Talk about the SOLUTIONS rather than the PROBLEMS

[SayidSomal]

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink will not flow down to the writing surface).

 

• Solution #1

To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

 

 

• Solution #2

What did the Russians do for the same problem? They used a pencil.

 

It has become the norm in the politics section of SOL to only talk about the problems of Somali politics - for such highly esteemed website/online forum full of the toast of young intellectual of Somali diasporas; it is disappointment to see them waste time and energy on fanning the problematic politics of Somalia instead of talking about the solutions. I always reading something along the lines – X minister, X Editors of newspapers/websites, X NGOs, X Policy think tanks and X foreign governments agents are frequent visitors of SOL. I wonder what they think of when they read some of the posts and opinions on the politics section??

[SayidSomal]

Ok - enough ranting – let me practise what I preach. How about this for an idea:

 

Let’s apply Solution Focused brief therapy on the Somali politics: by the way Solution Focused therapy is a type of talking therapy that is based upon social constructionist philosophy. It focuses on what clients want to achieve through therapy rather than on the problem(s) that made them to seek help. The approach does not focus on the past, but instead, focuses on the present and future.

 

How does this work? The therapist/counselor uses respectful curiosity to invite the client to envision their preferred future and then therapist and client start attending to any moves towards it whether these are small increments or large changes. To support this, questions are asked about the client’s story, strengths and resources, and about exceptions to the problem.

 

 

Solution focused work can be seen as a way of working that focuses exclusively or predominantly at two things. 1) Supporting people to explore their preferred futures. 2) Exploring when, where, with whom and how pieces of that preferred future are already happening. While this is often done using a social constructionist perspective the approach is practical and can be achieved with no specific theoretical framework beyond the intention to keep as close as possible to these two things.

[SayidSomal]

Questions

The Miracle Question The miracle question is a method of questioning that a coach, therapist, or counselor uses to aid the client to envision how the future will be different when the problem is no longer present. Also, this may help to establish goals.

 

A traditional version of the miracle question would go like this:

 

"Suppose our meeting is over, you go home, do whatever you planned to do for the rest of the day. And then, some time in the evening, you get tired and go to sleep. And in the middle of the night, when you are fast asleep, a miracle happens and all the problems that brought you here today are solved just like that. But since the miracle happened over night nobody is telling you that the miracle happened. When you wake up the next morning, how are you going to start discovering that the miracle happened? ... What else are you going to notice? What else?"

Whilst relatively easy to state the miracle question requires considerable skill to ask well. The question must be asked slowly with close attention to the person's non-verbal communication to ensure that the pace matches the person's ability to follow the question. Initial responses frequently include a sense of "I don't know." To ask the question well this should be met with respectful silence to give the person time to fully absorb the question.

 

Once the miracle day has been thoroughly explored the worker can follow this with scales, on a scale where 0 = worst things have every been and 10 = the miracle day where are you now? Where would it need to be for you to know that you didn't need to see me any more? What will be the first things that will let you know you are 1 point higher. In this way the miracle question is not so much a question as a series of questions.

 

There are many different versions of the miracle question depending on the context and the client.

 

In a specific situation, the counselor may ask,

 

"If you woke up tomorrow, and a miracle happened so that you no longer easily lost your temper, what would you see differently?" What would the first signs be that the miracle occurred?"

The client (a child) may respond by saying,

 

"I would not get upset when somebody calls me names."

The counselor wants the client to develop positive goals, or what they will do, rather than what they will not

[SayidSomal]

Scaling Questions Scaling questions are tools that are used to identify useful differences for the client and may help to establish goals as well. The poles of a scale can be defined in a bespoke way each time the question is asked, but typically range from "the worst the problem has ever been" (zero or one) to "the best things could ever possibly be" (ten). The client is asked to rate their current position on the scale, and questions are then used to help the client identify resources (e.g. "what's stopping you from slipping one point lower down the scale?"), exceptions (e.g. "on a day when you are one point higher on the scale, what would tell you that it was a 'one point higher' day?") and to describe a preferred future (e.g. "where on the scale would be good enough? What would a day at that point on the scale look like?")

[SayidSomal]

Exception Seeking Questions Proponents of SFBT insist that there are always times when the problem is less severe or absent for the client. The counselor seeks to encourage the client to describe what different circumstances exist in that case, or what the client did differently. The goal is for the client to repeat what has worked in the past, and to help them gain confidence in making improvements for the future.

[SayidSomal]

Coping Questions Coping questions are designed to elicit information about client resources that will have gone unnoticed by them. Even the most hopeless story has within it examples of coping that can be drawn out: "I can see that things have been really difficult for you, yet I am struck by the fact that, even so, you manage to get up each morning and do everything necessary to get the kids off to school. How do you do that?" Genuine curiosity and admiration can help to highlight strengths without appearing to contradict the clients view of reality. The initial summary "I can see that things have been really difficult for you" is for them true and validates their story. The second part "you manage to get up each morning etc.", is also a truism, but one that counters the problem focused narrative. Undeniably, they cope and coping questions start to gently and supportively challenge the problem-focused narrative.

[Paragon]

Thank for the lessons, prof.

[SayidSomal]

Prof Paragon - i am your student - not the other way round

 

give us a lesson on your ontology or was it ethnology? or some other ology.

 

any ways what do you think of the perpectives of learning

 

do you think somalis have what it takes to learn a new trick?

[BiLaaL]

Couldn't agree more. Good post. There should be more threads about our common interests. Most threads argue over positions.

 

For those of you interested -

Check out this book - wiki link. Although written by non-Muslims, its approach to the subject is very close to some Islamic books that I've read over the years - unfortunately I don't have an online link for any of those Islamic books.

[SayidSomal]

Thanks Bilaal - good suggestion and i intend to but that book - hope it is availabe in Blackwells - i have £25 voucher for that place.

 

 

Right continue with my lesson:

 

Problem Free Talk Problem free talk is often over looked as a technique. In Solution focused therapy it is thought to be a useful technique for eliciting resources. Many people do leisure activities that relax them, or have experiences of being assertive, and many other useful resources that can help within the therapy. Solution focused therapists will talk about seemingly irrelevant life experiences; like leisure activities, meeting with friends, relaxing and managing conflict. The therapist can also gather information on the clients values and beliefs and their strengths. From this discussion during the therapy session the therapist can use these strengths and resources to move the therapy forward. For example; if a client wants to be more assertive it may turn out that under certain life situations they are assertive. This strength from one part of their life can then be transferred to the area with the current problem. Or if a client is struggling with their child because the child gets aggressive and calls the parent names and the parent continually retaliates and also gets angry, then perhaps they have an area of their life where they remain calm even under pressure; or maybe they have trained a dog successfully that now behaves and can identify that it was the way they spoke to the dog that made the difference and if they put boundaries in place using the same firm tonality the child might listen.

[Meiji]

Good topic Sayid'Somal, it is indeed better to discuss with eachother on how to solve problems instead of arguing about daily political events.

 

Now, tell us brother what kind of therapy should we use and can you lead the therapy session?

 

I prefer this one:

 

Let’s apply Solution Focused brief therapy on the Somali politics: by the way Solution Focused therapy is a type of talking therapy that is based upon social constructionist philosophy. It focuses on what clients want to achieve through therapy rather than on the problem(s) that made them to seek help. The approach does not focus on the past, but instead, focuses on the present and future.

 

How does this work? The therapist/counselor uses respectful curiosity to invite the client to envision their preferred future and then therapist and client start attending to any moves towards it whether these are small increments or large changes. To support this, questions are asked about the client’s story, strengths and resources, and about exceptions to the problem.

 

 

Solution focused work can be seen as a way of working that focuses exclusively or predominantly at two things. 1) Supporting people to explore their preferred futures. 2) Exploring when, where, with whom and how pieces of that preferred future are already happening. While this is often done using a social constructionist perspective the approach is practical and can be achieved with no specific theoretical framework beyond the intention to keep as close as possible to these two things.

[SayidSomal]

OK - Suppose a mirracle from Allah (SWT) happens overnight tonight whilst every somali is a sleep (including the Jaat Chewers) on Friday morning we all wake up.

 

The miracle happens and all the problems that that Somalia/Somalis have; are solved just like that. But since the miracle happened over night nobody knew that the miracle happened. When we wake up the next morning, how are we going to start discovering that the miracle happened?

 

 

Give it go......

 

Who will report it on SOL First? Duke or JB and i wonder how each one will report it?

[Malika]

^oh, me sir! me sir!

 

Erm,we would have woken up with lighter hearts,breath easy and for those with constipation problem will have an early morning poo, a relief!! The weight on our hearts of these conflicts are dragging us down..

 

Who will report the good news,who else but the man I highly respect..Xiin.

[SayidSomal]

LOL - malika.

 

i hope your students give as good answer as you have. However, i disagree on practicility of noticing breathing differences and constipation relief (most likely to blame it on the prunes they had the night before)

 

I would say i would notice by hearing an advert for investment on somalia on the radio. actually i dreamed of this last night.

 

As for who will report it first - Xiin is the last person to report that for it to be noticed that a change happened.

[Malika]

^If being alive means the ability to 'breath' wont the load off our minds make 'living' easy and better?

 

Imagine the hours, wasted by Somalis on their politics if those hours were dedicated to worship, wouldn't that have lightened their hearts?

 

For those who are so bitter,filled with hatred,it will definitely ease their constipation,am sure all that stress isn't good for their digestive system..lol

 

ps.What course are you doing?