Simply Focus Podcast: The Good Life Approach - Your Weekly Podcast With The Little Extra Solution Focus For Your Daily Life!

Andrea Schovancová and Marek Koreň about Solution Focus in Slovakia. In today’s episode, we talk with Andrea Schovancová, HR Manager at GGB Slovakia and Marek Koreň, CFO at Team Industries, s.r.o., about what fascinates them with Solution Focus, their Solution Focused journeys and how their paths crossed, how they use Solution Focus in their companies and the differences this is making, and how they collaborate to share Solution Focus in their communities, in schools, in families, and in their everyday life. Find out more about Ben Furman’s Kid Skills and how they promote this in their local teacher’s community. We also explore how Solution Focus can support to build communities and the importance of stopping for a while and (re)focusing. And check out the challenge of the week: „Stop for half an hour. Make a list of 15-20 people or stories that inspired you. Select one of them and call or write the person and tell her or him about the differences it made." The post SFP 61 – Crossing Paths: Solution Focused P

Jennifer Gerwing and Sara Healing about what sciences really knows about communication. In today’s episode, we debunk some myths of communication. We talk with Jennifer Gerwing, Ph.D., and Sara Healing of the International Microanalysis Associates, about what fascinates them with (microanalysis of) face to face dialogue. They share examples of communication myths (in Health Care) and what we really know when we analyze interaction. They debunk the myth of body language and explain the remarkable contributions of facial gestures, hand gestures and gaze in conjunction with our speech. Together we explore how to show the importance of looking very closely at specific, observable behavior in interaction, how to see what’s actually happening, and the difference of looking at individual behavior versus the looking at interaction. And they bust myths about listening and show the importance of really paying attention to the client and the interaction. Check out what the benefits of engaging in the interactional view

Dr. David Weber about communication choices. In today’s episode, we talk with Assoc. Prof. David Weber at UNC Wilmington about how he uses Solution Focused ideas in University teaching. Check out how he got into Solution Focus and what fascinates him with SF, how he supports his students to see Solution Focused communication choices, how he coaches his students to major in communication and develop their personal and team skills, and the concept of Tikun Olam. Listen to a story of a student using the miracle question in a team meeting and ways of teaching this question. David tells us what helped him to find his own SF style and the differences living in different countries made for him. We explore co-creation in the classroom and how he sees his students as solution searchers. And we talk about how he started using SF in the classroom, how these experiences encouraged him, the differences SF makes in his everyday life, and how the SF community provides this studio for being a real human being. And do David’s

Sébastien Vernieuwe about Luc Isebaert’s legacy. In today’s episode, we talk with Sébastien Vernieuwe of the Korzybski Institute in Bruges (Belgium), about Dr. Luc Isebaert’s “Three Questions for a Good Life”. Check out what fascinates Sébastien with Solution Focus, how he trained Solution Focus, and how this changed his practice. Get to know the ideas and the development of the “Three Questions for a Good Life” and the Bruges Model that integrates the greek classics with the Ethos, the Pathos, the Logos, and the Oikos. Listen how they chose „happiness“ and „gratefulness“ as topics for the 3 questions and learn more about the social media campaign „3 Questions on 3 May“ and Sébastien’s best hopes from the challenge. And we go out and ask participants of the conference of the Swiss Network for Solution Focused Work (NLA) about the differences these questions make for them. Check out what Katalin Hankovszky, Regula Flury-Wahlen, Dr. med. Ursula Bühlmann, Dr. Sandro Vicini, Sandra Dietrich, and Andy Balmer say a

Dr. Adam Froerer about a shift in perspective. In today’s episode, we talk with Assoc. Prof. Adam Froerer about seeing people at their best. Find out what fascinates him with Solution Focus, how questions change with a different perception, how to be minutely curious about clients being at their best, or how to come to more meaningful places with Solution Focus. Learn how to focus on change in the past, present and/or the future. Adam also tells us about their „late nights“ family ritual or how Adam and his wife have important conversations with their children. And he talks about how he uses Solution Focus with his students at Mercer University and how staying persistent in seeing people as capable of figuring out their own answers pays off. We explore his research project about different presuppositions in Solution Focus and the importance of understanding how language is used, listening, and the meanings of the client. And check out his challenge of the week: Find a person that you don’t know and practice f

