Solution-Focused+Brief+Career+Counseling+SFBCC


 * Brief Solution-Focused Career Counseling (BSFCC): **

The information on BSFCC can be found on pages 118-119 of the 11th Edition of Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development by Duane Brown. This theory follows other postmodern theories that stress the importance of eliciting the clients’ stories to help the client identify constructs and integrate their constructs into a plan for the future (Brown, 2016, p. 118).

The sequence of **BSFCC** follows (Brown, 2016, p. 119):
 * The client identifies the issues to be addressed
 * The client identifies the changes (goals) to be made and scales the goals
 * The client is encouraged to search for exceptions, that is, times when they were able to solve similar problems
 * The client identifies personal strengths strategies used in past success that can be used to resolve the identified problem.
 * The counselor and the client revisit the goal, scale it, and develop a plan to resolve or reduce the impact of the problem that was presented in follow-up sessions.
 * The counselor may engage in second-order questioning if the client is “stuck”.

** 1. Relationship Development **
 * Another look at the Process of BSFCC** (Brown, 2016, p. 119-120):
 * The career counselor avoids the role of the expert, they may describe themselves as a coaches or facilitators.
 * The client is the "expert."
 * The career counselor encourages their clients to take control of discovering their own potential solutions.

**2. Client Presentation of Issue**
 * Counselors are encouraged to focus on the positive (goal attainment), and the future, rather than focusing on the issue (the negative).
 * Counselors assist the client in taking ownership of the problem in some instances.
 * Recognition by the client that blaming the problem on others does not resolve the problem.
 * The "**Magic Question**" founded by de Shazer is a technique used to keep the session focused on the future and on positive outcomes.
 * Sample magic questions that a counselor can ask:
 * If you were to wake up one morning and this problem was resolved, what would have changed?
 * How would you know that problem was resolved?
 * How would the people around you know that the problem was resolved?
 * Brown (2016) emphasizes that the goal must be positive and involve behavior that is within the clients control—their thoughts, emotions and behaviors should be addressed, not how rude their boss is (they can’t control the way their boss behaves).

** 3. Search for exceptions: **
 * This is actually a search for strengths.
 * The counselor also helps reinforce past attempts and successes.
 * Sample questions that a counselor can ask**:**
 * Recall and think about a time you made difficult decision, what was different then (context, importance of decision, or people involved)?
 * What was the overall decision-making process?
 * How did you feel as you made the decision?
 * Who was helpful in the process?
 * What resources did you use?

** 4. Identify Strengths: **
 * During this time the counselor may use devices such as self-estimates of abilities as aids to identify strengths.
 * Genograms, card sorts and qualitative approaches can all be utilized for this purpose.
 * **Sample questions that a counselor can ask:**
 * What behaviors, emotions, or thoughts came about when you made a tough decision in the past?
 * Based on exceptions, what personal strengths can you identify that will help you achieve your goals?
 * If you never made difficult decisions in the past, what personal strengths do you possess that will help you as you go forward (e.g. perseverance, mental toughness, intelligence, etc.)?
 * Resilience may play a factor in discovering your strengths.

** 5. Develop a plan and scale the goal: **


 * Goals
 * created by client
 * small, but important
 * goals must be specific, realistic, concrete, behavioral, observable
 * Near the end of the first session, the client is asked to restate his or her goal and to scale it.
 * Scaling is to rate the movement toward goal attainment.
 * Example: Restate client's goal. Then ask: On a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being little progress toward the goal and 10 meaning that you have made your choice, rate where you are at this time in the process of attaining your goal.
 * The counselor and the client then develop a plan that will move the client toward the goal attainment and the session is over.

**6. Follow-up sessions**
 * Discuss progress that has been made
 * Discuss road blocks that have developed
 * Discuss the need to modify the plan (if necessary)
 * Goals are scaled again to determine progress.

