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Brief Coaching: A Solution Focused Approach Chris Iveson, Evan George and Harvey Ratner Routledge, 2011, 216pp, ISBN 978-0415667470, £17.99
Review by JeffMatthews
Alittle like buses, you wait a while and two come at once, and so it is this year with books on SF coaching. For a number of years, the book on the topic was that written by Mark McKergow and Paul Z Jackson (2002), then Peter Szabó (2005, 2009) appeared. This year we have two offerings hitting the shelves, the first from the guys at BRIEF, followed swiftly by one from Bill O'Connell, due out at any moment. It's the one called Brief Coaching from Chris Iveson, Evan George and Harvey Ratner that I am concerned with here.
Before starting, I have to declare an interest. I am currently in the middle of the Diploma in Brief Solution Focused Therapy at BRIEF, so have come to know and appreciate, first hand, the craftthat Chris, Evan and Harvey work with the SFBT model in its application to the realms of therapy and coaching. And it's fair to say that this book does an excellent job in drawing together and reflecting the core themes of their approach.
Of all the offerings currently in training and delivery of SFBT within the UK, BRIEF could rightly claim to be the heirs apparent of de Shazer's original thinking and approach. They role-model precisely his exhortation to keep it simple and to focus on what works. To that extent, they have continued to develop the approach, over the years, with a programme of research and pragmatic observation honing the craftof the...