John Murphy about asking clients. In today’s episode, we talk with Prof. John Murphy about client-centered practice. Find out what has fascinated him with Solution Focus, how he came in contact with SF, and what kept him on this road. Learn from John what respect, respectful curiosity, putting the client in the center, and letting their answers drive the conversation, can mean. He stresses the uniqueness of conversations and how questions can open up for possibilities and different stories. He shares his thoughts about client-directed practice and the willingness to let ourselves be shaped into effectiveness by our clients, the common factors research and how Solution Focus Brief Therapy empowers the important variables, as well as the value of not assuming and instead asking clients about their experiences. Find out more about giving credit, the influence of personal agency questions, and about planting seeds with our questions and invitations. We also talk with John about his book „Solution Focused Counseli

Prof. Frank Thomas about learning from client feedback. In today’s episode, we talk with Frank Thomas, Professor at the TCU Counseling Program and former Archivist of the SFBTA about Practice-Based Evidence. He shares what fascinated him and drew him towards Solution Focus from 1985 on and what makes him passionate about Solution Focus today. Hear more about his article about the evolution of compliments and the importance of retaining complimenting in Solution Focus. Learn more about Practice-Based Evidence, how we can engage our clients in the process and learn from and with them, and the difference between Evidence-Based Practice and Practice-Based Evidence. Frank tells us a touching story with the taxi metaphor and the different ride with letting clients participate in the process. We explore how and what to ask clients to elicit client feedback on how it is going and how to involve them in the experience. And he shares how he teaches Practice-Based Evidence with his students at the TCU and how he invites

Marcella Stark about SF supervision. In today’s episode, we talk with Marcella Stark, Assoc. Professor at the TCU Counseling Program and Board Member of the SFBTA, about her fascinations for Solution Focus, the differences it has made for her, and how Solution Focus is not only for positive people. Hear how she supports students that Solution Focus gets more natural and in becoming more curious about their own progress. Check out how creative Solution Focused ways, like working with miniatures when supervising students, or scaling and goal setting with horror figures and superheroes. Learn what fits best when or when the miracle question and when fast forwarding questions fit best. Get to know what drew Marcella to Solution Focused supervision, what differences applying SF makes for her and her students, her research projects and insights about applying Solution Focus in different settings, like counseling, leadership, and supervision, and the Solution Focused community and her engagement in the SFBTA. And do

Becky Taylor about miniatures and sand trays. In today’s episode, we talk with Assoc. Prof. Becky Taylor at the TCU Counseling Program about Solution Focused work with children and adolescents. Becky shares with us what fascinates her with Solution Focus, how she started to focus on resources instead of deficits, her fascination for resilience, and how she got in touch with Solution Focus. Hear her tips and tricks on how to use miniatures and sand trays in a Solution Focused way with children and adolescents and what differences she has noticed. Learn more about her book "Solution-Focused Therapy with Children and Adolescents: Creative and Play Based Approaches“ which is coming out in April 2019. Check out embodied learning or how she uses the miracle question, rehearsing the preferred future, and scaling with miniatures with children and adolescents, how she involves the parents, teachers, or friends of the child, and how she gets them playing. And accept her challenge to look for what’s right about people,

Elfie and Dominik about connecting and sharing. In today’s episode we celebrate the anniversary of the SIMPLY FOCUS podcast with our guest host Prof. John Murphy who interviews us, Elfie & Dominik, about our journey. Find out what Solution Focused ideas have helped us to do our journey and have sustained traveling for almost 2 years or what kept us going, especially when it didn’t go the way we wanted it to. Learn more about the potential of the assumption that change is happening all the time, the power of our preferred future or the turn our journey took after connecting to the Solution Focused community in North America, and the meaning of receiving the Steve de Shazer Memorial award 2018 at the SFBTA conference. We talk about our aim to share the great Solution Focused work that people do and to build up an audio library for the SF community and beyond, about giving and receiving or how we bring Solution Focus to people who may not come in touch with it otherwise and the differences these conversations ma

