental activism, and – since 2003 – co-running Zebra Collective. Zebra’s core value is sustainable social justice, and we fi nd that operating as a solution-focused organisation internally, as well as grounding all our work in the approach, produces real and lasting changes.marc is Zebra’s sF lead: training, consultancy, and direct work.

Zoe has worked as an educational psychologist for twenty years; initially for Bristol City Council and since 2007 for Cornwall Council. she began solution-focused training early in her career, applying sF thinking and approaches to school

work and later managing iBis (improving Behaviour in schools), a solution-focused teacher coaching and training service. Zoe is an advanced Video interaction guidance (Vig) supervisor, delivering training, supervision and Vig interventions to families within Cornwall’s health, early help and social care services. Zoe describes Vig as sF embodied with connection and hope at the core of supporting families to promote change.

guy is a solution-focused practitioner, trainer and consultant, who worked in mental health settings with young people and adults, before training as a social worker and working with children and families. As the Chair of the British Association of social

Workers from 2014 to 2018, guy campaigned for social change, and as his term of offi ce came to an end, he co-founded the solution-Focused Collective to develop similar activities. he presented on this at the sFBTA conference in Boulder, Colorado in november 2018, and his article, co-written with marc gardiner of the Zebra Collective, ‘Collectivising solution-Focused practice’, was published in the journal, Critical and radical social Work, in 2018.

rob joined Bath spa University in December 2015. he spent his former years trying to make it in the music business. he became involved in youth

work in 1986 and since then went on to qualify as a child care social worker. over the last 21 years he has worked in a variety of voluntary and statutory sector settings. he was introduced and trained in the solution Focused model by eileen murphy in 1997 and went on to develop his own practice by taking on further training at BrieF in london. he has presented workshops and plenary presentations throughout the UK and europe. he is an accredited solution focused practitioner with the UKAsFp.

I attended my fi rst solution-focused course with BrieF in 1995. it moved me from a problem-focused world of counselling and occupational Therapy to a new future of solution-focused primary care counselling where i have been ever since. Based in london, i work

in primary care talking therapies and off er SF supervision to counsellors, mental health workers, youth coaches and others. i have attended almost all UKAsFp’s conferences, and many eBTA ones, and love being part of this exciting family. This year i have been helping the team organise this event and my best hope is that it goes fantastically.

Carolyn Emanuel

thur

sday

I am

At the outset of our conference, we will gather our resources for a journey of hope, individually and collectively. What are we bringing with us into our gathering, what are we looking forward to creating together over the two days, and what are we hoping to take with us into our lives and work afterwards? Beginnings are full of possibility, and who knows just what this one will lead to? We can’t wait to fi nd out.

Zoe Stephens

Rob Black

Guy Shennan

Arnoud HuibersThursday, 12.15pm I Room: Newton 101‘Pragmatics and Paradigms’ - the Thinking Behind the Solution-Focused ApproachUsually clients arrive at therapy or counseling rooted in their problem experience. This may be recent crisis or a long standing problem, a relationship- or family problem, a series of disappointments, a trauma, anxiety or stress, an educational problem, a loss or an other event in our lives that disconnects us from the life we would like to live. The SF practitioner listens well, connects to the person and redirects the conversation from problem talk to solution talk.

In this workshop participants will be invited to take a closer look at the ‘thinking behind’ the SF approach. A conceptual framework with fi ve interrelated essential principles of the SF Approach will be presented in this workshop, supported by a visual representation, examples and video excerpts.

This conceptual framework captures the organizing principles of the SF approach as originally developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, to understand the mechanisms and benefi cial eff ects of the approach and improve adherence to the practice of the approach. Participants will be invited to refl ect upon the framework for discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences.

thur

sday

I am

thur

sday

I am

Arnoud huibers, msc, is director of solutions Centre, co-founded with insoo Kim Berg in 2004. he is a licensed psychologist, systemic psychotherapist with a private practice in

soesterberg in the netherlands, and solution Focused trainer in the netherlands, europe, the Caribbean, india and the Far east. he is a founding member of the Dutch Association of solution-Focused practitioners and the Academy for solution-Focused Approaches and research in india, member of the Dutch society of psychologists, psychotherapists, Family Therapists and Children Youth Therapists. he trained at the University of Utrecht and at the Academic medical Centre of Utrecht.

Tara GrettonThursday, 12.15pm I Room: Commons 111SF DJing for and by Young PeopleFollowing our debut at the last UKASFP Conference we are bringing the DJ into the house! Young people will have the opportunity to work alongside pro DJ and Producer Adam Volsen from the Allergies to build their own track whilst also working with solution focused practitioner, Tara Gretton, to promote positive conversations, self-belief and future aspirations. Sounds good, right? Adam, Tara and the young people would like to invite you to come and listen to how music and solution-focused conversations give young people hope and enough self-belief to realise their hopes. Solution Revolution works across the local area sharing the magic of the solution-focused approach with schools, children, young people and families and what’s really important to Solution Revolution is the diff erence the solution-focused approach makes to their lives, so following an epic mission to gather video footage from the young people themselves, in this workshop we will share with you what the schools and the children and young people have to say. Come, interact, dance and watch videos of the most important people, the children and young people, sharing what it’s like to experience a solution-focused conversation!

Tara, the founder of solution revolution, is an accredited solution-focused practitioner, consultant, trainer and social worker. Tara has extensive

experience of using the solution Focused approach with children, young people and their families across Bath and north east somerset, Bristol and Wiltshire in schools and in the community, supporting them to achieve their best hopes. Tara is currently on a mission to train every school in her local area in the solution-focused approach! Tara runs a private practice from her home in Bath. Tara’s passions are also in solution-focused group work, where she integrates activities such as art, craft, yoga, music, basketball.

Adam Volsen

Tara Gretton

Arnoud Huibers

Kidge Burns and John BullochThursday, 12.15pm I Room: Newton G08Solution Focused conversations and hope in a local communityIn 2018, Kidge began volunteering SF conversations with members at the Katherine Low Settlement (KLS), a London-based charity that has been at the heart of the community since 1924, which aims to ‘foster and empower communities to reduce poverty and isolation’. Kidge will talk about how SF practice is uniquely suited to help increase the health and wellbeing of those on the margins of the local community.

John Bulloch, a KLS member, will give his version of how SF practice has generated hope in his life; ‘My best hope is that love and compassion come back into my life. I volunteer with the homeless, but I know that I need to be more compassionate on myself’. He has made a recording of a ‘best hopes’ session with Kidge that can be viewed in part and can answer any questions from those attending the workshop.

The Community Development Manager has also made a recording about how she feels SF ideas have made a diff erence to some KLS members.

Listening to extracts from these recordings, as well as having John with us, will provide a rich and moving account of how older and vulnerable people can fi nd hope through SF conversations.

thur

sday

I am

thur

sday

I am

Kidge has been using a solution Focused approach in conversations with clients with acute and chronic physical ill health since 1997. her book ‘Focus on solutions; a health professional’s guide’ (2nd ed.

2016, solutions Books) is an account of this, including the supervision process ‘Ten minute Talk’, which helped embed the sF approach within her department. she completed the BrieF Diploma in 2006 and has been part of the UKAsFp accreditation process since 2013. Kidge left the nhs in 2016 and now provides independent sF supervision and training, and sees clients privately. she became an Associate of solution Focused Trainers in 2017.

John Bulloch is a retired publican, who was previously a French and english teacher. he attends the Kls twice weekly for the lunch and exercise club.

Janine WaldmanThursday, 12.15pm I Room: Commons 223Hope in Further EducationIn this session, a 20 minute presentation will lead into a facilitated discussion about issues of interest arising for the participants.

