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

Dr. Thorana Nelson about systems thinking, Solution Focus, and families. In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Thorana Nelson, Professor Emerita of Utah State University about what fascinates her with Solution Focused Brief Therapy with families and how she came up with the idea of writing a book about SF and families. We explore the interactional view and the paradigm of systems thinking, the differences between "systemic theories“ as a coaching or therapy model and "systems thinking“ as a mindset, and the difference between deriving interventions from theory versus deriving interventions from practice with the client. Thorana Nelson describes systems thinking and the fit with Solution Focus or how Solution Focus is very systemic, how she works in a systemic and Solution Focused way, and how the different interactions in the therapy room can be used in other situations. She mentions the focus on reciprocal interactions that she would like Solution Focused practitioners to do more of and how solution focused questions can be used to enrich the work in a more depth way that she would like to see family therapist explore more. Learn more about what family therapists can find in her new book „Solution Focused Brief Therapy with families“ and about the importance of (positive) interactions. And check out the Challenge of the week: Just watch the interactions around you, e.g. when you go Christmas shopping, and observe the different ways people interact with each other.

The post SFP 40 – Systems Thinking: Dr. Thorana Nelson about Solution Focused Brief Therapy with Families appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Simon Lee about creating ripples. In today’s episode, we talk with Simon Lee, Managing Partner of Brief Academy in Singapore and Accredited Master Executive Coach about what fascinates him with Solution Focus, how he met Solution Focus and what changed for him with SF, how the "7 questions every leader should ask“ originated, and how they can be used to have more effective meetings. Learn more about how to pay attention to what employees are looking for, the exact sequence of the 7 questions, and what differences these questions can make. Simon also talks about his fascination with training Solution Focused coaches, what they do at the Brief Academy Singapore, and how they focus on the clients in their trainings and let them create the agenda for the day. He further mentions how their trainings have developed, how they learn from their clients, and the differences SF has made in his family life. Check out how he promotes Solution Focus in other areas of life and how the work becomes lighter with SF. And of course, the Challenge of the week: 1) Come up with positive questions that you would like to be asked and 2) give a friend two or three of these questions and 3) ask them to ask you these questions the next time you meet.

The post SFP 39 – Creating Ripples: 7 questions every leader should ask with Simon Lee appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Teri Pichot about Animal-Assisted Solution Focused Brief Therapy. In today’s episode, we talk with Teri Pichot, LCSW, MAC, LAC, Solution Focused Animal-Assisted Brief Therapist and Solution Focused Trainer at the Denver Center for Solution-Focused Brief Therapy about what fascinates her about Solution Focus, what fascinated her when she learnt about Solution Focus for the first time, how her work changed as a result of getting to know Solution Focus, and how she works with her therapy dog and how her dog assists her in doing Solution Focused Brief Therapy. Learn more about how she started to bring her dog to work as a Solution Focused therapy assistant, how this influenced her work, and how having a dog around changes the environment and the interactions. Check out how she creates exceptions for her clients with her therapy dog and how she uses these exceptions in the session with asking Solution Focused questions. Learn more about the first third of a SF session - „What do clients want?“ -, the second third - „What do they have?“ - and the third third - „What is next?” and what she does in her Solution Focused trainings to teach participants to use SF on purpose. We also talked about how SF needs to be a model of attraction rather than promotion for her and about the books Teri wrote. And last, but not least the Challenge of the Week: 1.) If you have an animal: Notice how having an animal in the room or in your life makes you a better human 2.) If you don’t have an animal or want to do both: Think about the purpose of the Solution Focused question you ask.

The post SFP 38 – Exceptional Sessions: Animal-Assisted Solution Focused Brief Therapy & More with Teri Pichot appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Brenda Zalter-Minden and Heather Fiske about training trainers. In today’s episode, we are live at the SFBTA pre-conference “Train the Trainer”-workshop with Brenda Zalter-Minden and Heather Fiske, who facilitate the two days, and we talk with them about what fascinates them about training trainers, how they started the „Train the Trainer“-course and invited the participants to bring in their expertise, how they do this training in a Solution Focused way, and what the other person is doing that is unique for the other person, Solution Focused and very useful. Check out how they respond to the participants to foster learning and learn more about their best hopes for the second day or what they would like the participants to say at the end of the second day as well as their learnings from the Train-the-Trainer-journey over the years. And we listened to some of the participants and asked Marcella Stark, Nicolas Taylor, and Aryeh Keshet what inspired them or fascinated them on the first day of the “Train the Trainer“-course, what Heather Fiske and Brenda Zalter-Minden did that supported them in their learning, and what they learned about training trainers. We interviewed Michelle Orr how she might notice in the upcoming weeks and months that this training was useful for her and her “Train the Trainer“-courses, and what has already been useful and helpful in the course of the first one and a half days. We talked to Jay Valusek what it was that showed him that this training was Solution Focused, how Heather and Brenda invited the participants to join this co-creation process, and how he might notice in the future that this training will be beneficial. And we hard from Kristy Townsend, what was important and really made a difference for her, what Heather and Brenda did that was important for her learning, and how she might notice that she used the learnings in her trainings.

