Structuring a solution focused interaction

The terms visitor typical, complainer typical and client typical are widely used by solution focused practitioners. However, often the terms become labels for the client’s behaviour, instead of a description of the interaction between the professional and the client. The problem is that with labeling the client as a visitor or a complainer or a client one loses sight of one’s own part in the interaction. A client who finds a conversation useless may become visitor typical, but if the practitioner accepts the perspective of the client and regards him as cooperative (no matter how resistant he may appear), he will try and find out what the client does want to achieve and as a result the interaction may become client typical fairly quickly. Another down side to labeling clients is probability of getting exactly the sort of response you think you will get. If the practitioner has labeled the client as complainer typical, chances are that the conversation will unfold that way.

Of course this is not what solution focused practitioners plead for. Very often I’ve heard myself explain to other people that the terms refer to the interaction and not to the client. But maybe, if you have to explain yourself so often, there is a better way of talking about the sort of interaction that is going on. The below flow chart, which Coert Visser and I came up with, aims to describe the interaction between the client and the solution focused professional, without using the terms visitor, complainer or client typical.




The flow chart starts with the question “does the client see the usefulness of having the conversation?”. If the answer is no, then the solution focused interventions are to explore what would make the conversation useful. If the client does come up with a topic, then you start exploring what it is he wants to achieve. Sometimes this involves talking about his problem (FORWARD step 1) and sometimes it is possible to immediately ask about the client’s goals (FORWARD step 2). If the client has described his desired situation the solution focused interventions are aimed at helping the client to perceive himself as part of the solution to achieve the desired situation. Sometimes clients may feel powerless. They know what they would like to achieve, but they don’t feel they can influence getting there. They feel dependent on other people or they feel they don’t have the strength or competence to make the desired situation reality. Questions like “what would you do differently is the problem had disappeared?” invite the client to describe his own positive behaviour. This helps to focus on his own behaviour, resulting in him feeling less powerless and more able to do something himself. Maybe he will come up with ideas as to what he can do to achieve the desired situation, but often it is useful explores helpful experiences in the past (previous successes and positive exceptions). By talking about these experiences and by analysing what worked well then, the client will often get ideas regarding his next step forward.