SFBT evolved out of the clinical practice of Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, and colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the early 1980s (de Shazer, 1982, 1985, 1988; de Shazer, Berg, Lipchik, et al., 1986). SFBT emphasizes constructing solutions rather than resolving problems. SFBT falls under constructive therapies. Constructivism believes that people are meaning makers and are ultimately the creators of their own realities. The SFBT therapist believes that change in life is inevitable. Since someone creates their own reality, they may as well change it for the better (21). In SFBT, the therapist is a skilled conversation facilitator. They do not present themselves as an expert but instead come from a “not-knowing” point of view (21). The main therapeutic task is helping the client to imagine how he or she would like things to be different and what it will take to make that happen. Little attention is paid to diagnosis, history taking, or exploration of the problem. Solution-focused therapists assume clients want to change, have the capacity to envision change, and are doing their best to make change happen. Further, solution-focused therapists assume that the solution, or at least part of it, is probably already happening (Weiner-Davis, de Shazer, & Gingerich, 1987).