** 7. Ask second-order questions: ** // *Both of these approaches to second-order questioning have merit and should be incorporated into the model BSFCC. //
 * There are 2 approaches to this step, one developed through the work of Shazer (1985) and the other developed by Amundson (2003).
 * ** // De- Shazer’s Point of View: // **
 * Second-order questioning focuses the client on what would happen if the career problem that was identified at the outset is NOT addressed. //(De-Shazer promotes insight into PROS and CONS of action and inaction as they relate to the problem).//
 * Example: "Speculate about the future if the problem you identified is not addressed"(Brown, 2016, p. 121).
 * ** // Amundson Point of View: // **
 * Second-order is utilized to facilitate the client's understanding that the evidence suggests that some of his or her beliefs may be off target
 * Client is asked to examine his/her private thoughts and encouraged to reflect on how they developed as well as their implications
 * Example: "Tell me about how you arrived at the conclusion that you are not able to handle work-related stressors" (Brown, 2016, p. 121).

**Questioning techniques **

 * Direct Questions
 * Examples:
 * What would you like to get out of today's career counseling session?
 * How will you know that you are where you want to be?
 * What will be different for you when you reach your goal?
 * Miracle Questions
 * Useful when clients are "stuck"
 * Help clients verbalize thoughts
 * Helps client look into the future in a positive manner (Brown, 2016).
 * Suppose a miracle was to happen, what would you notice? (see above for more examples
 * Scaling Questions
 * can be used to focus session
 * help client to construct meaningful descriptions of their concerns, goals, strengths, motivations
 * should scale goal at the end of follow up sessions in order for client to be able to track their progress(Brown, 2012).
 * Examples:
 * What does that place on the scale look like?
 * what would it take for you to move one point up the scale?
 * Second-Order Questions
 * <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,serif;">de Shazer: Focuses the client on what would happen if the career problem that was identified at the outset is not addressed
 * <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Amundson: Facilitate the client's understanding that the evidence suggest that some of his or her beliefs may be off target

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">-SFBCC was not developed to address mental health problems such as depression and decisional anxiety <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">-Depression or decisional anxiety should be addressed before moving forward as it can get in the way of the SFBCC process
 * Note:**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">References: **

<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #353535; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Brown, D. (2016). //<span style="color: #353535; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Career information, career counseling, and career development. //<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #353535; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> Boston, MA: Person Education, Inc.


 * Helpful Articles of Comprehension and Application:**



<span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Rakauskiene, V., & Dumciene, A. (2013). Alteration of adolescent self-efficacy when applying brief counseling at school. //Social Behavior and Personality//, //41//(6), 893–900.

® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Researchers Rakauskiene and Dumciene claimed that in order for a person to be mentally sane he or she must be able to deal with problems, plan for the future and be unafraid of that <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> future, have realistic objectives, and cope with difficulties all with optimal levels of self-efficacy (2013). ® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">The solution-focused brief counseling approach can be used for both children and adults to help deal with those daily-life problems that they are faced with. ® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">The current study was used to establish the impact solution-focused counseling has on adolescent self-efficacy. The study consists of 553 adolescents aged 15 to 19. The participants <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> were divided into an experimental group, which received counseling, and a comparison group, which received no counseling (Rakauskiene & Dumciene, 2013). Those who were <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> counseled followed the procedure outlined above for the solution-focused brief counseling method. ® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">The results of the study indicated that this method produced positive results in change of behavior and effective when dealing with psychological issues of adolescents. Prominent or <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> medium change was found in 65.6% of the participants who received the counseling (Rakauskiene & Dumciene, 2013). After concluding their research, Rakauskiene and Dumciene <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> claim “that the clear and objective-directed procedures used for this method promoted positive changes in adolescent self-efficacy and improved subjective evaluations of the issues <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> faced by the individual” (2013, p. 898). ® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Self-efficacy is essential as one believes he or she has the ability to succeed. This can play a vital role in how one approaches situations in daily life such as goals and challenges. ® <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Solution-focused counseling may come as a challenge for some as it allows the client to find that thing they seek most. It pushes the client to find their own solutions without the <span style="font-family: 'Californian FB',serif; font-size: 10pt;"> counselor simply giving them the answer.