Core Competencies in the Solution-Focused and Strategic Therapies

In the Solution-Focused and Strategic Therapy field this is a landmark book, the first to address all of the core and clinical competencies involved in running a practice, including learning and applying a conceptual map, developing and maintaining an effective therapeutic alliance, and intervention planning. With the patience of an experienced teacher and knowledge of a master therapist, Dr. Ellen Quick shows how to move from minimal competency to higher levels of proficiency. She addresses therapists from all of the behavioral health care disciplines and teaches them to tailor treatment to their clients’ unique strengths and proficiencies, discover and amplify what works, and change what doesn’t. Dr. Quick presents the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudinal components of each competency, with an emphasis on demonstrating their applications in actual clinical practice. Readers will appreciate that, by the end of the book, they will not only be able to demonstrate competence, which is a critical component of an evidence-based practice, but will also be excited to build proficiency in areas of special interest and expertise. The lessons learned in this book will allow readers to continue to advance their competency skills long after they have put it down.

Ellen K. Quick, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who specializes in brief psychotherapy. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College (1970) and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh (1974). Since 1981, she has practiced at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Dr. Quick trained with Milton Erickson, at the Mental Research Institute, and at the Brief Family Therapy Center. She has written and taught about the integration of solution-focused and strategic therapy, with an emphasis on “doing what works” on multiple levels: in the client’s life, in the therapist’s work, and as a philosophy shared with the client.