Main description:

Solution oriented counselling focuses on the strengths and resources of the client. In this approach the focus is on future outcomes right from the beginning. Questions probe the often transparent areas where things are already working. The question "What's wrong?" becomes "What's missing?", such that if what is missing for the client were to be present, the problem would no longer exist. Questions are aimed at connecting people to their experience and to their nascent resources when solutions can then emerge. A session is likely to begin with a discussion of what the client likes, and then an exploration of what they might want from this session. The therapist's agenda remains more in the background, as the process is generated by the client. Specific forms of questions form the building blocks for the client to design and construct their own preferred outcome at their own pace.