Solution-focused brief therapy is highly valued in school counseling settings because it prioritizes finding the solution to the problem. Thus, instead of discussing minor details in the student’s problem, the therapy targets finding a solution to the issue in a limited amount of time. The growing concern about child and adolescent mental health in the United States draws attention to the potential of single-session interventions (Schleider et al., 2019). Solution-focused brief therapy presents a type of single-session intervention recommended for school counselors to promptly address the problems in the large population of students in the school. I fully acknowledge the importance of goal accomplishments for students as a future school counselor. Therefore, lately, I have learned to appreciate the solution-focused brief therapy for the fast results it can provide to students.
During the internship, I noticed that students often experience problems due to the uncertainty of the future. In many cases, issues from the past often prevent students from moving into the future. Some students were anxious about meeting the graduation requirements, while others had problems defining plans for the time after graduation from high school. In both cases, I used solution-focused brief therapy principles by asking students to imagine their day without school. During the consultation, I used students’ answers to the question to help them define their interests, create plans for the future, and eliminate their worries. My reaction to using solution-focused brief therapy with students is positive because it works in the majority of cases and helps students define possible solutions to their problems. On the other hand, even in cases where solution-focused therapy does not give instant results, it allows bringing certainty into the student’s life.
Reference
Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M.L., Sung, J. Y., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2020). Future directions in single-session youth mental health interventions. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 49(2), 264-278.