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Solution-Focused Counselling in Schools: Beyond Questions
Jeff Chang, Ph.D., R.Psych.Associate ProfessorGraduate Centre for Applied PsychologyAthabasca University
Overview
Solution-focused (SF) counselling is more than questions!
Think about the big picture and about solution-focused presence an abiding belief that that clients are already
doing a great deal of what they would like to do the skill to notice openings to inquire about what
the client is doing that is in line with his/her goals the creativity to invite clients to notice and do
more of what works.
A bit about me Child and youth care worker Therapist/psychologist Private practitioner Program supervisor and director University teacher Researcher
Books….
Chang, J. (2013) (Ed.). Creative interventions with children: A transtheoretical approach. Calgary: Family Psychology Press.
Books….
Barker, P., & Chang, J. (2013) (Ed.). Basic family therapy (6th ed.) London: Wiley
Clinical Supervision….
I love doing clinical supervision After supervising about 20 Provisional
Registered Psychologists, I actually figured out what I was doing…
… and developed an approach to supervision, the Contextual-Functional Metaframework for clinical supervision
The “Faraway Fathers” Project
Distinct family dynamics when families have to deal with one or two weeks away/ one or two weeks off.
Looking for families (heterosexual couples with children in the house) to participate.
High Conflict Divorce And Parenting
Most of my current practice is dealing with high conflict divorce…
Researching New Ways for Families, an intervention for divorcing parents to prevent high conflict parenting
Six Background Principles
Think “Big Picture” Think Coherently About Your Work Think Relationally Think Developmentally Think Positively and Optimistically Think Ecologically and Systemically
Think “Big Picture”
What keeps you going? What’s your mission and vision?
Discourses: The “big ideas” that operate in our culture
What are some of the trends and larger cultural stories connected
with them?
Think “Big Picture”
We are often so close to them, we cannot see how discourses stand behind and sponsor our ideas and beliefs – we often cannot see the forest for the trees. the primacy of competition (capitalism?); the preference for knowing through
modernist, western, scientific thought; gender roles the nature of childhood.
Think “Big Picture”
We are often so close to them, we cannot see how discourses stand behind and sponsor our ideas and beliefs – we often cannot see the forest for the trees. the primacy of competition (capitalism?); the preference for knowing through
modernist, western, scientific thought; gender roles the nature of childhood.
Childhood….
Think Coherently About Your Work
Lots of exciting new ideas in counselling
Counselling theories and common factors
Psychotherapy integration Develop a clear way of working that fits
for you personally.
Think Coherently About Your Work
Counsellors select their theoretical orientation based on what fit for them; it’s an aesthetic choice
What are the models and theories that guide your work? How do you
integrate?
Think Relationally
The working alliance is more important than technique
Kids need connection more than therapy
Balancing role as a teacher with the role of facilitator or supporter
Think Relationally
The biggest contributor to therapeutic outcome is the therapeutic alliance
Emotional connection, but also, agreement on tasks, goals, and methods
The relationship must support the intervention
Take the time to privilege the child’s perspective
Place yourself in the position of a therapeutic aunt or uncle.
Think Relationally
Use your natural style to connect with the children who come to see you; use what works for you.
Be someone they enjoy coming to see; be one of the rare people in their lives who is not interested in telling them what to do – just be present.
Think of a child/youth who really connected with you… what did you do to
invite that?
Think Developmentally Cognitive and emotional development “Grown-ups read things they wrote as k
ids” The family life cycle
Think Positively and Optimistically
Not just thinking, but listening, perceiving, and being alert to contrasts
Thinking positively does not refer to reciting affirmations or ignoring problems - Stuart Smalley
Change peters out, rather than rippling on, if we do not listen for openings and explore them
Noticing openings
Think Ecologically and Systemically
Help others notice Help others support When adults say,“Fix this kid,” get
them to help you When possible, moving the work into
the community to assist communities to develop supports
Think Ecologically and Systemically
Develop protective/resilience factors All child/adolescent counselling is
“family therapy” in the sense that we must consider the context in which the young person lives
Bonus Point: Problems are Negotiable and Change Happens In All Kinds of Ways What is the problem or goal? Matching
intervention with what the client wants How do you talk about the problem? –
buy-in My experiences: dental health and joint
health: How does change happen?
Reflect on one successful effort to change and one that went not so well? What contributed to each outcome?
Five Interlocking Activities
Setting and maintaining the relational foundation
Listening for clients’ world view, strengths, and preferences
Negotiating a solvable problem or an achievable project
Opening meaningful experiences of difference Within session Between sessions
Circulating these experiences of difference
The Interview
Context: Summer Externship at Calgary Family
Therapy Centre Consultation/demonstration interview The P family:
Parents: Kelly (F), Krista (M), Kody (12), Kori (9), Kamryn (5)
Violent outbursts Kody was in day treatment in Grade 2 More responsive to Dad than Mom Mom had to restrain him at last session
Setting And Maintaining The Relational Foundation
Play with children before you work with them
Be a therapeutic “uncle” or “aunt,” or…
“I Have No Idea.”
