Advanced – Solution-Focused Skills and Practice for Agencies

The most effective way to learn solution-focused professional skills is to have intensive guided practice. This course provides participants with practice opportunities to demonstrate advanced solution-focused brief therapy in transdisciplinary contexts. Participants will learn to apply solution-focused practices within diverse clinical contexts, including with children, families, externally motivated clients, and clients experiencing grief, trauma, substance use disorders, and wellness. Participants will learn to formulate solution-focused questions to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. Participants will engage in video case discussions, break-out sessions, group exercises, and role-plays. Participants will be expected to provide a summary of the written clinical practice exercises provided throughout the course. The course includes 12 hours of live, interactive teaching—customized and paced to fit your agency’s needs—delivered by an expert solution-focused practitioner. This course requires completion of Basic Solution-Focused Skills and Practice for Agencies. This course is limited to 25 participants per cohort to maximize interactive learning.

We also offer this as a self-paced, customized course: ADVANCED Self-Paced Solution-Focused Skills and Practice for Agencies. By recording your organization’s live sessions, we can provide organizations with a customized ADVANCED Self-Paced Solution-Focused Skills and Practice for Agencies course that offers a sustainable, flexible, and customizable solution to provide organizations with training and continuing education even if participants cannot be present for the 12 hours of live-interactive ADVANCED – Solution-focused skills and practice for agencies course. The self-paced customized course also provides solutions to meet the challenges of training mental health organizations with complex staffing needs, onboarding new staff,  staff turnover, unanticipated crises that require immediate staff attention, or any of a variety of unpredictable events that make it difficult for staff to participate in all 12 hours of the live sessions.  Continuing education mandates require participants to be present for the entire live synchronous courses. This self-paced course offers a creative solution. This course has a required exam to earn continuing education credits.

Last Updated: February 2025

Target Audience: Social workers, psychologists, mental health counselors, educators, and medical professionals;  appropriate for intermediate and advanced levels of knowledge. This course provides participants with practice opportunities to apply Solution-Focused Brief conversations with children, families, and clients experiencing grief, trauma, and substance use disorders. This course provides opportunities for participants to observe video examples, engage in break-out sessions, group exercises, and role-plays and share successes and challenges in applying solution-focused practice.

1. Differentiate how solution-focused conversations apply across clinical and transdisciplinary settings by analyzing case examples and discussing key distinctions.
2. Apply solution-focused language techniques in role-plays and clinical exercises to develop a solution-focused mindset.
3. Demonstrate solution-focused conversation skills to engage externally motivated children and families through instructor-evaluated role-plays, breakout discussions, and group exercises.
4. Utilize solution-focused conversation strategies to support clients experiencing grief in structured case discussions, role-plays, and small-group exercises.
5. Implement solution-focused conversations within school settings through case discussions, instructor feedback, and breakout sessions.
6. Employ solution-focused strategies in conversations with clients and families experiencing substance use disorders by analyzing video case examples and participating in interactive exercises.
7. Apply solution-focused techniques to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical conversations through structured discussions and practice exercises.
8. Use solution-focused methods when working with children, families, and adults who have experienced trauma by engaging in instructor-led case applications and role-play activities.
9. Integrate solution-focused conversations into wellness and self-care practices for practitioners and clients by engaging in reflective discussions and case-based exercises.
10. Develop a clinical case example that integrates solution-focused practices into your professional setting, demonstrating key techniques learned.
11. Summarize key takeaways from clinical practice exercises by producing a written reflection that synthesizes course concepts.

Course Agenda

The course is structured into six sessions, each lasting 2 hours, for a total of 12 hours of live teaching. The 12 hours are scheduled to accommodate your organization’s needs. Each participant will receive an online course with materials for their reference. The live sessions are recorded and also put into your customized course. The six sections cover the following topics:

1. Review of solution-focused language and solution-focused questions
2. Applications of Solution-focused practices within team meetings and clinical scenarios using video examples and role-plays
3. Applications of solution-focused practices in the context of trauma and substance use using video examples and role-plays
4. Applications of solution-focused practices to promote wellness and self-care using role-plays and break-out sessions
5. Applications of solution-focused practices in safety assessment and treatment planning using video examples, case scenarios, and role-plays
6. Applications of solution-focused practices in your organization’s unique contexts

Participants will be assessed in the following manner:

• Class Participation: Participants are invited to clarify things they do not understand, pose questions, offer ideas, and broaden perspectives. 
• Produce a summary of written clinical practice exercises provided throughout the course
• Present an example of how solution-focused practices are integrated into your area of practice.

12 CE Credit /Clock Hours are available for this live course.

Please see our Continuing Education Information page for information about CE credits and clock hours and our accreditations and approvals for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage & family therapists.

The Institute for Solution-Focused Therapy, provider number 1831, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 9/22/2023 – 9/22/2026. Social workers completing this course receive 12 Clinical continuing education credits.

Participants should check with their professional licensing boards to ensure that a specific course will be accepted for their continuing education requirements.

To receive continuing education hours, the participant must attend the entire online presentation, engage in all activities, and complete the course evaluation.

Upon successfully completing the course, participants will be given instructions on downloading and printing their Certificates of Completion.

No conflicts of interest or commercial support are present for the CE program, instructor, or presentation.

Our complete list of policies can be viewed here.

Pricing varies according to agency needs. Please contact us and consider scheduling a pre-training agency consultation.