SIMPLY FOCUS Podcast: The Good Life Approach - Your podcast with the little extra Solution Focus for your daily life!

Andrew Gibson and the URP. In today’s episode, we talk with Andrew Gibson who is helping small businesses and charities to grow with Solution Focus, about what fascinates him about Solution Focus, a story of how he helped someone recently and the differences this question can make, his Solution Focused process of how he helps small businesses and charities to grow, and what he enjoys most about his work and how he has a seven day „weekend”. Learn more about the idea of the URP (Unique Referral Point) and his new book „What’s your URP? Don’t just make a living; make a life.”. Find out more about what is helpful for small businesses to grow and how Solution Focus can be helpful in this process, the shift from „doing“ to „noticing“ observable noticeable differences and the differences this shift made for him, as well as the challenges that people face who want to bring Solution Focus into the business world. Andrew tells us about his passion as member of the committee of the UKASFP (UK Association for Solution Focused Practice) and SFiO (Solution Focus in Organisations) and the power of stories and why to make someone else the hero of the story. And do the challenge of the week: „Notice when someone has made a difference and compliment the person for it.”

The post SFP 70 – What is your URP? Helping Small Businesses and Charities to Grow with Andrew Gibson appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Jonas Wells about the history of SF. In today’s episode, we talk with Jonas Wells, Solution-Focused Practitioner, Trainer, Author and Manager about his story of exploring the history of Solution Focus. Find out more about what fascinates him with Solution Focus, the Solution-Focused playlist and music as a different language game, his interest in the history of Solution Focus and his learnings for today, as well as the importance of the early period and the vibrant learning atmosphere back then. Listen to the four versions of how the miracle question might have emerged, how this view on the history of SF could be useful for our own practice, and the political and ethical dimension of Solution Focus. Get in contact with the SF community, a rich and inclusive resource. And check out the Challenge of the week: Ask yourself the following five questions: „What am I doing? Why am I doing it? How am I doing at it? How am I doing in it? What am I bringing to it?". This episode is a tribute to Björn Johansson and all the people who contributed to Solution Focus.

The post SFP 69 – Mutually Influenced: A Talk about the History of Solution Focus with Jonas Wells appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Dr. Biba Rebolj about unteaching SF. In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Biba Rebolj, international Trainer and Practitioner in Solution-Focused Practice, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and co-founder of "Solution Focused Possibilities", about what fascinates her with Solution Focus, what she did have to unlearn to do Solution Focus and what helped her to unlearn, how she got referred to BRIEF and how she started training with them - or how she moved from Slovenia to London. Check out how the BRIEF training fit to her endeavour to be minimalistic. Biba shares her thoughts on unlearning and unteaching Solution Focus and talks about the SF Possibilities-trio - Biba Rebolj, Greg Oberbeck, and Ben Scott - and how they celebrate their differences. Find out how she started training people in Slovenia and what helped her doing that as well as her way of cooperating with young people and the value of observing and showing your own work. And check out the Challenge of the week: „Look for ways where SF is not present."

The post SFP 68 – Inspiring the Next Generation: Unlearning and Unteaching Solution-Focused Practice with Dr. Biba Rebolj appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Erin Cusanno is doing more of what works. In today’s episode, we talk with Erin Cusanno, Solution-Focused Practitioner, School Counselor (NCC) and Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), about Solution-Focus in School Counseling. Erin shares with us what fascinates her with Solution Focus, how her conversations as school counselor have changed with Solution-Focus ,and what differences this has made for her and her students. Learn how she got in touch with Solution Focus, how she landed in a train-the-trainer course with Brenda Zalter-Minden and Heather Fiske at the SFBTA conference in Santa Fe and what fascinated her back then. Find out how she started using it in her own work as school counselor and how she started to train school administrators and others in her school district and in the community. We talk about how she builds on what works and does more of it, her experiences at the SFU conference and at BRIEF Summer School, and about the mastery and the art of Solution-Focused practice. Erin mentions the importance of acknowledging and honoring it when clients share their struggles, the power of a small step, and the valuable differences that talking with Solution-Focused practitioners can make. And join in the Challenge of the week: „Challenge yourself to take a small step in a direction that feels helpful to you.”

The post SFP 67 – Building on What Works: A Different Kind of Conversation in School Counseling with Erin Cusanno appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Guy Shennan and the power of conversations. In today’s episode we talk with Guy Shennan, Solution-Focused Practitioner, Author, and former Chair of the British Association of Social Workers , about his fascination for the ordinary nature and the forward movement of solution-focused conversations. Guy tells us what changed in the 2nd edition of his book "Solution-Focused Practice: Effective Communication to Facilitate Change" and how hope is different from desire. We talk about the UKASFP conference and his best hope to have a collective and interactive ethos. Learn more about collectivising solution-focused practice, the Solution-Focused collective and their manifesto for a socially engaged solution-focused practice. Guy highlights the power of conversations and the importance of working with others. And check out the Challenge of the week: „Post poems about hope: Share your favorite or an own poem about hope in the comments section at www.sfontour.com/simplyfocuspodcast and then go to this episode.“

