In Gerald Sklare's Brief Counseling that Works: A Solution-Focused Approach for School Counselors the author lays out a framework for tackling the unique problems presented by the time constraints of a school counselor's schedule and caseload. It is Sklare's belief that the best way to tackle problems is to focus on the positive aspects exhibited in a client's situation rather than the negative. By using elegant, proven techniques to quickly build trust and elicit voluntary responses, Sklare's methodology leads the counselor to identify a student's problem areas and his or her unique personal strengths in order to form optimal solutions. Sklare describes the problems associated with the structure of school counseling and explains the initial implementation of his own Solution Focused Approach in the bulk of the text. He spends the latter chapters (5, 6, and 7) telling us about the structure of follow-up sessions, 20-minute sessions, and Solution Focused group projects. .

             In order to properly discuss the last few chapters of Sklare's work, we need to review a few facts. First, I'd like too remind the reader that the Solution Focussed Approach is based upon the fact that concentration upon a client's shortcomings and personal weaknesses only serves to reinforce negative thought and behavior; in order to affect real change, a counselor needs to act as a guide to help the client realize his or her own innate strengths and coping mechanisms. In the Solution Focused Approach, a student is encouraged to identify his or her problem and formulate a "Miracle Question" that asks what the student's ideal situation would be and what course of action might elicit results. The student's own strengths that pertain to the situation are recognized (Mindmapping and Cheerleading) and courses of action are discussed. A student is asked to rate his or her situation through Scaling (placing oneself on a 0-10 continuum) and asked to identify the "how" and "why" of his or her current position, and what action may affect a positive move along the scale.