October 2025 Clinical Supervision Topic: Strengths-Based and Solutions-Focused
So much of therapy drifts toward what is wrong. The pain is real and deserves care, it’s true. But if we stop there, we can accidentally miss reflecting back to our clients the beauty of their humanity. We also might. miss out on discovering their innate wisdom about what actually works for them.
This month let’s tilt the lens and see how it affects the people we care about.
Why this matters
Hope and expectancy. Naming strengths and imagining solutions helps clients believe change is possible.
Alliance. A strengths lens makes the work feel collaborative and dignifying.
Momentum. Small, solution steps often move the needle more than more problem analysis.
What “Strengths-Based” and “Solutions-Focused” mean
Strengths-Based
Clients already carry resources, capacities, and resiliency. We focus on what works, not only what is broken. This approach grew from social work and centers client self-determination and future outcomes.
Solutions-Focused (and/or SFBT)
Rather than digging into the full history of the problem, we orient to preferred futures, exceptions, and doable next steps. Solutions-focused is goal-directed and collaborative, often brief, and has a growing evidence base across settings.
Core Solutions-focused principles to know (I’m leaving out strengths-based because it’s so self-explanatory):
Focus on solutions, not problems.
Treat the client as the expert on their life.
Small changes can create larger shifts.
Look for exceptions, times when the problem eases.
Ask future-oriented questions, like the miracle question.
Use scaling to track movement and choose next steps.
Strengths-based practice in action:
A strengths stance says our job is not to install strengths, but to notice them, amplify them, and help people use them on purpose. It requires some humility on our part, I think. Try:
“How have you gotten through something like this before?”
“What would your best friend say you do well in hard seasons?”
“Which parts of you are already prepared for this?”
Solutions-focused tools you can drop into any orientation
Miracle question: “If a miracle happened and this problem was gone tomorrow, what would be different?”
Scaling: “On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you today. What moves you up one point?” (This one is actually borrowed from Motivational Interviewing).
Exceptions: “Tell me about a recent time the problem was quieter. What was different?”
These questions direct attention to preferred futures and exceptions, which can reduce distress and surface immediate steps. Evidence suggests SFBT achieves effects comparable to other evidence-based approaches, often in fewer sessions.
Integrating the lens without minimizing pain
Being strengths-based and solutions-focused does not mean bypassing grief or trauma. It means holding both truths. Suffering is real, and people also hold abilities, values, and support that can be mobilized now.
Try a mini-challenge this month:
Reflect at least one strength at the end of every session/encounter.
Ask one solutions-oriented question in each encounter.
Track what shifts in client engagement and your own stance.
Closing
When we remember to ask about strengths and solutions, clinical work becomes less about what is missing and more about what already is, and what’s possible.
