This book offers speech and language therapists, and other allied health professionals, a practical resource for working in a distinctive way with children and young people, and their parents, to achieve their ‘best hopes’ from therapy. The authors share a wealth of knowledge and experience from the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering about how they use Solution Focused Brief Therapy to enhance their practice. This resource manual: Provides a step-by-step guide to starting solution-focused conversations, having follow-up meetings, drawing attention to what’s working, and ending well. Illustrates work with a broad range of clients who stammer, including clients with additional physical, learning, and emotional needs. Demonstrates the benefits of working systemically with children and young people and their parents or carers. Supports therapists to develop skills in working collaboratively with clients on what they want to achieve from therapy. Gives examples of how to ask helpful questions and have hope-filled conversations. Considers the benefits and challenges of working in a solution-focused way. Describes how to adapt solution-focused conversations according to the client’s age and stage. Presents a range of applications of SFBT including in groups and in clinical supervision. The manual is illustrated by a rich variety of case examples which brings the material to life and enables the reader to apply the principles to their own setting. It is an essential practical resource for therapists hoping to develop their skills in empowering parents and in supporting children and young people towards living their best life.

This accessible textbook provides therapy students and practitioners with an understanding of postmodern theories, founders, and practical applications to family therapy. It introduces complex concepts in bite-sized pieces so readers can cultivate and master competent real-world applications of postmodern philosophy in therapy. Relying predominantly on primary sources, Kelsey Railsback shows how postmodernist ideas influenced the development and implementation of postmodern family therapy models, focusing on collaborative-dialogic practice, narrative therapy, and solution focused brief therapy. It describes why certain therapeutic techniques developed and explains the context and history of their development. Each section begins with an introduction to the model before moving to the philosopher and ending with the founders’ application of philosophical ideas to therapy techniques. These chapters summarize prominent ideas from esteemed professionals in their fields, covering the philosophical pioneers Wittgenstein, Foucault, and Gergen and the therapy pioneers Anderson, White, Epston, de Shazer, Berg, and more. Critically, this book demonstrates how postmodern theory can be applied in mental health practice. By the end of the book, students will be able to interweave the philosophers, founders, and applications of postmodern family therapy into a comprehensive picture. To better understand their epistemology and why they are more inclined toward certain practices over others, students can utilize the included self-quizzes to deepen their understanding. Filled with etymological explanations, reflective questions, keywords, and summaries throughout, this book is designed for students and practitioners in systemic and relational therapy or related fields such as psychology, social work, and mental health counseling.

Now available in a fully revised and updated second edition, this practical manual is a detailed guide to the Palin Parent–Child Interaction Therapy programme (Palin PCI) developed at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering (MPC). Palin PCI builds on the principle that parents play a critical role in effective therapy and that understanding and managing stammering is a collaborative journey between the child, parent and therapist. This book emphasises a need for open communication about stammering, offering a combination of indirect techniques such as video feedback, interaction strategies and confidence building, along with direct techniques to teach a child what they can do to help themselves. This second edition: Reflects the most up-to-date research in areas such as neurology, genetics, temperament and the impact of stammering on children and their families Offers photocopiable resources, such as assessment tools, information sheets and therapy handouts, to support the implementation of Palin PCI Focuses on empowerment through building communication confidence in children who stammer and developing knowledge and confidence in their parents Based on a strong theoretical framework, this book offers a comprehensive understanding of the Palin PCI approach in order to support generalist and specialist speech and language therapists as they develop their knowledge, skills and confidence in working with young children who stammer and their families. For more information about Alison and her work, please visit www.alisonnicholasslt.co.uk. To learn more about Elaine and her work, please visit www.michaelpalincentreforstammering.org.

Now available in a fully revised and updated second edition, this practical manual is a detailed guide to the Palin Parent–Child Interaction Therapy programme (Palin PCI) developed at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering (MPC). Palin PCI builds on the principle that parents play a critical role in effective therapy and that understanding and managing stammering is a collaborative journey between the child, parent and therapist. This book emphasises a need for open communication about stammering, offering a combination of indirect techniques such as video feedback, interaction strategies and confidence building, along with direct techniques to teach a child what they can do to help themselves. This second edition: Reflects the most up-to-date research in areas such as neurology, genetics, temperament and the impact of stammering on children and their families Offers photocopiable resources, such as assessment tools, information sheets and therapy handouts, to support the implementation of Palin PCI Focuses on empowerment through building communication confidence in children who stammer and developing knowledge and confidence in their parents Based on a strong theoretical framework, this book offers a comprehensive understanding of the Palin PCI approach in order to support generalist and specialist speech and language therapists as they develop their knowledge, skills and confidence in working with young children who stammer and their families. For more information about Alison and her work, please visit www.alisonnicholasslt.co.uk. To learn more about Elaine and her work, please visit www.michaelpalincentreforstammering.org.

The latest developments in this groundbreaking therapy approach! More Than Miracles: The State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is a ground breaking, intellectually provocative book, revealing new advances in the widely used, evidence based Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) approach. The final work of world renowned family therapists and original developers of SFBT, the late Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg (who passed away shortly before the book’s release) this definitive resource provides the most up-to-date information available on this eminently practical, internationally acclaimed approach. New revelations about the impact of language in therapeutic change are presented precisely and clearly, illustrated with real life case examples that give readers a “hands-on” view of the newest technical refinements in the SF approach. Challenging questions about the applications of SFBT to complex problems in “difficult” settings are given thoughtful, detailed answers. The book’s unique design allows the reader to “listen in” on the lively discussions that took place as the authors watched therapy sessions. The solution-focused brief therapy approach is based upon researchers observing thousands of hours of psychotherapy sessions and studying which questions and responses were most effective in helping people develop solutions to their problems. More Than Miracles: The State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is the most up-to-date, comprehensive review of this approach. This book discusses the latest developments in the fields of family therapy, brief therapy, and psychotherapy training and practice. A succinct overview orients the reader to the current state of SFBT, and provides three real life case transcripts that vividly illustrate the practical applications of SFBT techniques. The seminar format of More Than Miracles: The State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy allows readers to: sit in on surprising psychotherapy sessions eavesdrop on the authors’ commentary about the sessions get a comprehensive overview on the current state of SFBT review and understand the major tenets of SFBT learn specific interventions, including the miracle question and the reasons for asking it understand treatment applicability read actual session transcripts understand the “miracle scale” get insight into the unique relationship between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and SFBT better understand SFBT and emotions examine misconceptions about SFBT and more More Than Miracles: The State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is illuminating reading for psychotherapists, counselors, human services personnel, health care workers, and teachers.

Therapy is frequently miscast as requiring an enormous amount of time and financial commitment, but helpful, goal-oriented therapy can produce positive results after only a few sessions. By focusing on solutions instead of problems, SFBT asks clients to set concrete goals and to draw upon strengths in their lives that can help bring about the desired change for a preferred future.

Stuttering: An Integrated Approach to Its Nature presents the most comprehensive textbook on the topic today, providing an overview of the etiology and development of stuttering and details, appropriate approaches to accurate assessment and treatment. Exploring a variety of practice settings, this core introductory book grounds all topics in a firm basis of the disorder’s origin and nature. This edition has been thoroughly updated to address all current methodologies.