Barking and Dagenham College is thriving, even though it’s in one of London’s most deprived boroughs,. Against an all-too-familiar backdrop of policy reforms and funding challenges, the college was rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted and won the 2018 TES FE award for Best Teaching & Learning. They were also recently awarded a Gold Standard by Investors In People, and solutions focus approaches were explicitly identifi ed as signifi cantly contributing to this and their other recent successes.

During this talk I’ll share how we connected with the creativity and passion of those within the colleges, despite their time and budget-constrained environment. I’ll describe how we engaged managers and educators in a programme that delivered tangible results.

Janine is a consultant, coach, facilitator and author who has introduced thousands of professionals, managers and coaches to solutions-focused approaches. Co-owner and director of The solutions Focus, she is passionate about engendering sustainable change, working with a broad

range of organisational clients, and has held senior hrD positions in UK and new Zealand multi-nationals. A Fellow of The Chartered institute of personnel and Development, visiting lecturer at Birkbeck and Westminster Universities, Janine presents at business schools on sF approaches. she is co-author of ‘positively speaking: The Art of Constructive Conversations with a solutions Focus’ and ‘The resilience pocketbook’.

Kidge Burns Janine Waldman

thur

sday

I am

thur

sday

I am

Anne rambo ph.D is a founding member of the solution Focused University, a Us-based group dedicated to social justice. she has written three books for therapists, and one for parents on how to work with the school system. her work in

the state-funded school system in the Us has been the subject of several articles, chapters and dissertations. in the promise program, Anne and graduate interns meet with youth suspended for problematic behavior and at risk of arrest. Their short, solution-focused meetings have helped reduce the recidivism rate from 50 to 8 percent in the Us’s sixth largest school district.

Catherine Mallorie & Jim Bird-WaddingtonThursday, 12.15pm I Room: CastleBlowing the SF trumpet: Promoting SF to the NHS & other public sector organisationsWould you like to see SF promoted more eff ectively to NHS and public sector decision-makers? Do you have knowledge of successful SF projects in these areas? Have you got marketing expertise that you can share? If you’d like to kick-start a joined-up approach that promotes SF to NHS and other public sector professionals, now’s your chance to ramp things up!

In this discussion group we will:• Identify and record what’s worked previously in starting and running SF projects in the NHS and wider public sector• Identify any useful data gathered from these projects that can be used to market SF to a wider audience• Identify key concerns of infl uencers and decision-makers in the NHS and other public sector organisations• Find new and more eff ective ways to tell NHS and other public sector professionals how SF can help to solve their problems

Catherine is a Bath-based solution-focused therapist who works with individuals, couples and families. Catherine began her training with Tara gretton at solution

Focused Trainers in 2017, but it was a long and winding journey that brought her to the sF world. Catherine started out as an actress at the royal shakespeare Theatre, before working as a freelance writer, journalist, performance storyteller and creative workshop provider. she now balances her private counselling practice alongside her work as an ‘Essentrics’ fi tness instructor, Essentrics being ‘to the body what solution Focused practice is to the mind: positive, empowering and great for everyone!’

Anne RamboThursday, 12.15pm I Room: Michael Tippett CentreSolution Focused: Happy talk or catalyst for change? Building on clients’ own past successes and natural resources can facilitate lasting change, and in the process empower the clients’ own agency. But the positive focus of solution focused practitioners runs the risk at times of unwittingly reinforcing the status quo – accidentally encouraging clients to let go of their righteous complaints and go along with things as they are. Dr. Rambo works with at risk youth in trouble with the school and legal system in the United States, and often with the immigration system as well. She will present on how anger, rebellion, and even acting out behavior can be positive exceptions, and give examples of solution focused ways to work with understandably angry clients. The workshop will be interactive and those attending will get the chance to practice skills.

Having been fi rst introduced to the sF world in 2012, i am just as inspired by it now as i was then. sF conferences are the only type

of professional conferences i have ever looked forward to! i am a psychotherapist and lecturer, but also use sF in my own life every day. i live and work in Finland and currently work in the fi eld of child protection. I am always inspired by the UK conference and i look forward to meeting you!

Jody MerelleThursday, 12.15pm I Room: CastleDoors to hope An interactive workshop using solution focused therapy cards as a tool to rediscovering hope

Come and try out a set of therapy cards with SF questions as a tool to be used in a whole number of settings. Useful where a client faces choice, feels stuck about something or can’t fi nd the words to express themselves. The cards depict 56 doors and were the subject of my Psychotherapy Masters research dissertation which I will share for the fi rst time. They were tested across several therapy modalities and were shown universally to generate hope in all types of clients.

Jody Merelle

Anne Rambo

Jim is the Ceo of Caer las, a charitable company based in south Wales, providing services to homeless and vulnerable adults. he has been a solution-focused practitioner

for over ten years, and is currently the Chair of the United Kingdom Association for solution Focused practice (UKAsFp). he is interested in providing meaningful experiences to clients that make a tangible diff erence to their well-being. Looking beyond what is absent or painful in people’s lives to what is already contributing to their progress, and in particular what gives meaning to people’s lives and experience.

Jim Bird-Waddington

Catherine Mallorie

PlenaryThursday, 2.30pm I Room: Michael Tippett Centre

Lucy Johnstone & John Henden

Trauma-informed practice: the Power Threat Meaning Framework and a solution-focused perspectiveThe impact of emotional trauma, particularly multiple traumas in childhood, is a rapidly emerging topic in the helping professions. What does a solution-focused perspective bring to this? In this plenary, clinical psychologist Lucy Johnstone, co-author of the recently published Power Threat Meaning Framework, will introduce the framework, which proposes that a good understanding of (a) how power operates in society and in individuals’ lives; (b) the impact of trauma (threat); and (c) the signifi cance of the meanings given to these experiences and ourselves within them, is essential to good and truly helpful practice. John Henden, a solution-focused practitioner and consultant with a name for developing solution-focused approaches to working with trauma - and for writing about it - will respond to Lucy from a solution-focused perspective. A discussion will then be facilitated between our two presenters, along with questions from the fl oor.

thur

sday

I pm

lucy is a consultant clinical psychologist, and the author of a number of books, chapters and articles that take a critical perspective on mental health theory and practice. she was programme Director of the Bristol Clinical psychology Doctorate and lead author of ‘good practice guidelines on the use of psychological

formulation’ (Division of Clinical psychology, 2011.) she has worked in Adult mental health settings for many years, and is an independent trainer and experienced conference speaker. her particular expertise is in the use of psychological formulation and promoting trauma-informed practice. lucy was the joint lead author of the ‘power Threat meaning Framework’ (2018), funded by the Division of Clinical psychology to outline a conceptual alternative to psychiatric diagnosis.

John is an international trainer, author, therapist and performance coach, having worked in mental health and psychological services for over 40 years. For 20 years, he worked in nhs mental health services, as a practitioner and manager. he has been an sF practitioner since 1994. John delivers across three specialist areas: solution Focused

recovery from severe Trauma & stress; suicide prevention and solution Focused stress management and resilience. A long-time member of minD, John has applied the sF approach to the widest range of mental health issues, including chronic depression, anxiety & stress, adult survivors of child abuse, relationship diffi culties, schizo-aff ective states and drug & alcohol dependency.

John Henden

thur

sday

I pm

Dr Lucy Johnstone

Kevin Hogan

Kevin is a Chartered psychologist and is a registered with the health and Care professions Council as a Counselling psychologist. he is a senior lecturer in Counselling and psychotherapy at newman University in Birmingham. Kevin has been a volunteer at Change Birmingham Brief Therapy since 2011 and is currently researching the eff ectiveness of solution focused therapy.

