Solution-Focused Therapy

How can therapy help an individual reach a goal?

Different techniques utilized in therapy can lead to different outcomes.  Likewise, different therapies can focus on utilizing different techniques. 

Solution-Focused therapy, as it sounds, attempts to work with the person to find a solution instead of focusing on the issues that may have initially prompted an individual to seek therapy.

When a counselor and client work together using Solution-Focused therapy, the aim of the therapy session(s) is to imagine an ideal future and determine steps to achieve that goal. 

In this portion of the counseling, the client and counselor look back at past experiences and work together to find which aspects of the client’s current life s/he would like to change or improve and which aspects the client would like to remain as constant or similar as possible.   

In order to identify the steps toward an ideal future, the client and counselor must first investigate the client’s current abilities, skills, and resources the client has or may have access to.  Identification of these may help the counselor and client arrive at what sort of steps need to be taken first.

This type of therapy may be found in several settings, including career and personal counseling.

Solution-Focused therapy works toward creating a realistic plan to help the client get to where s/he would like to be by investigating previous experiences to determine ideals. 

Career Counseling and Personal Counseling

How intertwined are career and personal counseling?

Some counselors and researchers have argued that these types of counseling should be completely separate and the required training and agencies should be separate.

However, others believe differently.  John Krumboltz, a researcher and professor at Stanford University, argues that career and personal counseling are related, and it is important for counselors to recognize this.

While some clients present issues that can be strictly related to the career or personal realm, many issues are related to both.  Without recognizing that problems can influence both the career and personal realm, there is the potential for a client to not receive the best quality of counseling. 

One of the main points of discussion within the article is that problems related to careers often have an emotional aspect, which has an effect on an individual’s personal life as well.  Krumboltz discusses that the emotional effects of career problems can have an impact comparable to stressful personal events.

Many counselors today recognize that an individual’s life cannot be separated neatly into a career and a personal life, and this is beneficial to both parties.  The counselors are able to better understand the client, and the client is able to express the entire picture and receive better counseling.

Within the process of counseling, the intake session* is often a time counselors ask questions pertaining to an individual’s personal life.  These questions are asked to get a better understanding of the whole situation.

While personal and career counseling are titled differently, it is important to recognize that career decisions and problems have an impact on an individual’s personal life and vice versa. 

*Intake session – The first session of counseling in which a large amount of background information is gathered in addition to information relevant to the current issue(s).

Krumboltz, J. D. (1993). Integrating career and personal counseling. The Career Development      Quarterly, 42(2), 143-148.

The Narrative Approach

How does the career counseling process use the past to look towards the future?

The use of the narrative approach within career counseling serves to investigate past events to create a plan to achieve desirable outcomes. 

The first step in the process of creating a career narrative begins with identifying a career problem or problems and setting vocationally-oriented goals.  These issues a client identifies can focus on variety of events including unsatisfactory work environment or salary.

Following the identification of problems and goals, the client is asked to give histories of the(se) issue(s) in order to allow the client and counselor to have a better understanding.  The histories of these career issues detail how the problem arose, what initiated this desire for change, and how the issue has looked over time.  As the client tells his/her story, the counselor and the client work as team to discuss the meanings of these histories to help the client determine how the problem has contributed to the big picture.  This is important in understanding the impact the issue has had.

Next, the counselor works with the client to revisit and explore certain events described within the story to identify a more ideal career situation.  The conversation focuses upon what pieces of the client would like to specifically change or see change to.  This step is crucial, because by revisiting the story, the client is more likely to evaluate the story, and see the story from a different perspective.  This could be as simple as finding a job that has a higher salary in order to alleviate stress surrounding financial issues. 

By creating a different perspective and a more solidified idea of an ideal career situation, the client and counselor can return to the initial problems and discuss how to go about solving them.  Within the narrative approach, the counselor and client work to create a detailed plan in working towards a career goal.  The plan is detailed in the sense that it includes what activities may lead the client towards their goals in addition to potential obstacles s/he will face along the way.  These goals could include returning to school or applying for jobs outside of the client’s current occupational field.  The obstacles a client may identify within this plan could potentially include monetary issues or a decline in level of motivation over time. 

The narrative approach to vocational counseling allows the client to take a step back, and look at their stories more closely. 

·         Investigation of past events can lead to the identification of what needs to change, and potential methods to change it.

Howard, Kelli. (2012, November). Postmodern therapies: solution focused & narrative. Counseling Psychology.  Lecture conducted from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
  
Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S.,     Esbroeck, R.V., & van Vianen, A. E. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 239-250.