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SFBT

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

The therapy that asks what works — not what is wrong.

SFBT skips the long history-taking. It asks where you want to go, what you are already doing that works, and how to do more of it. Most courses are 3–8 sessions.

What SFBT helps with

  • Stuck life situations
  • Workplace stress
  • Couples & family disputes
  • Mild–moderate depression
  • Goal setting
  • Coaching contexts

How SFBT works

  1. 1Define the preferred future in concrete behavioural terms — the 'miracle' description.
  2. 2Find recent exceptions when the problem was less severe and study what was different.
  3. 3Use scaling (0–10) to make tiny progress visible and protect it.
  4. 4Build the smallest next step you would notice working before the next session.

Core techniques

  • The miracle question
  • Exception finding
  • Scaling questions
  • Coping questions
  • Compliments & affirmations
  • Pre-session change

SFBT FAQs

Is SFBT really enough on its own?

For many goal-shaped problems — career stuckness, parenting friction, mild–moderate mood issues — yes. For severe trauma or complex personality patterns, a deeper modality is usually a better fit.

How is SFBT different from coaching?

Solution-focused coaching grew directly out of SFBT, so the techniques overlap heavily. SFBT is delivered by clinicians and stays inside clinical scope; coaching does not.

Start SFBT today — three ways