In the old caricature, the school counselor doggedly asks the struggling student, “Can you tell me about your problem?” Today, the counselor will often take a different tack when a student comes in distress. The two will put their heads together to generate solutions based on the student’s strengths and positive experiences.
For example, if the student is struggling with social anxiety, the counselor would start by asking him or her change-focused questions, such as:
- What small step could you take that would make things different and perhaps give you some relief from feeling bad?
- What needed to happen for you to feel more comfortable at lunch?
- When did you not feel anxious?
- What have you done that has helped you successfully deal with your anxiety in the past?
- Who else might be able to help you?
- What else do you need?
Welcome to one way that solution-focused counseling can work. “It’s based on the practical idea that it is more efficient to increase what someone is already doing that works than it is to teach them brand-new behaviors from scratch,” says John Murphy, a psychology professor at the University of Arkansas and author of the book Solution-Focused Counseling in Schools. “Many students are surprised to learn that they are doing something right, and they become more hopeful and energized when they realize that they already have what it takes to turn things around.”
Solution-focused counseling treatment is distinct from traditional therapy, according to the manual developed by experts. “Traditional treatment focuses on exploring problematic feelings, cognitions, behaviors, and/or interaction, providing interpretations, confrontation, and client education. Solution-focused counseling helps clients develop a desired vision of the future where the problem is solved, focusing on change.” See specific techniques in the infographic below.
An Effective Approach in a School Community
Solution-focused counseling is particularly successful in schools, according to research studies, and one 2009 study review suggests the technique has broad value in a school community. This is because “people vital to students’ lives — counselors, teachers, parents, and others — work together for [students’] success. The technique and those using it can be significant resources in helping students focus on positive, effective behavior rather than ineffective, unconstructive behavior. Importantly, through its focus on positive thinking and solutions, [solution-focused therapy] techniques can benefit all involved,” the study reported.
Some independent school counselors agree with this assessment. “Solution-focused therapy is the best technique, I believe, for schools and parents,” says Carla Belsher, a counselor at Alexandria Country Day School (Virginia), a coed K-8 school in Alexandria. “It helps students set goals and then problem-solve the best ways to reach those goals. I spend a lot of my time working either individually or in small groups with students and teachers helping them reframe their ‘problem’ into a solution. It amazes me how much better it feels to people to tackle a solution than a problem.”
“I use this same approach very often with parents as well. I often get parents asking for advice on behavioral issues they are having at home. They are frustrated and feel their strategies are no longer working,” Belsher continues. “I once again help them reframe these problem behaviors into the behaviors they want to see from their children, and then we build a plan from there. These often involve mostly short-term, reachable goals, which increases success rates and therefore increases self-esteem.”
A popular solution-focused technique is helpful for teachers, says Chuck White, a counselor at Rowland Hall (Utah), a pre-K-12 school in Salt Lake City. “I have them think of exceptions when a student did not exhibit the presenting problem so the teacher can remind them that it is something they can duplicate. It is a good exercise for teachers — to focus on a student's positives.”
A solution-focused approach can also underlie work with families, says Sandi Krotman, director of counseling at National Cathedral School (Washington, DC), which serves girls in grades 4-12.
“We focus on strategies to help students and families problem-solve and create ideas about solutions for themselves,” Krotman says. “We also follow up and encourage them to practice such strategies. These actions then become part of the positive structure that supports future problems when they arise.”
Solution-focused counseling is flexible and wide-ranging. Schools can use it to address parents’ problems with motivating or controlling their children; individual teacher concerns, such as classroom management; and systemic problems in schools, including broad behavior issues or personnel problems affecting morale. This counseling can also be combined with other therapy.
The Roots
Founders developed solution-focused counseling in the early 1970s after they realized that focusing on client problems wasn’t entirely effective. This approach also helped therapists work more efficiently to meet health insurance requirements restricting billable time. School counselors, who often have a caseloads ranging from 300 to 700 students, quickly adopted the therapy. At independent schools, where counselors work in a close-knit community and wear many hats, the technique may be particularly welcome.
