Introduction to Solution-Focused Conversations in Schools: Building Foundational Skills
Presented by Anne Bodmer Lutz, MD, Institute for Solution-Focused Therapy
Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at Fitchburg State University, Meeting Room - TBA - 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
5.5 Credit/Clock Hours and/or 10 PDP’s available
This training introduces school social workers, school adjustment counselors, and school counselors to the foundational skills of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), a brief, evidence-based approach that fosters hope by activating students’ agency and helping them create actionable plans for success. Participants will learn how solution-focused conversations are inherently trauma-informed, emphasizing strengths and resilience while avoiding re-traumatization. Core skills include negotiating goals collaboratively, crafting questions that enhance hope, using scaling questions to measure and build progress, and employing techniques like “amygdala whispering” to help students regulate intense emotions. The training also explores “VIP mapping” to foster stronger connections with students, families, and educators.
Through interactive learning that includes live teaching, role-plays, video observations, and case discussions, participants will gain confidence in shifting from problem-focused to solution-focused conversations. This approach empowers school counselors to promote social-emotional learning, resilience, and measurable progress within their schools.
Target Audience: Social workers, psychologists, mental health counselors, educators, adjustment counselors, behavioral health practitioners, and medical professionals appropriate for all levels of knowledge.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe how solution-focused conversations promote social-emotional learning and foster transdisciplinary collaboration with educators, mental health clinicians, and families in educational settings.
- Identify the core skills and tenets of solution-focused conversations, including their trauma-informed applications.
- Explain the key differences between solution-focused and problem-focused conversations, emphasizing paradigm, order, and language shifts.
- Discuss the principles of solution-focused “languaging,” including the use of root verbs, positive vocabulary, and appreciative language to instill hope and agency.
- Apply solution-focused techniques such as amygdala whispering to counterbalance intense emotions in educational contexts.
- Demonstrate using solution-focused questioning techniques, including direct compliments, coping questions, amplification of positive differences, and scaling questions to enhance agency and create actionable plans.
- Implement solution-focused VIP mapping to identify and strengthen connections with students, families, and educators.
- Demonstrate solution-focused goal negotiation skills, including the best hope question, imagining a satisfying week, and the miracle question to facilitate collaborative planning in educational settings.
- Describe how the solution-focused safety assessment approach differs from problem-focused risk assessment in addressing student needs.
In the event that weather forces a cancellation, this workshop will be held on Wednesday, February 5 with the same schedule.
Continuing Education
5.5 CE Credit/Clock Hours are available for this live course.
Please see this Continuing Education Information page for information about CE credits, clock hours, and our accreditations and approvals for psychologists, social workers, and counselors.
Upon successfully completing the course, participants will be given instructions on downloading and printing their Certificates of Completion.
Questions about this program should be directed to Nyki Clark, Kate Niedel or Anne Thidemann French.
