{"id":1052,"date":"2021-04-26T17:05:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T17:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2021-04-26T17:05:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T17:05:01","slug":"a-mental-health-moment-a-solution-focused-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/26\/a-mental-health-moment-a-solution-focused-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mental Health Moment: A Solution-Focused Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bernadette Joy Graham, MA, LPC, NCC, Licensed Mental Health Therapist<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Bernadette Joy Graham,
MA, LPC, NCC,
Licensed Mental Health Therapist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Truth Contributor\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Finding solutions is the goal of mental health counseling.\u00a0 Individuals seeking counseling express great concern over issues having affected them much in the past and now in the present.\u00a0 During the first session, which is an assessment of the individual\u2019s history including family, medical, social, education and employment contexts, the first question asked is the presenting problem \u201cwhy are you seeking counseling?\u201d\u00a0 The last question asked is often \u201cwhat are some goals you want to achieve during counseling?\u201d<\/p>\n

Solution-Focused Therapy\u00a0is a future and goal-directed approach to assist individuals in solving problems.\u00a0 The focus is on the individual\u2019s health but not the problem, on strengths not on weaknesses or limitations and on skills, resources and coping abilities to assist in reaching goals.<\/p>\n

Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) can be used to treat mental health problems such as:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Anxiety<\/li>\n
  • Depression<\/li>\n
  • Self-esteem<\/li>\n
  • Stress (Personal\/Work related)<\/li>\n
  • Substance abuse\/ addiction<\/li>\n
  • Relationship problems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    SFT is best used when an individual is trying to reach a particular goal, or overcome a particular problem.\u00a0 The techniques utilized are:\u00a0 1 \u2013 The Miracle Question \u2013 when you wake up tomorrow and realized your life was perfect what would that look like?<\/em>\u00a0 2 \u2013 Coping Question \u2013 how have you coped in the past with this particular issue and continued to function?<\/em>\u00a0 3 \u2013 Exceptions to the problems \u2013 When has this problem not presented a barrier to your life, describe what was going on?<\/em>\u00a0 4 \u2013 Compliments \u2013 Identifying and acknowledging strengths \u2013 That\u2019s great to hear that you were first to apologize to your sister!<\/em> 5 \u2013 Scaling Questions \u2013 On a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being least and 5 being most, rate the severity of the issue.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Take a mental health moment to try out the miracle question for a current problem\/issue in your life.\u00a0 If you have been on the fence about starting counseling or returning to counseling, this may assist you in getting an idea of how things can be better.\u00a0 While not all counselors utilize SFT, the presenting problem and goals should be clear by the end of the assessment.\u00a0 You will just have a head start on the bigger goal (solution) as sometimes that solution does seem to be in the necessity of a miracle.<\/p>\n

    Bernadette Graham is a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, National Certified Counselor and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist.\u00a0 Provide feedback or reach out at graham.bernadette@gmail.com\u00a0 For appointment information please call 419.409.4929 (Telehealth is available for ongoing and new clients at this time as well as in person appointments available on Tuesdays and Fridays only). Office location is 3454 Oak Alley Ct. Suite 300 Toledo, OH 43606 www.bjgrahamcounseling.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Bernadette Joy Graham, MA, LPC, NCC, Licensed Mental Health Therapist The Truth Contributor\u00a0 Finding solutions is the goal of mental health counseling.\u00a0 Individuals seeking counseling express great concern over issues having affected them much in the past and now in the present.\u00a0 During the first session, which is an assessment of the individual\u2019s history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[49],"class_list":["post-1052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1054,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}