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Matthias expands his questions adding: ‘Do you contribute to the co-constructed reality with paraphrasing? Do you believe in the concept of co-constructed reality? ... and I remember a scene in a Couples therapy with Steve de Shazer when the wife says "sometimes I HATE him" and Steve responds with a re-framing "You are sometimes ANGRY because you care a lot about him ..." - that is the way we paraphrase!’

Evan George responds.

We often say about Solution Focused practice that it is 'simple but not easy'. Perhaps we might go further and say that although it is theoretically simple it is neither intuitive nor always obvious or straightforward. Evan George highlights this characteristic of the approach in thinking about follow-up sessions.

Harvey Ratner has just returned from delivering a Solution Focused workshop in Japan, following in Steve de Shazer's and Insoo Kim Berg's footsteps. He writes here about how the BRIEF approach to SFBT was met.

What is the nature of the 'relationship' between client and therapist in the Solution Focused approach?

Evan George shares some thoughts.

Bill O'Hanlon asks . . . 'How do you recommend people keep their Solution Focus when they work in an environment that seems dismissive or hostile to the approach or just indifferent to it?' 
Evan George shares 10 ideas that might be useful.

The choice that therapists and counsellors (and indeed coaches) make about the model that they use is not merely pragmatic. Of course we have to be concerned with the research - 'does it work' - but having established that it does we choose our models to some extent informed by the values, the ethos that lies hidden within. Evan George explores this thought.

No wonder Solution Focus has been found to protect workers against burn-out when we find so much to inspire us in our clients. Chris Iveson recounts a client's story of everyday heroism.

Chris Ward asks about safety . . . Do you ever find yourselves stepping outside of the solution focused process in order to take action to ensure someone's safety? If so, what do you typically notice during the conversation that triggers this response from you, and what sort of action would you typically take?

A very personal and anonymous account by a professional attending a 4-day programme with BRIEF who then decided that a session with Chris Iveson might make a difference at home. And it did.

Most of the time people's 'best hopes' are eminently achievable. What about those times when they are not. Evan George shares some thoughts about how we can respond.