Clive is team leader at the staff counselling service at University hospitals Birmingham, catering for 20,000+ staff . He is still hanging about at Change Birmingham Brief Therapy, making a nuisance of himself after 20 years. Change was established in 1991 by Bill o’Connell and a few other attendees at an early steve de shazer UK presentation, originally as a family therapy

service. it provides free counselling to the citizens of Birmingham, aged 14 onwards, under an nhs contract. Change trains new therapists to diploma level 5, and most graduates stay on to deliver sF at Change.

Clive Whittaker, Teresa Byrne & Kevin Hogan

A detailed analysis of SF work with 400+ clients - who benefi ts most?Change Birmingham Brief Therapy has accumulated over 400 outcomes within the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT) over the past two years. In this talk we will present our fi ndings, as measured by the GAD-7 (Anxiety) and PHQ-9 (Depression) instruments, which demonstrate where client change was identifi ed. These fi ndings have important implications in further developing mental health services for young people.

Clive Whittaker

Teresa is a solution Focused Counsellor and Trainer at the Queen elizabeth hospitals Birmingham, sF employment Coach with the Young Women’s Trust and sF Trainer at Change Birmingham. in addition she is undertaking a masters Degree in psychology at Coventry University. Teresa has been using the

solution-focused approach in a number of diff erent organisations for the past 10 years ranging from West midlands police, the prince’s Trust and Adventure Therapy providers. Currently, Teresa is working on projects with Clive Whittaker on Change Birmingham’s iApT provision as well as developing a women-only holistic sF adventure therapy programme.

Teresa Byrne

Steve Flatt and Jim Bird-Waddington

Enhancing homelessness services – Bringing hope, making the diff erenceSolution-focused practice has been gaining credibility as an eff ective intervention in many areas of human activity. Over the last year, Caer Las, the “Working Conversations” Group of Companies and the University of Liverpool School of Management have begun to develop research data and protocols for using a specifi c solution-focused intervention in the third sector. Impact, client experience and overall outcome related to the provision of solution-focused practice in a population of people well-known to be hard to reach - people with no permanent residence - have each been investigated . The impact being measured is not only upon the individual but also relates to service delivery and the experience of all involved. Our talk will outline how the project was conceived and developed into a practical intervention; the nature of the measures used to identify the impact of the intervention; and a description of the journey a person would take through the service and their experience of it, using the tools developed for standardised qualitative and quantitative data collection.

i am a nurse, psychologist, solution-focused practitioner and psychotherapist, working with people in distress. i have a particular

interest in how environments impact upon our wellbeing. i am interested in exploring how communities are the building blocks for improving sustainable global wellbeing. i work across disciplines including engineering, management, psychology and psychotherapy. i believe passionately that mental and physical well-being is the responsibility of us all, and to limit interventions to being provided by ‘experts’ in psychology and psychiatry is misguided and ultimately ineff ective. The future lies in creating trust, security, collaboration and a sense of future within and beyond communities.

i am the Ceo of Caer las, a charitable company based in south Wales, providing services to homeless and vulnerable adults.

i have been a solution-focused practitioner for over ten years, and i am currently the Chair of the United Kingdom Association for solution Focused practice (UKAsFp). my interest is in providing meaningful experiences to clients that make a tangible diff erence to their well-being. looking beyond what is absent or painful in people’s lives to what is already contributing to their progress, and in particular what gives meaning to people’s lives and experience.

Jim Bird-Waddington

Steve Flatt

thur

sday

I pm

thur

sday

I pmResearch session

Thursday, 4.15pm I Room: CastleThis one hour session gives participants the opportunity to hear about some cutting edge research into solution-focused practice in the UK, and to discuss the use of research methods in this area and some recent

John Sharry and Fred EhresmannThursday, 4.15pm I Room: Newton G08Hopefulness in the face of climate breakdown, biodiversity extinction, and pending economic and social collapse -

thur

sday

I pm

possibility or pipe dream?If climate scientists’ predictions are currently accurate our species faces the complete collapse of its ecosystem in roughly 10-12 years’ time, as the changes already underway reach a tipping point beyond which there will be no return. The choices that we make in this time will determine our destiny, in fact our viability. Dr. Kate Marvel, a leading climate scientist working for NASA, when asked to leave a conference audience with a sense of hope replied “The problem is, I don’t have any.” And that’s where people like us come in. Hope is something that we specialise in. Not a vague “Oh it’ll be all right in the end” sort of hope, but the sort of hope that Evan George has described as having a “genuine evidence base”. In this fun (yep, we’re looking at extinction folks, but it’ll be fun) and interactive workshop we’ll explore the role and contribution that our approach can play at this crucial moment in the journey of us as a species. “May your choices refl ect your hopes not your fears”, Nelson Mandela.

Fred ehresmann is senior lecturer in mental health nursing at the University of West england (UWe), senior Trainer for UK and international programmes at parents plus & guest columnist with the irish Times. he has been designing and delivering trainings in a variety of aspects of solution Focused practice

for nearly fi fteen years, and leads an undergraduate module in the approach at UWe. he is a founder member of extinction rebellion’s Wellbeing and resilience group.

prof John sharry is founder of the parents plus Charity, adjunct professor at the school of psychology in University College Dublin, a founder of silver Cloud health and a weekly health columnist with the irish Times. he is the lead developer of the award-winning parents plus and silver Cloud health programmes that are used throughout ireland and the UK as well as also the best-selling author of fourteen solution-focused and self-help books. he is also the chair of the Feasta environmental charity concerned with developing a truly sustainable society and economy. see parentsplus.ie, solutiontalk.ie and feasta.org

John Sharry

Fred Ehresmann

thur

sday

I pm

Harvey Ratner

harvey is a founder member of BrieF, a training, therapy and coaching organisation based in london. he is co-author of several books on sFBT, including solution Focused Brief Therapy: 100 Key points and Techniques (with evan george and Chris iveson), and his latest, due out this year, is a book with Yasmin entitled solution Focused practice in schools.

Yasmin is a psychologist, coach and trainer with a particular

focus on work in schools and work with young people. she has published books on sF work in schools as well as the forthcoming book with harvey.

Harvey Ratner and Yasmin AjmalThursday, 4.15pm I Room: Michael Tippett CentreWhat’s better? ‘It’s worse!’ How to keep hope alive in follow up sessionsWe will explore ways of responding to clients who tell us, when asked ‘what’s better?’, that things are worse. Recordings of client work will be shown, and in addition to discussing these cases, participants will be invited to share ‘what works’ in their experience, and we will have the opportunity to put things together in a practice exercise.

Yasmin Ajmal

Anne-Marie Wulf, John Wheeler, Kidge Burns, Naomi Whitehead, Tara GrettonThursday, 4.15pm I Room: Commons 223Helping people to ‘get it’: hope-inspired actions in the training contextSteve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg often referred to the “it” of SF Practice. Practitioners wishing to learn SF Practice start in diff erent places. Some are quick to grasp the essentials of the approach. Others take longer. As trainers, our hope that anyone might be able to “get it” has brought about a variety of ways of assisting trainees on their journeys.

Anne-Marie Wulf from the Solution Focused Institute in Denmark and John Wheeler, Naomi Whitehead, Tara Gretton, and Kidge Burns from Solution Focused Trainers in the UK, will share what works for them in helping practitioners to learn how to use SF Practice well and to equip them for practitioner certifi cation according to the IASTI criteria. The workshop will also generate ideas on how to train in a SF manner and take account of diff erent learning styles.