SF Counseling at TCU. In today’s episode, we talk with Assoc. Prof. Becky Taylor, Prof. Frank Thomas, and Assoc. Prof. Marcella Stark and three of their Ph.D. students about their Solution Focused Counseling Program at Texas Christian University (TCU). Hear what has fascinated them with Solution Focus (SF), what makes their counseling program at TCU special and the differences Solution Focus makes in it. They share how they teach Solution Focus, what they have learned from each other, how they put the differences of their students to work, and what (they think that) their students say about the program and their teachers. We also asked them about the differences SF makes for them as a team and in their work and they told us about the importance of building relationship in teaching and staying open to being a lifelong learner. Check out the Challenge of the week: What superpower do you bring to your professional future that’s going to help you to reach your goals? And we also talked to their Ph.D. students Lin

Benjamin Finlayson about SF in rural Texas. In today’s episode, we talk with Benjamin Finlayson, Ph.D.(c), Solution Focused practitioner, researcher, teacher and Solution Focused champion at Texas Tech University, about wellbeing, integrating SF in health care in rural Texas, and the hope for sexual and gender minorities. Ben tells us what fascinates him about Solution Focus, how Sara Smock Jordan influenced him as a teacher, and how he has used Solution Focus in his own transition. Check out what he says about the keynote he gave on wellbeing with a charity organisation, how they integrate Solution Focus in health care in rural Texas, and his experiences being out there as a therapist. Ben shares his success recipes as a new SF therapist working in a medical setting with doctors, nurses and patients, how Solution Focus offered a different way of working and shaped the perspectives as well as the hope of the people involved, and how Solution Focus makes therapy more approachable and less threatening. Find out

Stacy Nelson about valuing and experiencing humanity in everybody. In today’s episode, we talk with Stacy Nelson, rebel girl and peaceful warrior for humanity, who voluntary lived on the streets for about 7 years about her journey and her takeaways from living on the road. Stacy shares with us how resourceful it is to have Solution Focused parents, how it comes that she has a cooler full with supplies for people living on the street, how she dumpster dived for food and shared it with other homeless people, and how everybody can recognize people living on the streets and engage with them. Learn what she offers people living on the street as harm reduction and her reasons for not giving money, how she is clear on what she wants to give and where her boundaries are, and how she lets people choose what to take out of her supply box. Check out what differences having lived on the streets makes for her now, how she found and built community on the road, and how she still seeks out people living on the streets as he

Worldwide ripple effects. In today’s episode we are at the SFU Conference in Taos and talk with 15 Solution Focused practitioners from around the world about their fascinations for SF, their takeaways from the SFU Conference that they take home to their practice, and the takeaways they hope that the participants will take with them from the workshops and plenary sessions. What a great compilation of SF applications, learnings and inspirations worldwide! And we talk with the hosts Adam Froerer and Elliott Connie about love, hope, their relationship and collaboration, the hope that people live their lives from a point of inspiration,and that we are better when we support each other. Thank you Lori Scott (Georgia, USA), Erin Cusanno (New York, USA), Jennifer Watson (Texas, USA), Beverley Kort (British Columbia, Canada), Paut Kromkamp (the Netherlands), Ann Davis (New Zealand), Jacqui von Cziffra-Bergs (New Zealand), Amelia Barrera (Chile), Caroline Minelli (Switzerland), Alyssa Courtnage (Ontario, Canada), Denis

Yvonne Dolan about SF trauma work and a meaningful life. In today’s episode, we talk with Yvonne Dolan, M.A., founding member of the Institute for Solution-Focused Therapy, internationally acclaimed author, lecturer, trainer, and therapist about Solution Focused recipes, her friendship with Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer, and what we can learn from the Solution Focused approach to trauma for our everyday life. Learn more about the role of food in the early development of Solution Focus, what fascinates her and has fascinated her with SF, how she got in touch with Insoo and Steve, ended up on the team at the BFTC, and started her own SF team in Denver. Yvonne emphasizes the importance of compassion, counterbalance, and coping, and tells a wonderful story of the miracle question or how a patient spent her last days. Learn about asking Solution Focused questions in a heartfelt and soulful way, explicit and implicit hope in Solution Focused questions, and the importance of ending Solution Focused sessions wit

