Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T18:50:15.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A solution-focussed approach to time-limited counselling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

John Barletta
John Barletta*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Australian Catholic University
*
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Australian Catholic University, MITCHELTON Qld 4053, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Counsellors routinely work in situations with students, parents and colleagues, where they need to use interpersonal helping and counselling skills. This function has been recently compounded by the emergence of multiple demands which place a new set of challenges on counsellors. Given that many counsellor training programs do not include time-limited counselling techniques, counsellors have traditionally drawn on more problem-focussed, longer-term theories when helping others. This has not always been appropriate or successful. Traditional counselling theories suggest that only highly trained counsellors should be involved in interpersonal helping, simultaneously placing a major emphasis on the clinical nature of problems. This paper presents a relatively new approach to counselling that does not delve intrusively into the past, and is not restricted to professional counsellors. Solution-focussed brief counselling techniques lend themselves well to the education context, and with appropriate attention, can be utilised by counsellors who will become more intentional and f acilitative in their daily interactions.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 8 , November 1998 , pp. 105 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barletta, J. (1998, Summer). Book Review: In Search of Solutions: A New Direction in Psychotherapy by O'Hanlon and Weiner-Davis. Queensland Counsellors Association: Contact, 5.Google Scholar
Barletta, J. (1997). Counselling in the inclusive setting: Brief therapy for educators. Proceedings of the 21st national Australian Association of Special Education Conference, Brisbane, 1–12.Google Scholar
Barletta, J. (1995, April). Book Review: Becoming Solution-Focused in Brief Therapy, by Walter and Peller. Australian Guidance and Counselling Association: Newsletter, 1, 6.Google Scholar
Barletta, J., & Davis, T. E. (1997). Educators as counsellors within the inclusive setting: Moving beyond boundaries to become a solution-focussed therapeutic teacher. Proceedings of the University of Southern Queensland Educational Psychology Research Forum, Brisbane, 67–69.Google Scholar
Bonnington, S. B. (1993). Solution-focused in brief therapy: Helpful interventions for school counselors. The School Counselor, 41, 126–128.Google Scholar
Bruce, M. A., & Hopper, G. C. (1997). Brief counseling versus traditional counseling: A comparison of effectiveness. The School Counselor, 44, 171–184.Google Scholar
Budman, S. H., & Gurman, A. S. (1988). Theory and practice of brief therapy. NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
Cade, B., & O'Hanlon, W. (1993). A brief guide to brief therapy. NY: Norton.Google Scholar
Davis, T. E. (1996). Turning problems into solutions: Using solution-focussed brief counselling methods in the school. In Burnett, P. C., Gillies, R. M., Mc-Mahon, M. L., & Wackwitz, H. F. (Eds.), Contemporary practice in school guidance and counselling (pp. 97–101). Brisbane: Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association.Google Scholar
Davis, T. E., & Osborn, C. (1995, January). Solution-focused brief therapy. Workshop presented at Hocking College, Nelsonville, Ohio.Google Scholar
de Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to solution in brief therapy. NY: Norton.Google Scholar
Durrant, M. (1998, March). Creative strategies for school problems: A solution-focused approach. Workshop for the Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Durrant, M. E. (1996, September). Creative strategies for school problems: Solutions for counsellors, psychologists and teachers. Workshop presented at the Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association Conference, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. A. (1993). Acceleration of change: Catalysts in brief therapy. Clinical Psychology Review, 13, 241–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, E. A. (1997). An analysis of the specific counselling training needs of teachers and implications for training. Proceedings of the International School Psychology Colloquium, Melbourne, 84–87.Google Scholar
Huber, C. H., & Backlund, B. A. (1991). The twenty minute counselor. NY: Continuum.Google Scholar
Kral, R. (1995). Strategies that work: Techniques for solutions in the schools. Milwaukee, WI: Brief Family Therapy Center.Google Scholar
Lambert, M. J. (1992). Implications of outcome research for psychotherapy integration. In Norcross, J. C. & Goldfried, M. R. (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration. NY: Basic.Google Scholar
Littrell, J., Mailia, J., & Vanderwood, M. (1995). Single-session brief counseling in a high school. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73, 451–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalf, L. (1995). Counseling towards solutions: A practical solution-focused program for working with students, teachers and parents. West Nyack, NY: Center for Applied Research in Education.Google Scholar
O'Hanlon, W. H., & Weiner-Davis, M. (1989). In search of solutions: A new direction in psychotherapy. NY: Norton.Google Scholar
Smith, M. L., Glass, G. V., & Miller, T. I. (1980). The benefits of psychotherapy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University.Google Scholar
Stanton, H. E. (1998). Brief therapy and the fifteen minute solution. Psychotherapy in Australia, 4, (3), 52–56.Google Scholar
Talmon, M. (1990). Single session therapy: Maximizing the effects of the first (and often only) therapeutic encounter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Walter, J. L., & Peller, J. E. (1992). Becoming solution-focused in brief therapy. NY: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar