ABSTRACT
As a consultant psychiatrist in the United Kingdom I have been using solution-focused brief therapy within mental hospitals since 1988. We have trained many staff who work in mental illness settings. However, we also have many trainees from other settings who have no experience in work with the mentally ill. These staff often encounter behavior that they regard as equivalent to mental illness, especially if they work with young people or in the field of substance misuse (see Bertolino & Thompson, 1999).