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Positioning As A Professional
Think of one professional person (education, health, or mental health) with whom you interacted as a child in your growing-up years. Perhaps
you were the patient/client, or perhaps a family member was. What
did you appreciate and find supportive? What did you not? How, and how well, did the professional
tailor his/her approach to “where the child was at.”
Setting and Maintaining the Relational Foundation The relationship must support everything Who is concerned or involved with the
problem? Include others in a non-blameful way Spend lots of time connecting with
everyone, especially if the family is polarized
Therapeutic relationship and problem definition/goal are interrelated – how you talk about it matters
“I Have No Idea” – Part 2
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Listening For Clients’ World View, Strengths, and Preferences Getting to know the child apart
from the problem What are the parents' beliefs about
this problem? and about parenting?
what is the child good at? How did he/she get that way? “wonderfulness conversations”
An Expert At…
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Listening For Clients’ World View, Strengths, and Preferences
Sometimes you can find something to utilize…
The child’s experience will give you ideas about how the child acquires skills, useful “character traits,” good habits, etc.
… or sometimes not…
“Do They Give You Power?”
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Negotiating a Solvable Problem or an Achievable Project
Elicit a problem description that everyone can buy into – at least “sort of”
Minimize blame and create space for respectful disagreement
beware of clashing problem definitions/ beliefs child vs. parent parent vs. school therapist vs. parent
“Mad or Bad”
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Negotiating a Solvable Problem or an Achievable Project
Despite your best engagement strategies, things can turn negative in a hurry.
Miracle Question: Hypothetical solutions that bypass the need for mutual blame
Externalize the problem Naming the goal or project in a way that fits
for everyone “Shared sense of purpose” – the most crucial
aspect of the working alliance with families
Opening Meaningful Experiences of Difference… Within Session
“Inter-Viewing”What’s different? Behavioral sequence:
Emotion Cognition Behavior Sensation Interpersonal
Past real-life exceptions may be more accessible than hypothetical ones: “Can you remember…?”
“When is it Different?”
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Opening Meaningful Experiences of Difference
the highlight package using drawings to elicit
exceptions scaling drawings miracle drawings exception/new story drawings rehearsal in sessions
A Miracle…
A Good Time With Dad…
Interviewing for Exceptions
Divide into groups of two or three The interviewee thinks of a time
when he/she overcame a difficulty. It could be large or small, your own or someone else’s
The interviewer (who may have two heads), from a position of undying curiosity, asks questions like:
Interviewing for Exceptions
The interviewer asks questions like: Describe what happened when you
overcame ____ problem. What did you do? How did you get yourself to do that? What would others have noticed? (And if you run out of things to say) –
What else?
Circling Back….
Listening for clients’ world view, strengths, and preferences Something else about Pokemon…
A Hidden Exception…
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Find, Elicit, or Create Meaningful Experiences of Difference
Contradiction/contrasts Identity and preferences What kind of person do you want to be?
“Big Hearted or Good Hearted”
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“Two Pictures”
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Find, Elicit, Or Create Meaningful Experiences Of Difference
Using numerical or visual means to track progress
Scaling for: Progress Confidence Motivation
What is different between a 3 and a 4? Detailed description of pattern,
sequences, and modalities
What’s the Balance?
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Disagreeing About Progress
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Circling Back Again: Recalling Another Exception
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Find, Elicit, or Create Meaningful Experiences of Difference
Macro-description Skimming the
surface of exceptions and joining them
Developing an attributional description
Micro-description Detailed sequential
description of: Actions Thoughts Emotions Sensations interpersonal
Connecting themes Eliciting a past instance: An actual
Personal Agency: “I Never Thought Of That”
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Find, Elicit, or Create Meaningful Experiences of Difference
Between sessions (end of session interventions) observational tasks for parents and
teachers practicing one or two things bragging meetings reading a new story together
“Notice…”
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Amplify, Anchor, and Maintain New Experiences
rituals and celebrations certificates and letters reflecting teams
Therapeutic Letters
Offer commendations to individual family members and/or to the family as a whole, highlighting strengths and competencies
Acknowledge problems and their effect Highlight particular words, ideas, or
recommendations that stood out from the therapy session.
Pose questions about future directions how to keep changes going what developments or new insights will
follow Highlight what you are learning from the
client(s) or from your work with them.
Reflecting Teams
Observing team exchanges positions with the client(s)
The team presents mulitple perspectives tentatively Process:
Physical separation Not addressing the clients direclty Owning one’s own persective
Epxressing observations tentatively This permits clients to take or leave the team’s
perspective, and for the therapist to interview the lcient(s) about what they noticed
THE TEAM REFLECTS…
After the Reflection 1
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After the Reflection 2
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The Most Important Thing
Madhav Ghimire, the national poet of Nepal, said:
“When you touch people with compassion, their good characteristics emerge”
Contact:
E-mail: [email protected]
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