Through small group discussions, participants will have an opportunity to adapt what they have heard to their own challenges. The workshop will conclude with questions to the presenters as a panel.

This workshop will be relevant for trainers and anyone else experienced in the SF approach who is curious about what works for practitioners new to the SF approach.

John Wheeler

Kidge BurnsTara Gretton

Naomi Whitehead

John is a systemic psychotherapist in private practice with extensive experience in CAmhs, and is managing Director of solution Focused Trainers ltd. John has delivered training in sF since 1993. John is a member of the Board of eBTA, the editorial Board of JsFBT and past president of iAsTi.

since leaving her nhs job in 2016 Kidge has been working independently, using sFBT in conversation with clients and when giving supervision. she continues to be part of the accreditation process for the UKAsFp and to give training to a wide range of professionals. Kidge also volunteers sF counselling to adults who attend the Katherine low settlement community centre in london.

naomi provides sF training, coaching and consultation in south Yorkshire and manchester. naomi has worked with young people involved in off ending and substance misuse, in two Bolivian prisons with sex traffi cked young people and in strategic management in the homelessness sector. naomi is editor of solution news, a member of the UKAsFp Board and the eBTA task group for international cooperation.

Tara has extensive experience of using the solution Focused approach with young people and their families. Tara feels strongly that the use of the solution Focused approach within schools and the community would hugely benefi t children and young people in supporting them to reach their full potential academically and personally.

Anne-Marie Wulf

Anne-marie is a social Worker and Family Therapist with a masters in educational Development. she is an experienced practitioner, trainer and supervisor, owner of solutionsbyWulf.dk. Anne-marie is a pioneer in spreading the words of solution Focused to Denmark, and founded in 2016 the Danish solution Focused institute providing a three year iAsTi-accredited educational program. Furthermore she’s been a board member of eBTA since 2014 and iAsTi since 2017.

John BrookerThursday, 4.15pm I Room: Commons 111A new metaphor for facilitating SF Team CollaborationI have developed a new metaphor for facilitating SF Team Collaboration. The metaphor provides a natural way in which to view how you facilitate teams using SF. I would like to share and discuss the metaphor with you, and explore how it might relate to “Hope in conversation and action”. A participative and interactive session, which will provide you with an alternative way to thinking about SF facilitating.

John Brooker is a professional meeting facilitator and innovator. he has used sF internationally since 2004,

to help teams in large national and multinational organisations, collaborate for growth. he is Co-president of solution Focus in organisations, which shares knowledge and learning between sF people internationally.

John Brooker

thur

sday

I pm

thur

sday

I pm

Kate Murphy & Jim CumpsonThursday, 4.15pm I Room: Newton 101Boys in Mind - a solution focused approach to working with boysOur best hopes for this workshop are that people will leave the session having an understanding of:• the Boys in Mind Strategy• how we are using a Solution Focused Approach in our:

• team meetings, planning, organisation, supervision• fi lms• direct work with boys and young men• case studies and evaluations

• how the strategy is co-led by boys and young men• how we use SF to promote a whole school approach to wellbeing in schools and other settings• how useful fi lm is as an approach to engage boys and young men - by showing 2 or 3 short fi lms which have been made by the Boys in Mind fi lm project team We will make the session interactive by:• inviting participants to think in a solution-focused way about the boys and men in their lives • show how to use SF in a simple way to audit a school’s well-being provision• inviting participants to consider our use of SF questions in the fi lms we will show• inviting participants to refl ect on Boys in Mind and the diff erence it is making.

This workshop will be relevant for trainers and anyone else experienced in the SF approach who is curious about what works for practitioners new to the SF approach.

Kate Murphy

Jim Cumpson

Jim Cumpson is a primary school teacher at newbridge primary school in Bath. he has been teaching for sixteen years – a lot of those years as a pshe coordinator.

Kate murphy was a teacher for over 20 years and then worked as pshe lead in Bath & north east somerset for 18 years, where she helped schools develop e Teams (equalities Teams) of children and young people helping staff promote inclusion, celebrate diversity and challenge discrimination.

Boys in mind are working with 14 schools in Bath & north east somerset to reduce stigma and challenge stereotypes and thereby improve the mental well-being of the whole school community, particularly boys. The strategy is co-led by young people and we are using fi lm to enhance listening skills and to hear the stories of a range of students. We are using sF to bring about positive change in both individuals and in school cultures. We also use sF approaches to audit school well-being provision , to make meetings more eff ective and to empower boys and young men in particular to see themselves as positive role models. Emma Maynard, Chris Ward and Rob Black

Thursday, 4.15pm I Room: CastleSolution-focused practice in the University... supporting studentsStudent wellbeing services now go beyond the simple counselling centres of 10-20 years ago. They are seen by universities as a selling point in an increasingly competitive market, and a response to political and social pressure to fulfi l their ‘duty of care’.

Students require responsive services with quick results and waiting times to see a professional need to be kept as short as possible to be valued by students. Brief interventions are therefore highly prized because they allow for more students to be seen over shorter periods of time, so solution-focused practice can thrive.

With increasing amounts of students reporting suicidal thoughts and feelings, solution-focused practice also suggests answers to the question of how to build safety in the lives of individual students.

Two of our three panel members are based in student wellbeing services, though students also receive support from elsewhere in the university community, and Rob and Chris will be joined by Emma, a lecturer who uses solution-focused work with her students to assist with issues aff ecting their academic, social and emotional lives.

This diversity will be among the topics of what promises to be a fascinating and important discussion.

Chris Ward Rob BlackEmma Maynard

i am a registered nurse (mental health) and solution Focused practitioner, working at the University of surrey. i was introduced to solution Focused practice in 2017 through BrieF. my enthusiasm for and ongoing journey towards mastery of the approach has been fuelled by membership of elliott Connie’s solution Focused University (sFU), and regular attendance at the UKAsFp regional group, solution Focus london.

rob joined Bath spa University in December 2015. he became involved in youth work in 1986 and since then went on to qualify as a child care social worker. over the last 21 years he has worked in a variety of voluntary and statutory sector settings. he was introduced and trained in the solution Focused model by eileen murphy in 1997 and went on to develop his own practice. he has presented workshops and plenary presentations throughout the UK and europe.

emma joined the University of portsmouth in 2010, after a social care career specialising in early help services. now teaching Childhood studies, emma has retained an interest in practice, working alongside the local authority over the past few years. having begun training in solution-focused work some years ago, she is now revisiting her skills to use in research and intervention projects for local families.

thur

sday

I pm

thur

sday

I pm

frid

ay J

uly

12 I t

imet

able

frid

ay J

uly

12 I t

imet

ableOpening activities

Plenary Solution-focused practice and social change Anne Rambo, and the Solution-Focused Collective

Morning break

Lunch

Afternoon break

Closing Plenary Connecting our hopes - A collective message from the UKASFP conference to the world

End

9.30

9.45

11.00

11.30

12.30/12.45

1.45

2.45

3.15

4.30

wor

ksho

psw

orks

hops

MICHAEL TIPPETT CENTREA collective development of SF - Have you heard the rumour?

