Project "Psychological support service”, school year 2011/2012

 

Introduction

The Model of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (de Shazer, 1986) has proved a valuable  psychological approach to promote substantial improvements in the lives of the people who have benefited from it. In English-speaking countries this approach is also used in not strictly clinical areas, such as school, where you can often have personal and relational problems difficult to solve in a short time with traditional approaches. Among the strengths that this approach has, we can include its flexibility, its quick effects (the speed of action) even after a few sessions and the increased sense of self-esteem in those who are treated. It also improves people’s confidence in their own abilities and in their social, emotional and relational skills.

In Livorno at Middle School “Michelangelo” a psychological support service is already operative. It serves to fulfill the requests expressed not only by students, but also by teachers and parents. This service aims to provide students, families and teachers, who have problems, with the opportunity to exchange views about school problems with a professional figure, thus receiving useful advice and information about some aspects of educational relations with minors.

 

Objectives

The main purpose of the project is to integrate the Italian school context with the model of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), thus enriching the activities which are already provided in psychological support service, with the specific techniques of this approach, to improve the quality of life for teachers, students and their families.
The effectiveness and efficacy of the intervention will be evaluated through a study on the results obtained.

 

Progress of the project

The psychological support service enables to address specific problems related to even very different areas, from difficult and conflicting relationships with friends and family, to the risk of early school leaving, from bullying to insomnia, from the difficulties in overcoming frustration to the depressive symptoms.
Working with the students who have benefited from the services provided by the psychological support service so far, we have tried to improve and develop their expressive and communicative skills, while motivating them to attend school, not only as a place where they can learn various abilities and concepts, but also as a resource with which they can build their personal identity.
To the teachers, the psychological support service focused on problem solving has proved useful in facilitating their educational function, while for the parents it has been a means to improve their relational skills.

The majority of users who has benefited from the service has shown to use it correctly, mainly profiting from the opportunity to talk with a professional and find possible solutions. At the end of the school year (June 2012), users were 64 students, 15 parents and 8 teachers. A sample of 31 students were monitored over time by the administration of a self-evaluation form concerning the strategies implemented. Positive changes, occurring over at least 4 sessions, have also been checked. A first screening of the collected results reveals an overall satisfaction for the proposed approach. Several students said that the use of metaphors has helped them to better understand some aspects of their problems. This let them apply solutions that seemed to work better in different situations. Coping skills to deal with the difficulties have been strengthened, increasing their self-esteem. Furthermore, the methodology and the applied techniques have been really appreciated by the users involved in the project.

 

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