Culture in Solution-Focused Consultation: An Intercultural Approach*

Abstract

I develop an intercultural approach to Solution-Focused consultation in this pa­ per. The approach represents an anthropological-sociological interpretation and is written by an interested outsider to the Solution-Focused world. The analysis stresses how multicultural concerns permeate Solution-Focused consultations as practitioners and clients draw from other cultures in which they participate. Practitioner-client interactions are treated as negotiations that turn on participants’ intercultural competencies, that is, their ability to navigate between their own cultural orientations and those of others involved in consultations. An explanation of how my intercultural perspective extends cultural themes in the Solution-Focused literature is discussed and an illustration of its usefulness is presented by analyzing a case study. Finally, discuss future possibilities for further developing this perspective.