Women’s Perspectives on the Solution Focused Approach: International Applications and Interventions

This book is a distinctive collection of narratives of female Solution Focused practitioners, from across six continents, sharing their unique ways of using the approach at personal, professional, and social levels. Nineteen female practitioners from around the world share their practice and experience, and reflect on how their gender has influenced their work within different cultural, sociological, and socio-economic contexts. The editors introduce the concepts of a Solution Focused DNA and then encourage the contributors as well as the readers to answer questions such as: What are the common characteristics that are a part of your Solution Focused DNA? Which of them are related to gender, which of them to the Solution Focused Approach, and which of them to your sociocultural context? Contributors also provide insights on how they work from the Solution Focused approach integrating their own creative styles using embodiment and dance, animal assisted therapy, and humour. The chapters in this book explore a wide variety of themes and contexts, including shelters, trauma, the LGBTQ community, prisons, schools, refugee camps, veterans, the medical field, research, children, and more. This book will inspire practitioners regardless of gender to reflect on their own practice and to use and apply the Solution Focused Approach in innovative and creative ways.

Table of Contents:
1. Our Solution Focused DNA: How the Being, the Doing and the Context influences our implementation and application 2. Addressing trauma through Solution Focused Brief Therapy in Chile: Two female voices from the South 3.In the space between governance and politics: A Solution Focused approach to rethink and operate democratically on public policy 4.The Gift of Representation: Solution Focused Brief Therapy as a safe haven for the LGBTQ community 5.Finding my own voice 6.Solution Focused Single Session Therapy: Small conversations for big social change 7.A way to unlock potential and strengthen cooperation: A Solution Focused perspective in a school context in Germany 8.Keep it simple: A few words about Solution Focused Therapy 9.It’s a kind of magic: Solution Focused practice with children and families 10.Finding hope: Solution Focused work with traumatized and underprivileged clients 11.Solution Focused embodiment practice for empowerment 12.Everyone can benefit from Solution Focused ideas: Kids’ Skills training in China 13.Solution Focused supervision from the perspective of gender and culture 14.Disruptive Thinking: Adventures in Australian veteran support 15.Infusing Solution Focused thinking within the New Zealand Police 16.Breaking bars and building dreams: A female psychologist’s perspectives on working in a male prison 17.Empowering women survivors of violence at domestic violence shelters using an SFBT lens: Experiences of a Muslim woman practitioner 18. Our Solution Focused revolution: Co-constructing our collective ideas

About the Author :
Anne-Marie Wulf is a social worker and family therapist that lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. She’s the director of the Danish Solution Focused Institute and the current president of the European Brief Therapy Association (EBTA). She has authored and contributed to several books on the Solution Focused approach. Jacqui von Cziffra-Bergs is a practicing psychologist from Johannesburg, South Africa, and the director of the Solution Focused Institute of South Africa. She was an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg and has written five books on the Solution Focused approach.

Review :
"This book is a vibrant and unique collection of the global applications of Solution Focused approaches. It brings together the voices of women practitioners from all over the world, sharing their experiences, wisdom, and unique insights. This book not only celebrates the multiple ways of our practises but also pays a living tribute to many women practitioners who inspire and support each other. The editors conversing and reflecting throughout each chapter invites readers to respond in kind with our own inspirations and aspirations." Haesun Moon, PhD, Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching "If you would like to be moved and inspired by female solution-focused practitioners and people who identify as gender diverse about how to achieve change, this book is for you. The inclusive, international and expansive content celebrates the limitless capacity and spaciousness solution-focus offers for people to be their truest selves, and how this then lends itself to powerful abilities to co-create new possibilities. All is explored in multiple contexts, from playfulness, laughter and creativity in therapy, to governmental processes, education, refugee work and training. Imbued with humanity and depth, it is a beautiful invitation to experiment with your own and each author’s unique wisdom, in ways that might just alter the World, one small sign at a time." Naomi Whitehead, (she/her) Solution-Focused Practitioner (www.naomiwhiteheadtraining.org "This book introduces practices of the Solution Focused approach by incredible women from all over the world, giving us hope and vigor. Each of their experiences illustrate their growth as professionals and demonstrate how this approach can change others as well as one’s own life. This book is dedicated to people who revolutionized their own practice and made a positive influence in other people’s lives." Shigeko Kajiwara, psychologist, repr. of JASFA Association