The research shows that when the pressure builds in schools, solution-focused counseling yields positive results. “Greater expectations of principals, increased mental illness among students, and increased school violence are just a few other problems that school counselors confront,” says a review of the research about the technique. “They must address academic failures, school fights, drug use, chronic absences, bullying, and difficult parents. Solution-focused therapy has been found to be an effective approach.”
Criticism and Limitations
Solution-focused counseling is not always easy to implement and may have its limits. To make the technique effective, “there is a seismic philosophical shift that many have to make,” says Patrick Akos, a professor of school counseling at the University of North Carolina. “You have to be intensely curious and focused on the assets kids have and the ideas that they believe will work for them — as focused on that as you are their problems.”
Critics also argue that solution-focused counseling doesn’t resolve students’ deeper issues because it de-emphasizes problems and their history. It’s important for therapy to “accept and receive the person’s communication about the problem, rather than jumping in with the solution or answer,” says Lee Herzog, a psychologist for middle school students at Brentwood School (California) in Los Angeles. “Thinking together about a solution is certainly part of the work, but oftentimes the person who is feeling overwhelmed by a problem can glean an answer from one’s own experience,” he adds, suggesting that it is important at times to allow students to explore their own issues and not move too quickly to a solution.
In some cases, schools couple solution-focused counseling with a mindfulness approach to more fully address students’ problems. At Beacon Academy (Illinois) in Evanston, students “acquire the knowledge, attitude, and skills necessary to recognize and regulate emotions, demonstrate care and compassion for others, relate in healthy ways, make responsible decisions, and negotiate challenging situations appropriately,” says Lara Veon, head of the school’s counseling program.
The Lab School of Washington (Washington, DC), serving grades 1-12, incorporates mindfulness in counseling, says Douglas Fagen, director of the school’s psychological services. Mindfulness is part of having students consider solutions to problems that may not have been evident before they developed the openness that comes with practicing such awareness. “Our goal is first to meet students where they are at, to help them identify their strengths as well as their areas of weakness, and to use this understanding to find the most effective ways to solve their problems,” Fagen says.
Putting Solutions to Work
1. Ask general questions to clarify the problem. A counselor might ask:
- “How is this a problem for you?”
- “I wonder what would happen if you tried something really different the next time you act up in class?”
2. Ask specific questions with key objectives, including:
- drawing out compliments;
- focusing on an uplifting event;
- achieving positive results;
- describing the problem clearly based on observation;
- highlighting changes in students or how others perceive them; and
- determining whether students want to change — and how to see a path toward progress.
3. Discuss prior solution attempts. Consider the student’s ideas about the problem and solution, and think about how counseling might help. A counselor might ask:
- “What have you already tried and how did it work?”
- “What needs to happen to make things better at school?”
Counselors often ask students the “miracle question”: If you imagine that a miracle has occurred and the problem is gone, what steps would you have had to take to reach that point?
4. Develop goals. Focus on the future, the end result, and the first few steps. You might ask, “Let’s pretend it is one month from now, and school is much better, and you undertook some changes to make that happen.”
5. Build on exceptions and other resources. Urge the student to consider time periods or situations when the problem didn’t exist and what he or she was doing then. Let the student reflect on “exceptions” to the problem when things were better or were going more smoothly. Also, encourage the student to consider resources — within him- or herself or elsewhere — that can help.
6. Change the “doing” or “viewing.” Suggest behavioral experiments or encourage other changes. A counselor might say, “This doesn’t seem to be working for you, so let’s try something really different and observe the results.”
Suggest alternative interpretations or explanations. For example, if the student says his teacher repeatedly picks on him, a counselor could ask, “Could it be that your teacher gets on your case about homework because she cares about you and wants you to learn instead of ignoring it and letting you fall further behind?”
7. Evaluate progress — and build on it. Continually check on progress and acknowledge it. Compliment genuinely. Use scaling questions to ask students to measure their feelings or the seriousness of various problems — and to study improvement or changes in their status.
Source: Techniques are from John Murphy’s Solution-Focused Counseling in Schools.