& Dominik Godat

NEWTON 101 Hope in Conversation John Henden & AndrewCallcot

NEWTON 105 An introduction to using Creative Action Methods Brett Sentance & Jos Razzell

COMMONS 111 The Next Generation of Solution-Focused Practitioners Greg Oberbeck, Biba Rebolj & Ben Scott

CASTLELives beyond the script: Applying research to solution-focused practice Emma Maynard

Exploring the use of a solution-focused approach to develop academic buoyancy in Key Stage Two learners Hilary Anderson

COMMONS 223This therapy works! Using EEG to reveal how the brain responds to Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Rachel Gillibrand

NEWTON G08 Using SF to energise communities Janine Waldman & Paul Z Jackson

MICHAEL TIPPETT CENTRECommunities of Practice: Community Power and Systems Change Lee Dale, Darren Murinas & Steve Freeman

NEWTON G08Implementing solution-focused practice as a nursing approach in an eating disorders ward for adults Simone Howieson

COMMONS 111Grow Your Business through Word of Mouth ReferralsAndrew Gibson

NEWTON 105Making sense of meaning in postmodern therapies: connections and diversions Kirsten Dierolf & Hugh Palmer

COMMONS 223SF Intervision - the power of a team Paut Kromkamp

CASTLE What are your best hopes for Geeks Club? “Computers, Minecraft & Pokémon”! Using a solution-focused therapy approach in paediatric diabetes careMark Guyers

NEWTON 101Building hope through collaborative working with teams & families SFBT Essex - Leon Helsby, Luke Goldie-McSorley, Loredana Grigore & Greg Oberbeck

PlenaryFriday, 9.45pm I Room: Michael Tippett Centre

Anne Rambo, and the Solution-Focused Collective

Solution-focused practice and social change Last year’s UKASFP Conference in Liverpool saw a pioneering and inspiring stream of presentations on “SF and Social Change”. The seeds were sown there of the Solution-Focused Collective, which has been slowly developing in the year since. This loose grouping of solution-focused practitioners, who are committed to taking the solution-focused approach into the areas of social change and social justice, has been developing an SF manifesto for social change, the latest version of which will be unveiled in Bath, and making connections with like-minded practitioners around the world. One of these practitioners is Anne Rambo from the US, whose work in this area is groundbreaking, so we are delighted that Anne accepted our invitation to take part in this plenary on solution-focused practice and social change, which will be introduced by the Collective.

frid

ay I a

m

frid

ay I a

m

Developing the manifesto has raised interesting questions and produced equally interesting responses, and in discussing these, conference participants will have the chance to respond themselves here. Should solution-focused practitioners be concerning themselves with issues of social justice? And if so, is developing a manifesto a useful step towards this. For those of us whose answers to these questions is yes, what impact are we hoping a manifesto will have on our work and on our solution-focused practice?

Anne has welcomed the creation of the manifesto, and as well as sharing her ideas on this, she will describe work in which she has been involved that could serve as examples of the type of developments the manifesto is calling for.

Anne is a marriage and family therapist, and founding member of the solution Focused University, a Us-based group dedicated to social justice. she has written three books for therapists, and one for parents on how

to work with the school system. in 2018, she edited a special section of the Journal of systemic Therapies on solution-focused therapy and social justice. her work in the state-funded school system in the Us has been the subject of several articles, chapters and dissertations. in the promise program, Anne and graduate interns meet with youth suspended for problematic behavior and at risk of arrest. Their short, solution-focused meetings have helped reduce the recidivism rate from 50 to 8 percent in the Us’s sixth largest school district.

Anne Rambo

prof John sharry is founder of the parents plus Charity, adjunct professor at the school of psychology in University College Dublin, a founder of silver Cloud health and a weekly health columnist with the irish Times. he is the lead developer of the award-winning parents plus and silver Cloud health programmes that are used throughout ireland and the UK as well as also the best-selling author of fourteen solution-focused and self-help books. he is also the chair of the Feasta environmental charity concerned with developing a truly sustainable society and economy. see parentsplus.ie, solutiontalk.ie and feasta.org

John Henden and Andrew CallcottFriday, 11.30am I Room: Newton 101Hope in ConversationDrawing on decades of collective experience working with people who are actively suicidal, and who may also have made a serious attempt on their life; as well as training practitioners in solution-focused ways of eff ectively intervening, John and Andrew will be discussing “what works” in these situations.

Areas of refl ection will include • Instilling Hope• Managing our own anxieties• Useful SF techniques• Interesting case examples and success stories• Using empathy • Risk Assessment/Risk Management vs conversations that enhance client safety.

Rob and Guy are unlikely to grant us an extension so… with so much ground to cover, we will be relying on a People’s Vote, or at least Indicative Voting from the participants to determine which of these topics get priority treatment!

Andrew has worked in mental health services for over 30 years. having established a self harm service in the 1990s and with many years as a clinical leader in Crisis intervention

services, he has contributed to the establishment of Solution Focused approaches in this fi eld, publishing and presenting to conferences locally, nationally and internationally. latterly he works with people traumatised by the suicide of someone close - very often having discovered the body. he has been integrating the solution Focused approach - or ’stance’ - with emDr with considerable success to help clients coping with grief and pTsD.

Andrew Callcott

Brett Sentance

i am a Development manager and have been working in supported housing and homelessness for around 10 years. prior to this, a real mix of roles including the armed forces, construction and telecommunications. i am very passionate about relationship building, collaboration and being my authentic self, something i think is imperative when working with people.

Jos is one of a group of international trainers and practitioners who are committed to sharing the magic of J.l. moreno’s action methods

and sociodrama approaches to group and individual learning and development. her work in organisational and personal development supports a very diverse audience, from corporate exec teams to disengaged young people and those that support them, and she is especially interested in training others to deepen their coaching and training practice using morenian action methods.

Brett Sentance and Jos Razzell Friday, 11.30am I Room: Newton 105An introduction to using Creative Action MethodsIn this highly interactive workshop we will explain Creative Action Methods and show how they can be used as a solution-focused practice. Derived from Psychodrama and Sociometry, Creative Action Methods consists of visual and role-based approaches that provide ways to facilitate groups and deliver training, and can also be used in one-to-one settings. They can be used for personal and professional work, for example job and relationship choices, confl ict management, strategic planning, team building, review meetings, training and development events and community consultation. As you will discover in this workshop, they involve getting people moving around, thinking diff erently and creating very safe spaces for people. We are using them in the homelessness sector, where they are proving to be a very powerful and useful way of building and strengthening relationships. Feedback from training we have delivered using the approach has included “Feeling positive that a strengths-based approach can work”; “Reassuring that services are open to the movement towards Asset Based working approaches”, and “More service user-led approaches everywhere please!” We will be interested to hear your feedback after this workshop!

Jos Razzell

John is an international trainer, author, therapist and performance coach, having worked in mental health and psychological services for over 40 years.

For 20 years, he worked in nhs mental health services, as a practitioner and manager. he has been an sF practitioner since 1994. John delivers across three specialist areas: solution Focused recovery from severe Trauma & stress; suicide prevention and solution Focused stress management and resilience. A long-time member of minD, John has applied the sF approach to the widest range of mental health issues, including chronic depression, anxiety & stress, adult survivors of child abuse, relationship diffi culties, schizo-aff ective states and drug & alcohol dependency.

John Henden

frid

ay I a

m

frid

ay I a

m

Greg Oberbeck, Biba Rebolj & Ben ScottFriday 11.30am I Room: Commons 111The Next Generation of Solution-Focused PractitionersAre you interested in being part of and/or inspiring the next wave of Solution Focused practitioners? If yes, this workshop is for you! A topic that has brought together the SF Possibilities trio concerns the future of SF. What does the future hold? In SF Practice, we ask questions about this all of the time and invite people to think of what their future might look like, whether this be after a miracle or tomorrow when their best hopes are achieved.

The topic for this workshop is how do we spread the brilliance that is the Solution Focused approach to the next wave of practitioners and how we might use group processes to help us generate some possible ways forward while also looking at what has inspired all of us so far. During this workshop, you will be an active participant in a large Solution Focused group session making waves.

