Carol Messmore

Finding Hope in Creating Solutions: the Story of a Solution Focused Prevention Program Carol Messmore

Finding Hope in Creating Solutions investigates the usefulness of a solution-focused prevention program at a non-profit private social service agency that seeks to protect children by keeping families together. This agency helps clients manage difficult times and implement strategies for change that enable the family to work through challenges and issues in the future. Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) helps multi-problem families target what is going ?right? instead of what is going ?wrong.? This shift in perspective empowers and strengthens the family, giving hope that things can be different in ways that the family envisions. Utilizing an action research paradigm, the agency?s solution focused program was evaluated through group and one-on-one interviews with representatives of each level of stakeholders. The resulting information supports the premise that the solution-focused model effectively promotes change with multi-problem families within a brief time period and is useful in helping the families to address future potential difficulties.