Using SFBT Practices With Four Family Therapy Approaches

Many therapists are not interested in adopting the solution-focused approach as their foundational or main approach to therapy. Trained in a variety of individual and family therapy practices, they maintain these practices as their chief ways of working. However, they also are interested in solution-focused practices as enhancing their work. Four family therapy approaches (Structural, MRI Strategic, Haley and Madanes Strategic, and Bowen) are used to demonstrate how SFBT practices can be useful to enhance these mainstream family therapy approaches. Ideas from this explication may be helpful to therapists using other approaches, both individual and family. Examples and dialogue are used as illustrations.