Resource Focused Counselling And Psychotherapy

Therapists sometimes ask: What supports you in life? What gets you through difficult times? Our ‘journey’ in life relies on a range of resources to equip and fulfil us. Knowing about these resources, however, is not enough: for lasting benefits, they must be bodily felt experiences. The aim of this book is to illustrate the holistic purpose of therapy to resource integration of the client. It draws upon extensive material to affirm that the practice of contemporary therapy benefits from insights gained from evolving neuroscience. Particular emphasis is put on the benefits of drawing on the dimensions of experience to strengthen ego processes like self-awareness and self-regulation, and engage with the depths of being, including ‘soul’. Resource Focused Counselling and Psychotherapy provides professionals with a comprehensive and integrative model of resource focused therapy, drawing upon clinical examples and the current range of research and theory surrounding this emerging approach. Additionally, the book contains a range of self-resourcing exercises and practices for each part of the integrative model, enabling individuals to develop self-resources for greater resilience and well-being in their own lives. This book is an important read for psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors, including those working with trauma. It also provides valuable insights for modalities practising from a psycho-spiritual perspective, including Jungian and transpersonal psychotherapists.

For some time the family therapy field has been moving away from a problem-based approach to work with clients. Ideas such as "creating a new family story", focusing on strengths and solutions, and making contracts with family members have all shifted interest toward a new approach to therapy. The authors have been in the forefront of this thinking for several years and they have been experimenting with their ideas by working together with clients in order to create their own coherent, effective model for therapy. Resource Focused Therapy is the result!

This concise practice-oriented manual effectively shows how psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, supervisors, and counselors can quickly identify and put to therapeutic use an individual's own talents and resources. Written in an easy and relaxed style using everyday language, this manual illustrates how to actively take a person's resources into consideration during therapy and counseling sessions, and how to integrate them into existing intervention concepts. The first part illustrates approaches that can be used to focus attention on assessment and dialog, and that shed light on a person's individual resources from various angles. These therapeutic approaches can be used in the framework of existing manuals and guidelines to focus on how to "do things." The second part illustrates procedures offering a framework for further applying the different perspectives and provides sample worksheets for practical use.

Too often doctors, therapists, and social workers ask “what’s wrong in your life?” rather than “what do you want?” Ronald E. Warner’s Solution-Focused Interviewing is a practical guide to talking to clients using a solution-driven and strength-based approach that empowers clients and helps them to find lasting solutions to their problems. In Solution-Focused Interviewing, asking questions about clients’ goals and resources ­– the strengths that will let them change their lives – is the basis of a three-phase therapeutic process that builds empathy before helping clients to set realistic goals and build a plan to achieve them. Based on more than two decades of solution-focused therapy workshops and Warner’s extensive clinical experience, Solution-Focused Interviewing is the first skill development manual based on this innovative tri-phase approach to interviewing.

`This well-structured book should prove a leading text in the solution-focused therapy (SFT) world and will serve as an excellent overview of SFT on those training courses integratively oriented towards the immediate needs of many services and their clients. This book will please both SFT aficionados and those, like me, who are sceptical but open to some persuasion. The author has done a superb job of representing SFT in an up-to-date, rigorous and accessible way, and has, incidentally, shown what a concise text on any ′core theoretical model′ should look like′ - Colin Feltham, Therapy Today `Packed full of ideas and exercises for trainers and therapists. An essential read for professionals wishing to develop their solution-focused practice. Alasdair communicates the wisdom accumulated over years as a practitioner, researcher and enthusiast for the solution-focused approach′ - Bill O′Connell Director of Training with Focus on Solutions Limited, Birmingham ′Alasdair MacDonald has produced a landmark in the development of solution-focused approaches. He brings together the history, research and evidence for SF practice with many practical strategies for contexts from severe mental health cases to workplace conflict. The book is packed with concise insights, connections and thought-provoking questions presented with great authority and clarity′ - Mark McKergow PhD MBA, author of The Solutions Focus: The SIMPLE Way to Positive Change, and co-founder of SolWorld `Alasdair′s book is a welcome addition to the literature in the field of ′Solution Focused Brief Therapy′. His wealth of experience in this approach to therapy is effectively communicated through simple explanations of solution focused skills and useful examples of therapist-client interactions that illustrate implementation. The book contributes and builds upon the existing literature. The chapter regarding ethical considerations is unique for a book outlining this therapeutic approach, and the chapter exploring the status of SFBT research is contemporary and comprehensive. Alasdair′s book will be a useful resource for those students training in the SFBT approach′ - Fred Ruddick Senior Lecturer (Mental Health Studies) RMN,RGN,Advanced Dip Counselling, MA Counselling `This book by Alasdair Macdonald provides an interesting and useful introduction to solution focused brief therapy from the perspective of a well-respected consultant psychiatrist. The chapters on research and the history of brief therapy will be valued by experienced solution focused practitioners and provides an excellent picture of the current place of solution focused brief therapy in contemporary mental health practice′ - Rayya Ghul, co-author of Creating Positive Futures: Solution Focused Recovery from Mental Distress `Alasdair has made a particular and important contribution to the world of solution-focused brief therapy through his long-standing interest in research. This interest, and his background in adult mental health work, are both reflected in this book thereby setting it apart from other introductions to the approach. At a time when resources are tight and professionals under pressure this book highlights the particular relevance and flexibility of the solution-focused approach which can be drawn upon usefully by clinicians and managers alike′ - Evan George,. BRIEF, London Solution-focused therapy is a relatively new, but strongly supported and growing approach. Solution-Focused Therapy: Theory, Research & Practice contains an overview of current research in the area and an account of the use of solution-focused approaches in various relevant therapeutic situations. As well as outlining the model and basic principles, the text also summarises the evidence base for solution-focused therapy, discusses ethical issues and includes a series of chapters on applications of the approach with illustrative case studies. A specific feature of this book is its use with acute and long-term mental illness, and the application of the method to a variety of situations in management and in resolving disagreements. A helpful resource for experienced practitioners, Solution-Focused Therapy: Theory, Research & Practice also contains instructional material and guidance and is thus an accessible and valuable text for trainees. Dr Alasdair J. Macdonald has been a Consultant Psychiatrist in the NHS since 1980 and currently holds an honorary contract with North Dorset Primary Care Trust. He is the Research Coordinator and former President and Secretary of the European Brief Therapy Association, and is currently a psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice in Dorset.

