#120 Why did the solution focused therapist cross the road?

The Action Factory Podcast - Empowering residential youth workers

I believe that solution focused workers don't need to be therapists and they don't need problems to solve. Having had comments both in person and online about my attitude towards traditional therapists and their methods I thought it worth some clarity.

I often quote in sessions my Aunt Betty, of course Aunt Betty doesn’t exist in reality as a person but she does exist. In fact Aunt Betty might even be you.

So before I explain let me tell you something about Aunt Betty. She is an extremely positive person, she is someone who is always fun and reassuring to be around. In a crisis it’s aunt betty who remains calm and focuses on the positive. In fact when things go wrong in life then it’s Aunt Betty that people gravitate to. People who talk to aunt betty about problems always come away feeling more upbeat and positive about a solution, the problem seems smaller and sometimes afterwards it seems to evaporate all by itself. The funny thing about Aunt Betty is this. She never gives advice or instruction or any of those things. Yes Aunt Betty will tell stories or mention her experiences but never directs them at anyone. Whenever I talk about Aunt Betty then I’m talking about any one of our clients, the social workers, teachers and residential workers whom we train in solution focused working. As i said earlier I could be talking about you.

So here’s the thing. Aunt Betty isn’t trained in the solution focused approach, she certainly never did any therapeutic training either formal or informal. She has no degree’s and wouldn’t know the first thing about therapy. She has no experience and never wrote a book or paper.

However, let me ask you a question

Is she the kind of person that you'd prefer to approach in a crisis?

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