Praise for the First Edition

“John Sharry has fluency with language that allows complexity to sit side by side with clarity and ideas to flow across the page. This is a book that must be read by anyone interested in front-line developments in solution-focused therapy.”

—Chris Iveson, Brief Therapy Practice, London

“In a thoughtful, step-by-step, and easy-to-read fashion, John Sharry integrates the best from established principles of group therapy with recent advances in brief, strength-based, resiliency-oriented treatment approaches. A ‘must read’ for practitioners working with groups.”

—Scott D. Miller, Co-Founder, Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, Chicago

“This slim tautly written volume disguises an enormous practical treasure store to help group facilitators. Solution Focused Groupwork should be essential reading.”

—Barbara Wilson, Family Mediation in Practice

“Enlightening, clearly written, and helpfully presented… The book echoes what Solution-Focused Groupwork is all about–being practical and optimistic about human potential.”

—David Jaques, Author of Learning in Groups

Solution-Focused Groupwork, Second Edition is an innovative and highly practical guide for all professionals who use groups to help people. For those new to the approach it provides a clear, step-by-step introduction, while for more experienced practitioners it presents ideas and techniques which can be readily integrated into existing practice.

In this fully updated revision, including a brand new chapter on Supervision, John Sharry examines the therapeutic factors that characterize solution-focused groupwork and contribute to its effectiveness. Using carefully selected case studies and examples, he takes the reader through the various stages in the therapeutic process, from getting started to the final session. The book also provides creative exercises for use in practice, guidance on evaluating the outcomes of group work and also a model for group supervision for the facilitator. A real strength of the book is in showing practitioners how to create a constructive, positive, and solution-focused group culture and how to maintain this culture in spite of the challenges, tensions, and difficulties that naturally arise within groups.

Solution-Focused Groupwork, Second Edition is ideal for individual study and for use on courses in a wide range of fields, including counseling, social work, psychology, community work, and nursing as well as researchers and educators who use groupwork as a means of teaching and communicating ideas.