This concise practice-oriented manual effectively shows how psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, supervisors, and counselors can quickly identify and put to therapeutic use an individual's own talents and resources. Written in an easy and relaxed style using everyday language, this manual illustrates how to actively take a person's resources into consideration during therapy and counseling sessions, and how to integrate them into existing intervention concepts. The first part illustrates approaches that can be used to focus attention on assessment and dialog, and that shed light on a person's individual resources from various angles. These therapeutic approaches can be used in the framework of existing manuals and guidelines to focus on how to "do things." The second part illustrates procedures offering a framework for further applying the different perspectives and provides sample worksheets for practical use.

Psychological trauma profoundly affects the body, often disrupting normal physical functioning when left unresolved. This work provides a review of research in neuroscience, trauma dissociation and attachment theory that points to the need for an integrative mind-body approach to trauma.

`Solution-Focused Groupwork (2001) was a major contribution to the literature on groupwork. It has been one of this author′s most influential books. The Second Edition contains much new material including the uses of ′problem talk′, an activity normally avoided by solution-focused therapists. Preparation for groups, client motivation and collaboration are all explored in detail. The role of (or necessity for?) social time to be built into the therapy model is an interesting and novel idea. Suggestions are made for client evaluation and for creative exercises to enhance the group process. All in all, the result is a valuable and readable new edition′ - Dr Alasdair J Macdonald `Enlightening, clearly written, and helpfully presented...The book echoes what Solution-Focused Groupwork is all about - being practical and optimistic about human potential′ - David Jaques, Author of Learning in Groups `A fund of practical wisdom which will give confidence and encouragement to everyone trying to run groups along solution-focused lines′ - Bill O′Connell, Focus on Solutions Limited, Birmingham `John Sharry has drawn on a combination of extensive experience in running groups and a thorough understanding of current developments to produce an inspiring and practical guide to this powerful way of helping people to change. I have recommended the first edition many times and have been sharing the good news of this new edition ever since I knew it was under way′ - John Wheeler MA, UKCP Registered Family Therapist, Social Worker and Independent Trainer. `Sharry′s book offers a persuasive alternative to traditional methods of group practice. The new edition enhances the applicability of an already major contribution to solution-focused practice. It is obviously written from a real practitioner who understands the process and elements of group work. He offers excellent case material throughout to help demonstrated the skills and values of this approach and does so in a readable and engaging manner suitable for students and professionals at all levels of expertise′ - Professor Robert Blundo, Ph.D., LCSW, Strengths Collaborative, Department of Social Work, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. U.S.A. `This slim tautly written volume disguises an enormously practical treasure store to help group facilitators. Solution-Focused Groupwork should be essential reading′ - Barbara Wilson, Family Mediation in Practice Solution-Focused Groupwork, Second Edition is a highly practical guide for all professionals who use groups to help people. For those new to the solution-focused approach it provides a clear, step-by-step introduction, while for more experienced practitioners it presents ideas and techniques which can be readily integrated into existing practice. Using carefully selected case studies, John Sharry takes readers through the various stages in the therapeutic process, from getting started to the final session. He also provides: " creative exercises for use in practice, " guidance on evaluating the outcomes of group work and " a new model for group supervision. A real strength of the book is in showing practitioners how to create a constructive, positive and solution-focused group culture and how to maintain this culture in spite of the challenges, tensions and difficulties that naturally arise within groups. John Sharry is a Principal Social Worker in the Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, Mater Hospital, and part-time Director of the Brief Therapy Group (Private Practice and Consultancy).