Overcoming Blame and Shame: A Solution-Focused Approach

 

There was once a man on a motorcycle enjoying a ride through the country. As he turned a corner, a deer obstructed his path. He began to panic, staring at the deer and fearing an accident. After colliding with the deer, he realized that he should have focused on where he wanted his motorcycle to go instead of where the problem existed.

So many times our thoughts and conversations are problem-saturated instead of solution-focused. Some may dwell on their own shortcomings and mistakes. Others may obsess about the flaws in another person’s logic. Others may deal with their shame by blaming someone else.

In  his book, 1001 Solution-Focused Questions, Frederick Bannik poses several constructive questions:

What do you want to see instead of the problem?

When are you at your best? What does that look like?

How do you hope I can help you with this problem?

On a scale of 1 to 10 where is the problem now? Where would you like it to be? What needs to happen for you to achieve that?

At the Access Center we strive to be solution-focused. When we meet with students, we help them to identify their concern, explore their options, and develop plans. Like you, the Access Center staff loves to see students grow and mature in their education as they learn to solve problems.

We’d like to re-emphasize our “Access Team Meetings,” an intervention designed to solve problems. At our Access Team Meetings, instructors, the student, and the Access Center staff collaborate to discuss strategies. Instructors can schedule an Access Team Meeting by contacting Andrew Mason at 3741 or Gina Jones at 3721.