Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

The Service: I work with youth, adults, and families who have crises or who want to make changes in their live

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a model of counseling that is "client-centered" and directed towards the goals or outcomes the person or family want to achieve. Practitioners of this approach work with people to utilize their strengths and resources to make the changes they desire. Yvonne Dolan explains SFBT in this brief video.

I have studied and practiced with this approach since 1989, have trained with the originators of the approach (including Yvonne Dolan, Insoo Berg, Bill O'Hanlon, and Joel Simon), written or co-authored articles about SFBT, and trained other social workers, crisis counselors, and brief therapists in this approach.

I taught the only graduate-level SFBT class at the UT Steve Hicks School of Social Work on this approach for 12 years. Recent research studies on SFBT have helped it achieve the status of an "evidence-based" practice approach. Similar models of counseling include Narrative Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. These kinds of counseling have also been called Client Directed, Outcome Informed (CDOI) because the client directs the work toward outcomes that they have identified.

These forms of counseling are described by clients as:

These approaches to counseling include the following models of counseling that can be found in the literature and on the internet:

[You can learn more about all the above labels by searching for them on the world-wide web]