At the NSPCC we’ve been using solution-focused practice in our Face to Face service since 2011. The service works with looked after children and children on the edge of care who are experiencing poor emotional wellbeing. We support them to identify what changes they can make to improve their life using a solution-focused approach. Our evaluation found that 73% of young people found this approach helpful.
We have developed a free toolkit made up of the exercises our Face to Face practitioners found most useful. It includes templates to use with children and guidance about solution-focused techniques.
We’ve picked the top 10 tips to share from our experience.
1 Explain what a solution-focused approach is
Use one of our worksheets to explain what the solution-focused approach involves, and the journey of discovery you’ll be going on together. Using worksheets and drawing exercises can help break the ice.
2 Get to know the child’s likes and dislikes
Every child is different. Start by getting to know them and finding out about their interests. It might be shopping, rap music or characters from Frozen. Incorporating their interests into your work together shows them that you listened.
3 Explore the child’s strengths
This can help them see a different, more resourceful and positive side of themself. This might include exercises like making strengths cards or a strengths shield. Children and young people interviewed for our evaluation told us they really valued this aspect of the work.
4 Help the child to identify the outcome they want to achieve
When the child defines their “best hopes” for the work, help them to frame this in a positive way (eg “I’d like to have more friends” rather than “I want to stop feeling lonely”). This will help the child to move away from the problem and think about how they’d like their life to be instead. You could help them articulate their hopes through a drawing exercise, role play or making spider diagrams.
5 Help the child describe what their “best hope” life will be like
Help them describe in detail what their life will be like when their best hopes have come true; this will be harder for some children than others. Exercises in our toolkit include making a “miracle day” drawing, using a crystal ball colouring sheet, making a scene in a sand tray or writing a letter to myself from the future. You may need to negotiate if the child’s best hopes are initially outside the scope of your work together.
6 Always prepare a back up option!
The great activity you planned might not work when you try it out with the child. Our toolkit has a range of activities and tools to use.
7 Use scaling techniques
A big part of the work is helping the child to think about what they are already doing to move towards their best hopes and how close they are getting to where they want to be. You can get really creative here and make the scaling concept lots of fun: climbing stairs, kicking footballs, popping balloons or lining up shiny buttons. Once they get the idea, the child can design their own scale.
8 Start each session by reflecting on the child’s progress.
A lot of the child’s best work may happen in between sessions. Start each session reflecting on all the progress the child has made since your last meeting. You could record this progress with an achievement wall or a scrap book. This could become a great memento once your work together ends.
9 Help the child identify their solution team
Who do they have in their life who can help them move toward the future they want? This could help to reassure the child they will not be on their own once the work ends. Try out some of the exercises in our toolkit; painting the “helping hand” or making a social network map.
10 Celebrate the child’s achievements
When the child or young person is satisfied with the progress they’ve made toward their best hopes, they will be ready for their work to end. Ask them if they want to invite anybody from their solution team to their last session, to celebrate their achievements with them. Foster carers we interviewed in our evaluation told us they could see positive changes in the young people we worked with, and they welcomed opportunities to get involved.
You can download both the toolkit and the service evaluation for free from the NSPCC’s website. Templates for the exercises mentioned in this article can be found in the appendix of the toolkit. For more information, contact louise.bazalgette@nspcc.org.uk.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by the NSPCC, sponsor of the Guardian Social Care Network practice hub