The post SFP 66 – Towards Collectivising Solution-Focused Practice: Into the Community with Hope and the Ordinary in Action with Guy Shennan appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Joel K. Simon about opportunities in dialogue. In today’s episode, we talk with Joel K. Simon, Solution Focused Clinical Social Worker and Therapist, LCSW, BCD, ASW, and program chair of the SFBTA conference 2019, about his Solution Focused journey. Joel shares with us what attracted him about Solution Focus and still fascinates him today, how and when he got in touch with Solution Focus, and how he introduced SF in the agenciy he worked for. Listen to his stories with the Solution Focused Brief Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Insoo Kim Berg, Steve de Shazer, Dan Gallagher and others. We talk about working with people instead of diagnosis or labels and “End of Life and Grief Counseling” with Solution Focus, his books in this field, and his article „Opportunities: Organizing the Solution-Focused Interview“ that he wrote together with Lance Taylor. As program chair of the SFBTA conference 2019 in Montreal he also shares what fascinates him about the program. And a classic as challenge of the week: „Find out what’s working and do more of it."

The post SFP 65 – Nothing special about it – From Mental Health to End of Life and Grief Counseling with Joel K. Simon appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Ute Habenicht & Norbert Wandl at the WANDeLHAUS. In today’s episode, we talk with Ute Habenicht and Norbert Wandl, hosts at WANDeLBERATUNG and the WANDeLHAUS in Klagenfurt, about their work combining Systemic Structural Constellations (SySt®) and Solution Focus. They share what fascinates them with Solution Focus, different ways to acknowledge the problem view of the clients, when and how to orient them towards a Solution Focus, and what fascinates them about being hosts and making people feel at home. Find out more about their journey into Systemic Structural Constellations (Syst®) and Solution Focus and they how they the two approaches. Learn more about the client and the representatives in Systemic Structural Constellations (Syst®), the differences their work makes for their clients, and how they decide what they do with their clients. They share lovely stories of how they apply Solution Focus in their private life as a couple or in their business and emphasize how making the context part of the change and seeing that change is happening all the time can be important. And for the first time, we have two Challenges of the week: 1.) Try to change the context when you get stuck. 2.) Collect friendly encounters.

The post SFP 64 – Applying Systemic Structural Constellations SySt® and Solution Focus with Ute Habenicht and Norbert Wandl appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Sarah McVanel about greatness. In today’s episode, we talk with Sarah McVanel, Speaker, Author, HR & OD Professional about recognition and the flipside of failing. Check out what fascinates her with Solution Focus and what changed for her with SF. Learn more about the recognition of greatness when working with teams, FROG - Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness - and how to „frog“ people, and her new book the „Flip Side of Failing“. We talk about how people handle failing, Solution Focused questions to refocus and elevate, her vision for her life right now and the steps she took with her family to make this come true, how our conversation when visiting Sarah in her home inspired her for her new book, and how we can redefine the stories we tell each other and ourselves. Sarah also shares how being involved in the community helped her to start and grow her business. And she gave us this challenge of the week: Think of a label you give yourself, decide if it is working for you, and if no, allow yourself to envision a different possibility and a more helpful description.

The post SFP 63 – The Flip Side of Failing: Exploring Greatness with Sarah McVanel appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Kati Hankovszky about community building. In today’s episode, we talk with Katalin Hankovszky, Solution Focused trainer and coach, chair of the Swiss Network for Solution Focused Work, organizer of many Solution Focused conferences, and member of the SolutionSurfers, about how she is connecting people. Find out more about what fascinates her about Solution Focus, her Solution Focused journey and how she began to do the work her way. Kati tells stories about their SF-way of organizing the SOLWorld-conference 2005 in Interlaken, how they dealt with „troubles“ while organizing this year’s SOLWorld-conference in Budapest, and her best hopes from bringing people together, building SF networks, translating SF books, and encouraging SF exchange. Hear what she would like to see more of in the SF communities she is in, her transforming work inside organizations, like e.g. her work as Chair the Swiss Network for Solution Focused Work, and what she learned from her work of connecting people for her work in and with organizations. Learn how she is checking for the attractiveness of what people want to do, to foster the sustainability of their engagement. Let yourself inspire by their teamwork and how they managed for the right people to show up at the right time, and how she is going with her full energy for what she wishes for and enjoying what she gets. And do the Challenge of the week: „Think who you really want to do a task together with and tell them. If you have to do this task with someone else, be grateful for exactly the people you are doing it with.“

The post SFP 62 – Connecting People: How do you do it? with Kati Hankovszky appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Andrea Schovancová and Marek Koreň about Solution Focus in Slovakia. In today’s episode, we talk with Andrea Schovancová, HR Manager at GGB Slovakia and Marek Koreň, CFO at Team Industries, s.r.o., about what fascinates them with Solution Focus, their Solution Focused journeys and how their paths crossed, how they use Solution Focus in their companies and the differences this is making, and how they collaborate to share Solution Focus in their communities, in schools, in families, and in their everyday life. Find out more about Ben Furman’s Kid Skills and how they promote this in their local teacher’s community. We also explore how Solution Focus can support to build communities and the importance of stopping for a while and (re)focusing. And check out the challenge of the week: „Stop for half an hour. Make a list of 15-20 people or stories that inspired you. Select one of them and call or write the person and tell her or him about the differences it made."

The post SFP 61 – Crossing Paths: Solution Focused Practices and Community Building in Slovakia with Andrea Schovancová and Marek Koreň appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.