Mark Mitchell about the body and tribe. In today’s episode, we talk with Mark Mitchell, Solution Focused Marriage and Family therapist, coach, and seminar leader about including body experiences, movement, and singing in Solution Focus and how to support the transition period from an active military to a veteran with the focus on tribe and community. Listen to Mark’s fascination and passion of bringing SF into many different fields since the 80’s, how he asks the miracle question using singing, how he includes the body, movement and songs in Solution Focus as well as the questions he asks and language he uses. Check out his stories about his work with veterans and active military like the Navy Seals and how he uses scale walks and the embodied experiences of the participants. Learn more about the transition period from an active military to a veteran or coming from a „we“ to a „me“ and the importance of tribe and community in this process. And check out the challenge of the week: „Find something to enjoy and

Ellen Quick about decision making. In today’s episode, we talk with Ellen Quick, PhD, BCC, Clinical psychologist, Solution Focused therapist, life coach, and author about her fascination with Solution Focus and how Solution Focus can support good decision making. Ellen points out to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and how to make these useful details that work visible. Check out how she came up to write a book about Solution Focus and decision making, how people suddenly know when they know, how decisions can ripen, and how she invites people to embrace this ripening process with a ripening scale. Hear how she uses obstacles in a Solution Focused way and focuses on people’s agency, how she acknowledges problems and combines strategic work with Solution Focus. And check out the challenge of the week: "When you hit a rough patch or face a lot of stress, just keep going, do those simple things that you already know how to do. Those things that on one level are ordinary and on another level are extraordinar

Sara Smock Jordan about observing moment by moment. In today’s episode, we talk with Sara Smock Jordan, Ph.D., LMFT, Associate Professor, Program Director of Marriage and Family Therapy, and Graduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, about her fascinations with Solution Focus, with microanalysis of face-to-face dialogue, and how she started working with Janet Bavelas to capture Solution Focus in an observable way. Get to know her her research project about positive and negative content choices, their analysis of the miracle question, and her hopes for that research. Find out more about teaching Solution Focus and how she lets her students analyze their own work moment by moment with microanalysis of their recorded conversations, what differences she noticed with her students since she uses microanalysis in her teaching as well as the importance of giving feedback of observable behavior. Check out her learnings when teaching Solution Focus with microanalysis and how educators could benefit fr

Reflecting reflections - Beyond goals, beyond habits. In today’s episode, we talk about Solution Focused reflections, the differences to normal reflections, and how we reflect, e.g. the New Year. Learn more about our fascinations for reflection, how they can be joyful und supportive, how they can fit to our ever changing world and how they can make an impact in your life. Get to know the crazy three – a fun and easy way to make progress and your first little steps towards your preferred future - and learn more about the importance of interactional aspects in reflections and valuing the past and what worked so far. Our gift for you: The 5 questions for your reflections that we used to reflect our 2018 and 2019. And check out the challenge of the week to learn even more about your own way: „Think of your latest reflection(s) - What worked well there? What differences did this reflection make for you and for others? And what of that might be useful in your future? The post SFP 43 – Beyond Goals, Beyond Habits: 5

Kat and Gary Barclay about diabetes prevention online. In today’s episode, we talk with Kat Barclay, PhD in Psychology, and Gary Barclay, MA in Health Psychology, about how they got in touch with SF, what fascinates them about Solution Focus, Gary’s and Kat’s story, and how that influenced their diabetes prevention program. Learn how they use Solution Focus in their online program from the first moment on, how they examine the future perfect of their clients, focus on what works, encourage small steps, and how they invite their clients into SF conversations. Hear examples of small little things in eating and activities that made differences for their clients and how they help them focus on what works in their life. Check out the advantages of online work and how online work and Solution Focus come together. And enjoy the Challenge of the week: „STOP – Stop – Take a breath, Observe and Proceed – Every time you walk to the Refrigerator do the Stop and think.” The post SFP 42 – Diabetes Prevention: Kat & Gary Ba