Background As a solution-focused practitioner, solution focus (SF) is at the heart of everything I do. So when I joined the hospice as Wellbeing Coordinator and Therapies Assistant against the backdrop of a recent service review, there was an obvious question: Could there be a place for solution-focused working in our ‘new’ wellbeing service?

Aims My best hope at the outset was that by introducing a solution-focused approach to the ‘Living Well Programme’, we might foster and promote a way of working that invited everyone in the wider team to think about service provision through a different lens – one of possibility rather than deficit.

Method SF was introduced to the Living Well Programme in a number of different ways:

• Delivering in-service training and SF coaching to colleagues.

• Co-creating a preferred future through SF conversations.

• Modelling the approach to therapists in joint sessions with patients.

• Bringing SF language into therapy conversations and offering therapists feedback about their SF interactions with patients.

Working collaboratively with the Therapeutic & Wellbeing Operational Lead, SF techniques were also used to design and deliver a Team Away Day and formulate a strategy for the service.

Results SF foundation training has been delivered to Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy teams. Therapists have seen the power of SF as a technique for motivating patients and are starting to embrace the approach and integrate it into their practice. SF techniques are being used to formulate strategy and underpin Therapeutic & Wellbeing service development.

Summary A willingness to embrace this new way of working, coupled with confidence in the SF approach, appears to be an effective contribution to therapy-led holistic assessment in the wellbeing service. Early signs suggest that SF can work well as a complement to the shift in the narrative, away from ‘illness’ and towards ‘wellness’.