You’re Right, SFBT is NOT a Cookie Cutter Approach

I think the biggest idea that I have been trying to make very, very clear since I’ve been writing about and teaching Solution Focused Brief Therapy is the idea that we follow the same process in each session with each client, regardless of their problem.

Whenever I say that, it triggers people. I’ve said it literally hundreds of times. I made multiple videos in this series about it. I’ve posted on social media about it, and people get really upset with me.

There is no cookie cutter approach, they say. And I’ve been struggling to explain, but that’s not what this is. I think sometimes as therapists, we think about the work that we do as a technique, and we think about the work that we do as a strategy to solve problems. So thus, I need a technique to solve the problem. And if the technique I’m using is problem dependent, then I’m going to change what I do based upon the problem. For example, I need a different technique to solve someone who’s struggling with depression versus someone who’s struggling with anxiety versus someone who’s struggling with PTSD. I need different techniques to address the different problems.

But you have to understand, Solution Focused Brief Therapy is actually not a problem solving strategy. In fact, I would argue the point of all psychotherapy is actually not to solve problems, [and rather] is to create healing and growth, but that’s for another video.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy certainly is not a problem solving way of going about this work. It’s different. It’s different.

And why it’s on my mind right now is I am currently in Ramstein, Germany, and I was training the chaplain corps at the Ramstein Air Force base, which, by the way, I learned today this area has the largest connection of Americans outside of America in the world. It’s a very large military base and military community, and the chaplains are the one who provide psychotherapy services. Many of them are trained psychotherapists who became chaplains in the military.

We spent a lot of our time today talking about this idea. It was so magical to be around people who just got it. They understood. So when I have a serviceman coming to me and they’re homesick, because when you come here, sometimes you don’t always travel with your family, or they’re on their third deployment, or they were deployed to a war zone and they’re struggling with PTSD, or as we know, many, many servicemen take their lives, 22 every day on average.

And [these therapists] start to understand, like, “Oh, so no matter what issue the client comes to [me with], my job is to ask about the desired outcome, because this work is [based] on hope for a new outcome, not necessarily the problem. So I don’t have to change what I do based upon a person’s problem.” It’s like, “Yes!”, and they got it. A room full of people, they got it. And then they also understood that it’s not a cookie cutter approach, because not every conversation is the same.

Every single conversation with each and every client is different. We’re just following the same process. We’re not doing the same thing with every client. We’re not using the same technique on every client, because this is not a technique, and we’re not solving the client’s problems. We’re having a conversation that creates healing and a different life so the client can solve their own problem or problems.

It was a touching experience today, and I want you guys to benefit from it.

So when I say we use Solution Focused Brief Therapy on each and every one of our clients, I am not saying we do a cookie cutter approach. In fact, I’m saying we tailor each conversation to each and every client, but not dependent upon their problem, [rather] depending on their hopes.