Solution-focused brief therapy in primary care

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) offers mental health nurses a robust framework on which to build appropriate and effective nursing care. This article describes efforts to apply ideas derived from this type of therapy in a new nurse practitioner post offering a mental health service to patients based in GP practices. The approach described develops Brimblecombe's (1995) idea of combining a brief therapy approach with nursing care plans in a way ideally suited to time-limited mental health nursing in primary care.