Role of counsellor and therapeutic goals Contrary to psychoanalytical and human approaches that view the counsellor as expert (Raskin and Rogers, 2000), the Solution-focused counsellor is less directive, authoritarian and taking a role of a facilitator on the client’s journey. The role of the counsellor is to facilitate clients’ thinking about their future and what they want to be different in their lives. It is the clients who are an expert about their own lives. According to Guterman (2006), counsellors have expertise in the process of change, but clients are the experts on what they want changed. The counsellor’s task is to nudge the client in the direction of change without dictating what to change. The counsellor’s role is also to focus …show more content…
Counsellors should identify and discuss the goals of brief therapy with the client early in counselling relationship, preferably in the first session. The solution-focused counsellor “believes people have the ability to define meaningful personal goals and that they have the resources required to solve their problems.” (Corey, 2009, p.381). It is through the collaborative process that the goals of therapy are determined. The potential treatment goals for solution-focused brief therapy are presented in Table 12.2. In Solution-focused brief therapy, a variety of goals may be identified but given time constraints, only the most important to the client may be addressed. It is important for the counsellor not to impose their own goals on the client and also in shaping the goals from their worldview. Walter and Peller (2000) caution against too rigidly imposing an agenda of getting precise goals before …show more content…
Or “What changes have you noticed that have happened or started to happen since you made the appointment for this session?” By asking about such changes, the counsellor can elicit, evoke, and amplify what clients have already done by way of making positive change (Corey, 2009, p.384). Miracle Question: This is a core technique in SFBT. The Miracle Question is a goal-oriented question that is useful when a client simply does not know what a preferred future would look like 0r pessimistic. In addition, this kind of question would be to assist clients to think and examine new possibilities and outcomes for the future. The counsellor asks”If a miracle happened and the problem you have was solved overnight, what would be different in your life? Or.. “Now, I want to ask you a strange question. Suppose that while you are sleeping tonight and the entire house is quiet, a miracle happens. The miracle is that the problem which brought you here is solved. However, because you are sleeping, you don’t know that the miracle has happened. So, when you wake up tomorrow morning, what will be different that will tell you that a miracle has happened and the problem which brought you here is solved? (De Shazer,1988, p.