By the end of this workshop, you will be skilled in how to conduct a Solution Focused session with a group. In addition you will also be feeling inspired, hopeful and energised about continuing to make waves in spreading Solution Focused practice.

Greg has been practicing sF for over seven years now with families as part of an ‘edge of care’ team within social Care in essex ,doing direct work with families as well as helping to develop practice through regular workshops, sF supervision as well as sF trainings. During this time, greg has wanted to continue to do more with the approach, and so over the past few years he has been working with the Young Women’s Trust providing sF telephone coaching and also has an online-based private practice.

Following training with BrieF, Ben has spent the last 3 years utilising solution Focused practice in an early help and intervention setting. Ben delivers regular solution Focused training to social Workers, early Help Practitioners, and voluntary sector staff , supervises a Borough wide ‘solution Focused schools service’, and co-ordinates a bi-monthly ‘sF Community of practice’. You can tell he has caught the sF bug! in addition Ben also uses the solution Focused approach when working for ‘Azalea’, a charity supporting women and men to escape the world of sexual exploitation.

Biba has been one of the visible representatives of the next SF generation. Only a year after her fi rst course at BrieF in 2014, she started bringing sF practice to her home country, slovenia. Quickly she became known as “slo sF Queen” as well as noticed as an international speaker at sF conferences. having moved to london recently, she is now building a bridge between eU trainings for groups in the youth fi eld and continuing to train professionals internationally and in the UK.

Janine Waldman and Paul Z JacksonFriday 11.30am I Room: Newton G08Using SF to energise communitiesWe’ve applied SF to develop communities, including South Tyneside, Reading and Combe Down. It’s all about directing attention, fi nding what’s wanted, identifying resources and thinking about how to scale up small successful changes.

In this interactive session, we’ll share what we’ve found to work so far, and ask what is the potential for SF in communities and how we might go about using SF to change the world.

paul Z Jackson and Janine Waldman are co-directors of The solutions Focus (TsF), which specialises in coaching, training and

consultancy. We have a proven track record of delivering long-term sustainable results within organisations such as Beiersdorf Ag (nivea), The metropolitan police, imperial College, Tate, John laing, reading Borough Council. They are co-authors of positively speaking – The Art of Constructive Conversations with a solutions Focus and The resilience pocketbook.

Paul Z Jackson

Janine Waldman

Greg Oberbeck, Biba Rebolj & Ben ScottGreg Oberbeck, Biba Rebolj & Ben ScottGreg Oberbeck, Biba Rebolj

frid

ay I a

m

frid

ay I a

m

Elfi e Czerny and Dominik GodatFriday, 11.30am I Room: Michael Tippett CentreA collective development of SF - Have you heard the rumour?Join in this cutting edge conversation about useful ways of talking about the development of solution-focused practices. When we talked to people who were at the Brief Family Therapy Center at the beginning, they all mentioned how exciting this time was: a time full of development, of trying out new things. Some described it as “the time when SFBT was still a verb”, a time of doing and developing. Steve de Shazer liked to refer to it as “it” or “the work we do”, as something that is evolving, something beyond labels. And solution-focused practices and the people involved have been evolving ever since. The latest discourse about the development of solution-focused practices, initiated by Mark McKergow, got us curious: How can we spread the good news together in a good way? How can we talk about development in an inclusive way that puts diff erences to work and fosters learning? How can we develop collectively and cherish diff erences? Join us around our SF motor home for a meaningful conversation beyond labels. Let’s learn together. Let’s foster a collective development of SF. Join our “SF on Tour” experience!

We are solution Focused change facilitators, travelling full-time in hearty, our solution Focused recreational Vehicle (rV), with our daughter. our favourite destination is the land of possibilities. in

June 2017 we gave away our apartment in switzerland, downsized our belongings to what fi ts into an RV and moved into our hearty. since then we have been travelling in europe, the United states and Canada, sharing our work with people on the road, at universities and organisations, as well as meeting solution Focused practitioners and interviewing them on our simply Focus podcast. What started out with the quest to get to the essence of life and sF has become a fascinating collective journey to the roots and the diversity of sF practices around the world. We are on our way: look out for the sF motorhome. Join our sF journey and experience how we spread sF on the road – with meaningful conversations and barista coff ee.

Rachel GillibrandFriday, 11.30am I Room: Commons 223This therapy works! Using Electroencephalography (EEG) to reveal how the brain responds to Solution Focused HypnotherapyIn this session, a 20 minute presentation will lead into a facilitated discussion about issues of interest arising for the participants.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) combines solution-focused practice with trance to help clients move towards their preferred future. SFH follows the same process as SF: ‘best hopes’, preferred future (Miracle Question), instances and exceptions, coping and scaling, but is augmented through trance using specifi c language patterns. These are composed of three main elements: relaxation, deepener and metaphor.

A pilot study was conducted with 8 participants over 4 sessions to evaluate the use of SFH in the treatment of anxiety. Quantitative measures of happiness, satisfaction with life, relaxation and feelings of tranquillity all improved signifi cantly. EEG recordings were taken during trance to detect what eff ect the hypnosis element of the therapy had on the participants. The results showed a signifi cant drop in beta wave activity at the relaxation stage. Through the deepener phase, alpha and theta waves increased. During the metaphor, there was strong theta wave activity in the prefrontal cortex suggesting the client is engaged in problem solving and creativity, and even entering into the ‘eureka’ phase of therapy. This preliminary study off ers an insight into the potential neurological mechanisms by which SFP delivers positive change.

rachel is a Chartered psychologist, specialising in the application of psychology to health and wellbeing. A qualifi ed Solution-Focused hypnotherapist, rachel runs a successful practice

delivering solution-focused therapy. she is registered as a practitioner psychologist with the health and Care professions Council and is an Associate Fellow of the British psychological society. rachel is a senior lecturer at the University of the West of england and a self-confessed neuro-nerd. she thanks her student interns for supporting her in developing this line of research and for doing all the stats.

Elfi e Czerny & Dominik GodatElfi e Czerny & Dominik GodatElfi e Czerny &

Rachel Gillibrand

frid

ay I a

m

frid

ay I a

m

Emma Maynard

Lives beyond the script: Applying research to solution-focused practice In this talk I will present a doctoral research project, and engage participants in considering the relevance of the fi ndings within solution-focused work. The research investigated the lived experience of learning and change in complex families, focusing on parents who had received social care intervention at the Early Help stage (tier 3). Key fi ndings to emerge from this research indicated the nuanced and intricate experience of parents re-aligning their identity as a “good” parent, within expectations of professional agencies. For some, this represented a seismic change in expectations, and challenged systemic values within their own histories, raising uncertainty and confusion. Points of refl ection indicated key moments of resonance for individuals and highlighted the complexity of lived experience. The research calls for a positioning of social intervention as a pedagogy, to support transformational learning, and leads to a question of how this might be achieved. Participants will be invited to a critical discussion regarding the application of these fi ndings within solution-focused practice.

emma joined the University of portsmouth in 2010, after a social care career specialising in early help services. now teaching Childhood studies, emma has retained an interest in practice, working alongside the local authority over the past few years. having begun

training in solution-focused work some years ago, she is now revisiting her skills to use in research and intervention projects for local families. in a second project she is using solution-focused work with undergraduate students to identify solutions to issues aff ecting their academic, social and emotional lives. emma hopes to graduate as a Doctor of education in 2019.

