Essay On Solution-Focused Therapy

As we grow up, we begin to forget what it is like to be a child and how sweet and innocent we were. We forget these things because of the daily stressors that are thrown at us as mature. In my future, I want to be able to help children hold on to their innocence; because for some, it is taken from them far too early. By providing counseling for children in need there is hope that therapists can guide their adolescent patients onto a path that will allow them to live a great life no matter what their goals are. I believe that solution-focused therapy will be useful in my future work with children and families. With this intention, my paper will be describing the work done with children and families using solution-focused techniques.
Frameworks:

The founders of solution-focused therapy, Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, gained insight about families and relationships at the treatment center they built known as the Milwaukee Brief Family Therapy Center. They believe that parents should be actively engaged in their child’s treatment process. This is due to a parent’s imperative role in their child’s development. Until proven otherwise, parents usually want to feel proud of their child, have a positive impact on their child, and see that their child has a better future then their own (Berg & Steiner, 2003). In solution-focused therapy it is helpful to have clear understanding of what assumptions about children might be. Solution-focused therapists believe that children want to have their parents be proud of them, learn new things from their parents, and to be able to voice their opinions and choices. These assumptions about the parents and children is what helps form the therapy session (Berg & Steiner, 2003). The family is considered a unit or a system that is constantly interacting with each other. According to Berg (1994) each relationship in the family and outside the family affects the system as a whole. When working with families, the family is the system in which all parts are important and the therapists becomes part of the system the minute they are introduced (White & Klein, 2008). Lastly, it is important for the therapist to realize that when working with children and their families the task is to honor the inherent bond, restore it, and help build the bridge between parent and child whenever possible (Berg & Steiner,