"Don't let yourself drill down deep into problems - grinding and grinding".
"When something is more complex - take another route, you will get to the destination but you'll skip the nasty traffic."
"The purpose of the 'preferred future' question is to get the person beyond the current situation."
Authors: Lucie Duncan, Rayya Ghul and Sarah Mousley
Information about the book Creating Positive Futures - BT Press
Combining Solution Focus with Tools and the Direct Link to Doing - Rayya Ghul
Session 1 - Day 2
Working with Multiple Stakeholders
Welcome back everyone!
What is Your Burning Question?
Rayya started off this session by asking the audience "What is your burning question?" and the audience put their anonymous questions on https://pollEv.com/
One of the questions was:
"When you meet a depressed client with much sorrow, how do you keep yourself from sinking with him or her in that sadness? I find it very hard not to get sad and emotional after meeting such a person."
Rayya says: "-Of course it is hard not to be affected when you are compassionate. But when you are solution focused you are assuming your client has strengths – so you might ask, ‘That sounds very difficult, how are you coping?’ or ‘Looking ahead, what small sign would tell you your situation is improving?’ Once you have some experience of doing solution focus, you feel more able to be hopeful for your client so you don’t feel so afraid for them, you can hold hope for them until they are able to see it for themselves."
Hosting Useful Conversation
- Next small step?
- How do you know?
Preferred Future? What will you be doing differently? Who will notice? What difference will that make?
Next small step? What difference will that make?
Rating scales are very useful. On a scale 0-10, Where are you now?
It is really important to be respectful. If the client wants to complain - listen! The client has waited for the meeting for a long time. Use your existing skills of listening - listen for opportunities. If someone is complaining, ask - what would you like would happen instead? Take a non-expert role and be curious instead.
Look into the process of moving and look for the next small step on the scale. What small steps could be taken by the client in this next phase of the process?
Meetings as a Knowledge System
How can meetings with multiple stakeholders be hosted to ensure the focus remains on the client’s preferred future while taking account of all the interested parties?
This section refers to working with multiple people in the room and how you can treat it like a knowledge system where the role of the SF facilitator is to bring hidden knowledge into the shared space so everyone can be part of building solutions.
Meetings as a knowledge system - the role of the SF facilitator is to bring hidden knowledge into the shared space.
Types of Knowledge
- Esoteric - understood by only a small number of people with special knowledge.
- Shared - understood by different groups of people whose knowledge is shared.
- Common - understood by everyone.
Role of Solution Focus (SF) Worker
- Generate useful questions: future focused, exceptions, scaling, coping.
- Ensure that everyone has a shared understanding of what is being spoken about: difference?, how will people know?
- Ensure that meeting covers all required areas if working for a statutory agency.
From Esoteric to Shared
- How will each party know the best outcome has been reached?
- What difference will it make when the best outcome is reached?
- What is already happening towards reaching the best outcome.
- What do you know that gives you hope that the outcome will be reached.
- What would be the first small step towards the preferred future?
Video 3 - The First Session of Day 2
Here you can watch the whole first session of today:
Session 2 - Day 2
Self-Assessment and Self-Regulation in Solution Focus
The Solution Focus Measure of Occupational Function
- Does assessment always have to be problem-focused?
- Could we incorporate change into the assessment process?
- Could we focus on what we need to find out (as Occupational Therapists) and still be Solution Focused?
- Positive statements such as:
I am able to talk to people. I have satisfying relationships. I have confidence in myself... - 4 point scale:
definitely, mostly, sometimes, not at all
Worksheets
Occupational therapists like to get people working independently. We often use worksheets.
We wondered… Can we develop SF worksheets? And so we did. Here follows an example:
Worksheet: How will I know I am improving in the area of...?
- What will I be doing differently?
- What might others notice?
- What will be happening?
- What lets you know that you will succeed in achieving this goal?
- Who in your life could be helpful to you in a achieving this goal?
Worksheet - Identifying what works
So you can build on it.
For example:
- The relationships in my life that works are with...
- What happen in these relationships that make them work?
Other worksheets are about:
-
Focusing on difference - to increase motivation.
- Identifying exceptions - so you can get more information about what works.
- Identifying skills - so you can use them to build confidence.
- Recording achievements - to develop self-esteem and self-worth.
- Imagining a lifestyle change - to increase motivation and make it seem more familiar.
Rayya Rounds off
Now we are coming to the end of these two amazing days, listening intensively to Rayya. Now she wants to get some feedback and rounds off with this question:
What are you going to do differently from now on?
- "Broader visions!"
- "I will try to think about the importance of using the right words."
- "I am going to steel your image of the balloon - hosting useful conversations."
- "Focus more on using worksheet questions and spread the information we got today to my colleagues so they can do the same. And brag about that we got to listen to Rayya and not them."
- "Make use of your metaphors such as "Traffic jam" vs "different route"."
- "The future, not the problem!"
- "I am going to use tools (worksheets among other stuff :)) that will make me more structured, relaxed and inspired! :)"
- "More focus on preferred situation."
- "Listen more actively for people´s stenghts and resources. Give them more time to answer."
- "Focusing on strength and capability."
- "Take small steps."
- "Be more curious."
- "Put focus on listening."
- "Take more time to really focus on the client sitting in front of me, and ask the "right" questions."
- "I will download the worksheets right away."
- "Let my client speak more and I will ask more questions."
- "Think differently :)"
- "I will interact differently with people surrounding me - starting with my kids."
- "I will definitely start using worksheets!!"
- "Try to work without goals and with a compass instead."
- "Focus on possibilities."
In a few minutes Rayya´s poll (http://pollev.com) was full with answers from the audience. All the answers ended up in this wonderful word map.
Ann-Kristin Ekman thanks Rayya for another fantastic day. Now we recommend everyone to watch the four videos, especially if you didn´t have the opportunity to listen to Rayya live here in Västerås, Sweden.
Video 4 - The Second Session of Day 2
Here you can watch the whole second session of today:
Rayya´s Presentations - Day 2
- Working with Multiple Stakeholders - Rayya Ghul (pdf, 0.7 MB)
- Self-Assessment and Self-Regulation in SF - Rayya Ghul (pdf, 1.5 MB)
Rayya´s Earlier Sessions - Day 1
More from Rayya Ghul
- Rayya Ghul´s website
- Information about the book:
Creating Positive Futures - BT Press
Summary and photo: Christina Wallnér, No WaIT AB
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