Hilary Anderson

Exploring the use of a solution-focused approach to develop academic buoyancy in Key Stage Two learnersAcademic buoyancy, or ‘everyday resilience’, is described as the capacity to overcome the setbacks, challenges and pressures that are part of everyday school life and as such is relevant to the vast majority of pupils. How this buoyancy can be developed through the use of a solution-focused approach is explored in a small-scale, exploratory, collaborative action research study. Five teachers from three schools utilised this approach to co-construct solutions with selected pupils. Ten pupils in Key Stage Two classrooms took part, and analysis of semi-structured interviews with teachers and pupils point to the effi cacy of this approach to develop academic buoyancy. Results are also informing considerations on how best to employ future solution-focused work to develop academic buoyancy, and as such this approach holds promise for further research in this area.

Applying research to practiceFriday 11.30am I Room: CastleIn this one hour session, participants will hear about research related to solution-focused practice in work with families and with children, and in each of the two talks there will be a focus on the application of the fr

iday

I am

frid

ay I a

m

Emma Maynard

From a teaching background, i am currently a busy education adviser in norfolk. i primarily support schools to develop pupil learning ‘behaviours’ such as resilience and independence and am passionate about all pupils

being furnished with the skills they need to recognise and overcome barriers to learning. i have utilised and championed solution-focused approaches for many years and incorporate this into much of my work. i am currently studying for a Doctorate in education and the use of a solution-focused approach is central to my thesis.

Hilary Anderson

Lee Dale, Darren Murinas and Steve Freeman Friday 1.45pm I Room: Michael Tippett CentreCommunities of Practice: Community Power and Systems Change This interactive session will be based on a mix of lived experience narrative, presentation and discussion with delegates. People will be invited to develop questions about the possibilities created by Communities of Practice (CoPs) and discuss these in a hosted conversation format.

CoPs generally and Stoke-on-Trent Community of Practice (Stoke CoP) specifi cally have an impressive pedigree. From community development projects in America to the harnessing of technical expertise in the UK, CoPs have been harnessing untapped resources for years. The Little Miracles report from 2013 describes a project in which the impact of CoPs was assessed - http://www.revolving-doors.org.uk/fi le/1808/download?token=hADIbO3p. Stoke was one of the research centres and the legacy group was developed by key CoP members, Bruno Ornelas and Sarah Wilshaw. Phase two of Stoke CoP came with the introduction of a solution-focused practitioner as chair/facilitator and the development of ideas from the defunct Staff ordshire Community of Solution Focused Practice which had been established and run by Carl Plant and Steve Freeman.

More CoP information can be found athttps://stevefreeman.org.uk/communities-of-practice-and-sfp/http://www.voicesofstoke.org.uk/tag/communities-of-practice/

frid

ay I p

m

frid

ay I p

m

A fi lm maker, blogger and accredited training facilitator, lee works for Voices of stoke as a Community Development Coordinator. he has worked with various organisations across the country to raise awareness of the diffi culties people face

who are experiencing homelessness. By using his own lived experience of homelessness, Lee is able to fi ll in the gaps that many professionals do not get to see or experience, shining new light on one of the most diffi cult social issues of our time. most recently, lee has been working closely with the Accident and emergency department of royal stoke hospital, to infl uence the way in which homelessness is recorded and acted upon when people present there.

Lee Dale

steve, a solution-focused practitioner based in stoke-on-Trent, did his fi rst SF training in 1996 and is still trying to understand it. he works as a trainer, therapist and coach in areas from ‘complex and multiple needs’ to health

behaviour change. he dislikes both terms and is working to change them. he has been working with Voices of stoke and expert Citizens for several years to develop and run Communities of practice based in solution-focused practice. The model is now well established across the UK and is used by other organisations in the homelessness sector.

Steve Freeman

Darren is the Chief executive of expert Citizens CiC, a trustee of the lankelly Chase Foundation and adviser for the national lottery Community Fund Board. Darren has worked with local and national media outlets such as BBC radio stoke, BBC radio hereford and Worcester, BBC radio Four listening project, Victoria Derbyshire show, the Guardian and the Huffi ngton Post. Darren

is a national facilitator, working with organisations including meAm, homeless link, Joseph rowntree Foundation, Virgin money Foundation. Darren is also a national speaker, using his experience of severe and multiple disadvantage to challenge stereotypes and traditional narratives, dispelling the myth that people experiencing some of the toughest social issues of our time are making a ‘lifestyle choice’.

Darren Murinas

frid

ay I p

m

frid

ay I p

m

SFBT Essex - Leon Helsby, Luke Goldie-McSorley, Loredana Grigore & Greg OberbeckFriday, 1.45pm I Room: Newton 101Building hope through collaborative working with teams and familiesThe UK’s Solution Focused Full Jedi’s coming from Essex where they, alongside their highly trained DBIT workforce, build hope through using Solution Focused daily across edge of care, school inclusion, reunifi cation and more!

We will present about the spectrum of hope in various collectives and groups throughout our Solution Focused practice. How do we maintain hope alongside the high risks involved in local authority edge of care work? We will talk about how we maintain collective hope in people; from working in pairs, to support of team, whole service hope, through to multi agency spreading of hope and, most importantly, with family groups where hope is sometimes low.

Our plan is to inspire everyone in the room that all varieties of collectives, groups and individuals can use Hope for people and Solution Focused to be at their best in their work. And to show the nuances of how to do this in a workshop with lots of practice, demos and takeaways.

We will share and discuss our experience of being part of a Solution Focused network and how that keeps hope alive in our professional conversations and work with families. We have so much to share! And we keep learning!

leon, luke, loredana and greg are experienced practitioners working in essex Children and Families service in an edge of care team (DBiT). They are all trained in BrieF’s solution Focused Diploma and passionate about building hope and uncovering strength. Between them they

have worked with hundreds of families utilising the brilliance of solution Focused Brief Therapy across local authority edge of Care service. They start from the strong belief/sF assumption that everyone can change and become the best version of themselves, from practitioners to clients!They recently hosted their second annual national solution Focused in statutory Contexts Conference, which was a massive success, doubling in size from last year and having delegates and speakers from all over the country and world. The success of the conference coincided with the release of their book ‘The Refl ections of Solution Focused practitioners in an edge of Care service’, which brings together over 30 chapters/blogs written by practitioners across DBiT (including greg, loredana, leon and luke) of their experiences using, learning, developing and celebrating solution Focused practice in their daily work. Copies of the book will be available at the conference.

Simone HowiesonFriday, 1.45pm I Room: Newton G08Implementing solution-focused practice as a nursing approach in an eating disorders ward for adultsIn this session, a 20 minute presentation will lead into a facilitated discussion about issues of interest arising for the participants.

As a ward we were fi nding an issue with the nursing approach being inconsistent and boundaries swinging between being rescuing and persecutory. We wanted to adapt this in line with a patient-focused and positive approach, particularly as the team had expanded to accommodate four newly qualifi ed Registered Mental Nurses. We have therefore implemented a training programme that allows for the application of solution-focused therapy within the treatment of eating disorders. This talk aims to explore the issues within this and how we are aiming to sustain ongoing practice.

simone howieson is a mental health nurse based in Sheffi eld. She obtained the Diploma in solution Focused practice in 2010 from BrieF in london.

simone has a special interest in eating disorders and has worked in this fi eld for over ten years. simone has worked predominantly with anorexic clients of all ages, in hospital and community settings. For the last fi ve years she has managed a medium-sized ward for anorexic adults in riverdale Grange Hospital in Sheffi eld. Simone is developing solution-focused practice across the ward by delivering a training programme to staff and embedding practice via live supervision.

Simone Howieson

SFBT Essex team

frid

ay I p

m

frid

ay I p

mAndrew GibsonFriday, 1.45pm I Room: Commons 111Grow Your Business through Word of Mouth ReferralsThis workshop will help you fi nd more people to help through application of your practice. Using the Solution Focused Approach, we will work together to identify the people you help, how you help them, and how you can develop your social capital to fi nd more referrals to similar people. This will appeal to those who are (or hope to be) self-employed, or wish to spend more time with people they love helping, while ensuring you are helping in ways that make a diff erence.

