My approach
I work primarily within the framework of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), but I also draw on techniques from the Narrative Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is an evidence-based therapeutic approach grounded in research on the effectiveness of talk therapy sessions. Its primary goal is to facilitate positive change in the clients' lives in the shortest possible time.
To achieve this, the therapist focuses on the client’s goals and expectations for therapy, actively involving them in the therapeutic process. While acknowledging and empathizing with the clients' pain, the therapist focuses on helping them understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Instead of delving into the problem or its causes, the emphasis is placed on the clients' desired future and exploring ways to move toward that vision. The past is seen not as a source of problems and suffering but as a source of knowledge about the clients' resources, skills, and valuable experiences, which will be useful in the therapeutic process. As a result, clients begin to see themselves as sufficiently competent to cope with their challenges, and new ways of thinking and behaving start to develop.
The effectiveness of SFBT is based on three key principles. First, it is a form of therapy that focuses on specific, immediate actions taken by the client, with the assumption that these actions will lead to changes in the clients' life situation, and, consequently, in their feelings, interpretations, ways of thinking and behaving. Second, the client' active involvement in the therapeutic process ensures that they will take responsibility for each single step and begin a long-term process of improving their life situation. Third, constructing a preferred future and enriching it with useful information from the past helps to create new neural connections in the brain. During conversations about the preferred future and ways of achieving it, similar processes take place as if those issues were occurring in reality.
SFBT has been successfully applied in the treatment of anxiety and depression, addiction, social phobia, eating disorders, self-destructive behaviours., behavioural disorders, tendency to use violence, and as a complementary therapy for psychiatrically treated disorders.
Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy is based on similar principles to solution-focused therapy, which however allows for a deeper therapeutic process. This approach assumes that the way we tell our experiences—how we create a narrative—affects our identity, emotions, and perception of reality. People, through the narrative they construct, i.e., the stories they tell about themselves, their lives, and experiences, create their own identity and define their place in the world. Changing this narrative can, therefore, lead to a shift in how one perceives both the world and oneself. During therapy, clients gains the opportunity to reframe their past and present in a way that gives them greater control over their life and helps in the search for meaning and purpose in their existence.
Narrative Therapy is particularly effective when working with individuals experiencing intense emotions, family problems, difficulty making decisions, or those going through an existential or identity crisis.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a problem-focused and action-oriented form of talk therapy which includes a number of evidence-based techniques and strategies. CBT aims to identify and change negative and harmful patterns of thought and behaviour which cause mental health problems. Clients gain understanding for the mechanisms behind the challenging thoughts, actions and feelings they are experiencing,while the therapist assists in finding and practising effective strategies to cope with those challenges and alleviate the symptoms.
CBT was originally developed to treat depression, but it is also effective in treating various other disorders, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, ADHD, and eating disorders.