The post SFP 37 – Training Solution Focus: Training Trainers with Brenda Zalter-Minden and Heather Fiske appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Scott D. Miller about Solution Focus and deliberate practice. In today’s episode, we talk with Scott D. Miller, PH.D., founder of the International Center for Clinical Excellence, author, and promoter of deliberate practice, about how he got in touch with Solution Focus, how he moved to Milwaukee to work at the Brief Family Therapy Center (BFTC) in Milwaukee, what fascinated him with the work at BFTC, and how the way they worked back then has a lot to do with the work he does now. Learn more about how describing Solution Focus to others led to a standardized approach, what led him towards deliberate practice and how those therapists are most effective that measure their results, reflect their practice, and learn from feedback. Check out the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and the Session Rating Scale (SRS) and how they can help you refine your practice. Scott also talks about how well Solution Focus fits to deliberate practice and how that way of learning could be transferred to other areas where Solution Focus is applied, like e.g. leadership. We furthermore explore the difficulty of measuring outcomes and the questions to ask and the importance of talking the language of our clients or talking about what’s meaningful for them. And check out this week’s challenge of the week: „If you think you are effective, why not find out? Download the measures and begin tracking your outcomes. And see: Are you effective with all your clients? Is it to the degree you thought?"

The post SFP 36 – Deliberate Practice: Reflecting Solution Focused Development with Scott D. Miller appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Gale Miller about observing Solution Focus. In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Gale Miller, sociologist and emeritus research professor at Marquette University, about what fascinates him with Solution Focus, what intrigued him when he first came to the Brief Family Therapy Center (BFTC) in 1984, and the evolution from the ecosystemic approach to Solution Focus. He tells us how it came he could observe Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, how and what he observed that was going on at BFTC, and how they learned through observing, discussing, trying out and observing again. Learn more about the systematic review and the importance of the research committee at BFTC or how they watched therapy tapes and discussed them. And we discuss Gales perception of emotions in the Solution Focused approach. Check out the challenge of the week: At the next meeting, listen and observe who says what and who responds in what way and how the conversation goes on. What do you learn from this?

The post SFP 35 – Observing Solution Focus: A conversation with Gale Miller about his time at BFTC appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Eve Lipchik about the beginning of Solution Focus. In today’s episode, we talk with Eve Lipchik, Co-Founder of the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee and the Solution Focused approach, Author, Certified Social Worker, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Licensed Family and Marriage Therapist, about what fascinated her with Solution Focus at the beginning, how Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer met in Palo Alto, how they started the BFTC – the Brief Family Therapy Center – in Milwaukee, how they looked at the recordings of the sessions, tried out new things, and learned from their clients. She mentions how Steve de Shazer conceptualized what they were doing, what and who helped to promote Solution Focus, and how they learned and moved from the ecosystemic approach to Solution Focus. Check out how the question what clients don’t want to change led them to Solution Focused thinking, how they analyzed the conversations with the questions „What worked?“ and „What didn’t work?”, how scaling and the miracle question emerged out of their work and were refined. Learn more about the different backgrounds and styles of the founding members of BFTC and how she perceives the newer developments of Solution Focus. She mentions the importance of working with a philosophy to get beyond technique and the importance of constant learning and immersion in Solution Focus. Check out how she values emotions in Solution Focused conversation and her message to Solution Focused practitioners: Don’t mix Solution Focus with other things, commit to one method. And she also gave us a challenge of the week: Think about what it is you need to overcome to feel that you are more confident and adapted doing Solution Focus.

The post SFP 34 – Back to the roots: A conversation about the beginning of Solution Focus with Eve Lipchik appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Angela Knox about pursuing happiness. In today’s episode, we talk with Angela Knox, doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, certified Wim Hof instructor, and passionate river surf(h)er, about what fascinates her with Solution Focus, what similarities she sees between SF and what she does in her life, how she grows her good moments and celebrates things that work well. She tells us how love helped her to see good moments during her healing journey and to do things that made her feel better. We further talk about the importance of having a preferred future and going small steps as well as passion and choosing the things that feel amazing. Learn more about the Wim Hof Method and hear what fascinates Elfie and Angela about it and the differences this practice makes for them in their lives. Hear how Angela river surfed in her bikini in the ice cold water in the winter. And check out Angela’s message to you: Stay true to yourself and let your vision keep changing. Ready for the Challenge of the week: Sink into the joy! Really celebrate that moment of love and joy, of the good feeling.

The post SFP 33 – Surfing the waves: Sinking into the joy with Angela Knox appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Keiko Yoneyama about small differences. In today’s episode, we talk with Keiko Yoneyama, a Solution Focused Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and host of the international SF book club, about her fascination with Solution Focus, how she works with children and how SF helps them to talk, her work with parents, mothers, and women in postpartum period and how she focuses on small changes and small steps. Check out how she applies Solution Focus with her children and what she found out works well for them. Get to know how she offers mothers a space to talk in her parent support groups and how SF comes in there. And learn more about the differences between Solution Focus in the US and in Japan as well as the international Solution Focused book club she hosts. Keiko gave us the following challenge of the week: „Look for the SF essence in what you are reading or what you are hearing to celebrate the SF assumptions."

The post SFP 32 – Small steps count: A conversation about SF parenting, SF in Japan and more with Keiko Yoneyama appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Solution Focus is fascinating. In today’s episode, we re-listen to the fascinations with Solution Focus of all the interviewees we had on our podcast so far. Let yourself fascinate by the fascinations of Jonathan D. Sherman, Monica Rotner, Pamela King, Stephen Langer, Janet Beavin Bavelas, Haesun Moon, Thorana Nelson, Victor Nelson, Bo Yon Koh, Alan Kay, Brenda Zalter-Minden, Laura Cole, Bob Faw, Peter De Jong, Elliott Connie, Brigitte Lavoie, Heather Fiske, Bill O’Hanlon, Dvorah Simon, and Dominik Godat. And let us know in the comments section below “What fascinates you with Solution Focus?”.

The post SFP 31 – Fascination Solution Focus appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.