Traditional business support asks us to fi nd our Unique Selling Point, yet this is impossible and leads to treating everyone as a competitor. If, using SFP, you look from your client’s perspective, you can fi nd the unique group of people you would like word of mouth referrals to – your Unique Referral Point. As well as fi nding clients more easily, your competitors can become colleagues you refer to, helping you work with the people you want to help more of the time.

To paraphrase Maya Angelou, “don’t just make a living; make a life.” If you hope to be “the best you” every day, and enjoy every Monday morning, come to this workshop.

Andrew gibson is a solution Focused practitioner based in leeds, West Yorkshire. he helps people start and grow businesses, and is especially known for helping charities

and “not-for-profi t” companies to develop sustainable revenues. he is the author of “What’s Your Urp?” which was published Feb 2019, and has spoken at sFp Conferences in the UK and in europe on topics as wide ranging as community development, helping people with Autism, and on his favourite subject, helping people who earn little to earn a little more - to not just make a living; to make a life.

Kirsten Dierolf and Hugh Palmer Friday, 1.45pm I Room: Newton 105Making sense of meaning in postmodern therapies: connections and diversionsThere are important historical connections and similarities between systemic, narrative and solution focused practices. While there may be diff erent explanations for ‘what works’, all have roots fi rmly embedded in the Mental Research Institute – a distinctly modernist origin - and have had to adapt to postmodernism and social constructionism. Both SFT and Narrative approaches evolved diff erently from their systemic origins, being led by very diff erent proponents; it is arguable that de Shazer and White and Epston both off ered alternative descriptions of very similar principles, with de Shazer claiming to ‘anti-intellectual’ to an extent, and White and Epston overtly more philosophically orientated.

Over time, attention in these therapeutic approaches turned from a focus on therapist ‘expertise’ and a sense of a real, identifi able and ‘true’ problem to a focus on client knowledge, meaning-making and accepting that there are multiple ‘truths’.

Both Hugh and Kirsten use solution focused, narrative and systemic ideas, theories and practices in their work, and will engage in a dialogue about how these ideas have evolved, sharing their thoughts about how they may continue to develop in the future, infl uencing change for individuals, families and broader networks.

Kirsten Dierolf, m.A., mCC, mAsFp, runs solutionsAcademy, an international iCF-accredited coach training school which delivers online training. she learnt

solution Focus from insoo Kim Berg and steve de shazer and trained in narrative therapy at the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide. in 2019 she started a training on “interActional Coaching” combining narrative, solution focused and iCF coaching in collaboration with Jeff Chang. Kirsten is the author of solution Focused Team Coaching and co-author of The solutions Tango. she co-founded the fi rst international association for SF in organisations and InterAction, the fi rst peer reviewed journal on sF in organisations.

Kirsten Dierolf

Andrew Gibson

hugh palmer is a UKCp registered systemic Family psychotherapist, based in the Yorkshire Wolds. After a long career working as a

University lecturer and in the nhs as a Family Therapist, he now works in private practice, providing therapy, consultation and training. he has had an interest in solution focused therapy for many years and regularly teaches this approach, locally and nationally, in universities, nhs and other agencies.

Hugh Palmer

frid

ay I p

m

frid

ay I p

m

Paut KromkampFriday, 1.45pm I Room: Commons 223SF Intervision - the power of a teamLooking for fresh ideas? Stuck with a client? Struggling with workload? Bring your ‘How can I...’ question and experience what collective Solution Focused thinking power can bring.

Finding the next step in dilemmas or projects, getting to know colleagues better and utilising the know-how that is already there are all elements of Solution Focused Intervision that participants and their managers appreciate. Additionally, there is the bonus of continuously practicing Solution Focused skills and strengthening a resource-based and appreciative culture.

In this workshop you will hear about our experiences in The Netherlands and Belgium in facilitating Intervision sessions and training facilitators over the last twelve years. We will talk about its application in self-organising teams, in project-management, with teams of practitioners, management teams and groups of strangers coming together to gain inspiration. The latest development is facilitating Intervision online with people from around the world.

You will have the opportunity to experience the power of one or two formats of a Solution Focused Intervision session. You can bring a question or dilemma you’d like help with, or participate in the process by asking clarifying questions, sharing ideas and appreciation. Participants say: it is fun, fast and eff ective!

As a coach, trainer and organisational consultant i help people to be more eff ective in their work, have more joy and feel less burdened. i

love working with everyone in the organisation, from the volunteers to the top brass, as i am a fi rm believer in the power of the parallel process. Change the culture, one conversation at a time. After 25 years of working as a physiotherapist and a manager, i came across solution Focus and never looked back. i work in The netherlands, Belgium and beyond, in both Dutch and english.

Mark GuyersFriday, 1.45pm I Room: CastleWhat are your best hopes for Geeks Club? “Computers, Minecraft & Pokémon”! Using a solution-focused therapy approach in paediatric diabetes careIn this session, a 20 minute presentation will lead into a facilitated discussion about issues of interest arising for the participants.

This presentation will give examples of how SFT has been utilised to facilitate a group for young people with type 1 diabetes who also have additional diagnosed need (Asperger’s/autism). I will discuss how inclusive the Geeks Club is and how its agenda is really whatever the kids want it to be, as they take the lead. The Club has been found to be an exercise in the sharing of resources with the kids, who sometimes, due to their diabetes and diagnosed or undiagnosed developmental disability, don’t get the opportunity to see their special skills and interests develop and fl ourish. The presentation will include useful questions that have been used to facilitate a group, and pictures, written materials and testimonials of what the club means to the young people and their parents. The implications for the impact it has had on diabetes management will also be discussed.

mark is an assistant psychologist working in the Clinical health psychology Department in southport. he has previously worked within neuropsychology, acute

and primary mental health settings and has recently begun making clinical applications of psychology to physical health. he co-presents the ‘get To Clinical’ podcast which aims to support students on the journey to becoming clinical psychologists and does this as part of a role with the British psychological society. mark and the podcast can be reached on Twitter: @markguyers and @getToClinical

Paut Kromkamp

Mark Guyers

Closing plenaryFriday, 3.15pm I Room: Michael Tippett Centre

Elfi e Czerny & Dominik Godat

Connecting our hopes - A collective message from the UKASFP conference to the world Join us for the grand fi nale, a collective and interactive experience, celebrating our hope, in conversation and in action, in the past, present and future. Together we connect, feature the brilliance of all the participants, and create a collective message of the UKASFP conference to the world in a fun and collaborative way. Be part of this unique live event with a worldwide reach.

frid

ay I p

m

We are solution Focused change facilitators, travelling full-time in hearty, our solution Focused recreational Vehicle (rV),

with our daughter. our favourite destination is the land of possibilities. in June 2017 we gave away our apartment in switzerland, downsized our belongings to what fi ts into an RV and moved into our Hearty. since then we have been travelling in europe, the United states and Canada, sharing our work with people on the road, at universities and organisations, as well as meeting solution Focused practitioners and interviewing them on our simply Focus podcast. What started out with the quest to get to the essence of life and sF has become a fascinating collective journey to the roots and the diversity of sF practices around the world. We are on our way: look out for the sF motorhome. Join our sF journey and experience how we spread sF on the road – with meaningful conversations and barista coff ee.

Hearty

frid

ay I p

m

Elfi e Czerny &Dominik GodatElfi e Czerny &Dominik GodatElfi e Czerny &

21

22

22

23

24

26