Therapy that starts with where you want to get to.

What solution focused brief therapy is

Solution focused brief therapy, often shortened to SFBT, is a way of working that concentrates on where you want to get to rather than excavating everything that brought you here. Your history still matters and it is still welcome in the room. The difference is that it is not the main engine of the work. The main engine is a clear picture of the life you are trying to build and the small, real steps that move you toward it.

That shift changes the tone of a session. Instead of asking only why a problem exists, the conversation keeps returning to what would be different if it were smaller, what is already working even a little, and what you were doing on the days that went better. It treats you as someone who already has some working strategies, even if they are inconsistent or hard to see from the inside, and it goes looking for them on purpose.

How it differs from open ended therapy

Insight led and open ended therapy has real value. Understanding the roots of a pattern can loosen it, and some people need that understanding before anything else will move. Nothing here is a criticism of that work. Jason draws on it himself when it is the right fit.

The practical difference is direction and pace. Open ended work often follows wherever the material leads and lets the length of therapy emerge over time. Solution focused work sets a destination early, keeps checking whether each session moved you closer to it, and expects to notice change relatively soon. You are more likely to leave a session with something specific to try than with a new interpretation to sit with. For some people that is exactly what they were missing. For others it will feel too quick, and that is worth saying out loud.

What a session actually feels like

Sessions are conversational rather than clinical in tone. There is no script you have to follow and no requirement to tell your whole story before the work can begin. Most sessions circle around a few recognisable kinds of question.

• ΨWhat would be different if this problem were smaller? This builds a concrete picture of the outcome you want. Vague goals such as feeling better are hard to work toward. Noticing that you would sleep through the night, answer your messages, or stop rehearsing conversations in the shower gives the work something to aim at.
• ΨWhen has it already been slightly better? Almost no difficulty is constant. Finding the exceptions, the quieter week, the afternoon that went smoothly, shows that change is not hypothetical for you.
• ΨWhat were you doing then? This is where the exception becomes useful. If something you did contributed to a better stretch, it can often be done deliberately rather than by accident.
• ΨWhat would be a first sign of progress? Not the finished result, just the first thing you or someone close to you would notice. Small and visible beats large and abstract.

The reasoning behind these questions is straightforward. Attention is limited, and whatever you examine closely tends to grow in your mind. Spending a full session cataloguing what is broken can leave you with a sharper description of a problem you already knew you had. Spending part of that session mapping what works, in detail, tends to produce something you can act on before the next appointment.

Who this approach suits well

• ΨPeople who want momentum. If you have been thinking about a difficulty for a long time and want to start moving on it, this style is built for that.
• ΨPeople with a specific stuck point. A decision you cannot make, a conflict that keeps repeating, a habit that has outlived its usefulness.
• ΨPeople put off by the idea of open ended therapy. Knowing that the work has a direction, and that you will be checking progress along the way, makes starting easier for a lot of people.
• ΨPeople who want to feel progress rather than only understand it. Understanding matters, but some people need change they can point to.
• ΨPeople balancing therapy with work, study, caregiving or a demanding schedule, who need sessions to be focused.

Who it suits less well

Naming the limits is more useful than claiming this fits everyone. It usually is not the right starting place if you are looking for long, exploratory work into your history and that is the point of therapy for you. It can feel rushed if you are in acute distress and need steadying before any goal setting will land. It is a poor fit if what you actually want is a diagnosis or medication, neither of which is offered here. And it asks something of you between sessions, which is worth knowing in advance if your capacity is very low right now.

If any of that describes you, it does not mean therapy is off the table. It usually means the balance of the work shifts, which is what the next section is about.

How it blends with CBT, ACT and DBT

Jason does not treat solution focused work as a rigid protocol. It is the orientation he tends to start from, and it sits alongside cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and dialectical behaviour therapy depending on what you bring.

Where each tends to come in

• ΨCBT when a specific thought pattern is doing a lot of the damage and it helps to examine and test it directly.
• ΨACT when the goal is less about removing a difficult feeling and more about acting in line with what matters to you while it is present.
• ΨDBT skills when distress runs high or emotions escalate fast, and steadier regulation has to come before anything else is workable.
• ΨSolution focused work as the through line that keeps asking what you want to be different and what is already moving in that direction.

In practice these are rarely separated cleanly. A session might use a DBT skill early and a solution focused question ten minutes later. You can read more about the wider approach on how I work.

What brief honestly means

Brief describes an intention, not a guarantee. Solution focused work often takes fewer sessions than open ended therapy, and many people do notice change earlier than they expected. That is a common pattern rather than a promise, and anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling.

The length of your work is set with you, not imposed on you. You will be asked regularly whether sessions are still useful and whether the direction still fits. If you need more time, you take more time. If you get what you came for in a handful of sessions, finishing is a good outcome rather than a dropped one, and the door stays open if something new comes up later.

Your first appointment

Most people begin with the free 15-minute consultation. It is a short conversation about what is going on, what you are hoping will change, and whether this is the right fit on both sides. There is no obligation to book anything afterwards.

A first full appointment is longer and less hurried than you might expect. You describe what brought you in, in as much or as little detail as you want. Together you sketch what a better version of the situation would look like in concrete terms, and you agree a starting direction. Brief measures such as the PHQ-9, GAD-7 and MDQ are sometimes used to track how things change over time, so progress is not left to memory alone.

Sessions are available at the Tampa office at 100 South Ashley Drive, or by telehealth. If ADHD is part of the picture, the ADHD therapy page goes into more detail, and what I treat covers the full range of concerns seen in the practice.