Orienting Solutions 2013

Solution-focused, enactive and narrative practice research conference: Theory in action, practice in focus  

This conference explicitly connects the existing non-pathologising and language focused practices of solution-focused (SF), narrative and discursive therapies with recent theoretical developments in enactivism, Wittgensteinian, narrative and discursive psychology.    

SF therapy has been seen in the past as a neat practical twist for working with clients. This conference is about setting SF work in a wider landscape of ideas,  to show this simple practice in a richer and more compelling light. We also seek connections with academics and  others looking for practical aspects of post-structural linguistics and  enactive/embodied cognition.     We invite academics, practitioners, managers and policy makers to see both practice and theory in a new light. The event is a collaboration between SFCT and the philosophy and nursing/social work departments at UH. This event is a start to building better and more useful connections between theory and practice.    

The conference will present and build dialogues around these topics:

• The future of therapeutic  practice from non-pathologising, enactive and post-structural perspectives
• The latest research into SF work in all fields – therapy, social work, educational and organisational  contexts
• Different conceptions of ‘theory’  and how it can play a role in the famously atheoretical  world of SF practice
• Different modes of research  which can be applied in this area
• Latest developments in enactive, embodied and narrative thinking
• Issues for future policy in health and other circles
• Further ways to develop connections between academic s and practitioners for the benefit of all  concerned.

Invited speakers, already attending, include:

• Dr Alasdair Macdonald (former  research co-ordinator, EBTA): The fast-expanding field of SF outcome research
• Prof Dan Hutto (University of  Hertfordshire): Radical enactivism and narrative practice 
• Prof Gale Miller (Marquette  University, Milwaukee) 
• Prof Janet Bavelas (University of Victoria): Microanalysis of therapeutic conversations (tbc)
• Chris Iveson (BRIEF, London): From solution to description 
• Michael Durrant: (University of  Sydney)
• Dr Mark McKergow: SF work and the emergence of narrative
• Rayya Ghul (Canterbury Christchurch University): Research methodologies 
• Dr Daniele Moyal-Sharrock (University of Hertfordshire): SF work as applied Wittgenstein

Conference committee: 

• Prof Dan Hutto, Dept of  Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire
• Prof Brian Littlechild, School  of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Hertfordshire
• Dr Mark McKergow, Dept of  Philosophy, UH and SFCT Board member
• Louise Doel, Lecturer, Nursing  and Social Work, UH
• Kirsten Dierolf, President,  SFCT 
• Dr Daniele Moyal-Sharrock,  University of Herfordshire and British Wittgenstein Society

The conference is now online at: