About the Institute

The Institute For Solution-Focused Therapy is a world premier solution-focused training institute. Our mission is to provide evidence-based, high-quality, and sustainable Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and associated practices to individual practitioners and staff within behavioral health organizations. We strive to make a positive difference by providing practical skills in a readily accessible online format that can be immediately applied with the clients you serve.

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What is Solution-Focused Therapy?

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based therapeutic approach, which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices, and which helps clients change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioral change.

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What Does the Research Say About Solution-Focused Brief Therapy?

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy. Empirically-derived rather than theoretically-based both in construct and practice, the SFBT approach is a goal-directed collaborative approach to psychotherapeutic change primarily conducted through direct clinical observation of clients’ responses to a series of carefully constructed questions.

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What is New?

Coming Soon! The Solution-Focused Mindset for Anxiety and Depression: A Workbook to Manage Emotions, Harness Your Strengths, and Feel Better Now (June 1, 2025) by Anne Bodmer Lutz, MD, offers evidence-based tools from solution-focused brief therapy to support emotional well-being and build compassionate inner dialogue—without revisiting distressing experiences. 

Live, In-Person Training (June 17, 2025) Cultivating a Solution-Focused Mindset: Tools for Treating Anxiety and Depression While Nurturing Self-Care. Join us at the New England Botanic Garden for a restorative professional development day. Learn how to apply solution-focused tools to treat anxiety and depression while nurturing your own well-being. Earn 6 CE hours in a peaceful, inspiring setting. Learn More

Online Staff Training

We offer customized online behavioral health staff training and consultation in evidence-based Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Practices for organizations.

We offer a variety of online hybrid behavioral health training options that combine a live interactive experience with a self-paced learning component maximizing training effectiveness. Our programs are designed to provide practical skills that can be immediately implemented within your organization.

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Online Self-Paced Courses

The Institute for Solution Focused Therapy is pleased to offer state-of-the-art training in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and related practices.

Our courses are designed for practicing professionals in the mental health, social services, education, and health care disciplines. We plan to offer an ever-expanding array of courses that will meet the training and continuing education needs of practitioners in these disciplines.

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