Guy Shennan
I am a therapist, consultant and trainer, based in London, UK, who specialises in the solution-focused approach.
Therapy
I was first trained in solution-focused brief therapy in 1995, when I was using the approach in my social work with children and families. Continuing to practice and develop my solution- focused experience, knowledge and skills, in 2000, I joined the first intake of the Masters course in Solution Focused Brief Therapy at Birmingham University.
From 2004 to 2010, I worked with BRIEF in London as a solution-focused brief therapist and trainer. I developed the groundbreaking BRIEF Diploma in Solution Focused Practice and from 2005 to 2010 was co-director of the course. I also helped to instigate the BRIEF International Summer School, leading the first one alongside Chris Iveson in 2009.
I now have a private practice, offering solution-focused therapy, counselling, coaching and consultation, in person at my London base, and also online and by telephone.
Training
Since delivering my first 4-day introductory course in 1999, I hope it is fair to say that I am now among the world’s leading solution-focused trainers. I have presented widely on the approach throughout the UK and also in the Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Belgium, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Palestine, Austria, Italy, Russia, Latvia, Bulgaria and the US.
Writing
The second edition of my book, Solution-Focused Practice: Effective Communication to Facilitate Change, was published by Red Globe Press in 2019, and I have written numerous chapters and articles on the approach.
Among my other recent publications are a chapter on solution-focused brief therapy in the Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (2017), a chapter on solution-focused practice in the Routledge Handbook of Social Work Theory (2019), Practising social work, in Social Work, Past, Present and Future (2020), and two chapters in Solution Focused Practice Around The World (2020).
Developing and innovating
I am committed to helping the approach develop both inside and outside the therapy room. I have set up a number of innovative and successful projects within children’s services, in both statutory and voluntary sectors, ensuring that evaluation of outcome was built in from the outset.
I now work with both adults and children and families, and continue to be involved in a range of developmental projects.
Since 2018, I have been one of a group of practitioners developing the Solution-Focused Collective, which has produced the Solution-Focused Manifesto for Social Change.
Research
I am committed to the continuing research-based development of the solution-focused approach and to encouraging research and the dissemination of research, particularly by practitioners. My current research interests include the origins of the approach and the balance between the future- and progress-focused aspects of solution-focused conversations.
Social work
I am registered as a social worker with Social Work England and I'm a member of the British Association of Social Workers, for which I served as its elected Chair from 2014 to 2018.
Philosophy
I am interested in the philosophical approaches associated with solution-focused brief therapy and completed a Masters degree in philosophy with the Open University in 2014 (with distinction). My dissertation topic was embodied cognition and its implications for personal identity, and I am currently investigating connections between this and solution-focused practice.
UKASFP
The UK Association of Solution Focused Practice (UKASFP) has its origins at a meeting at Birmingham University in December 2002, which I attended along with a number of other solution-focused enthusiasts. I then became an active member of the working party that developed the Association, of which I am a founder member.
I have attended every UKASFP conference since the first in 2004, presenting at most, if not all of them, and, with my colleague, Rob Black, organised and hosted two UKASFP conferences, in 2011 and 2019, which we loved doing!