Cynthia Franklin

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Toolkit for Schools: Creative and Group Strategies is a hands-on guide designed for school social workers who want to apply solution-focused skills in real, day-to-day school contexts. It demonstrates effective practice with ready-to-use tools, group activities, and creative interventions-all grounded in real-life school-based scenarios and largely inspired by the work of school social workers and teachers. Whether you are running a student group, supporting an individual student in crisis, or training other clinicians and educators in solution-focused practices, this book provides practical and straightforward descriptions of SFBT principles and strategies that you can begin using immediately. Inside, you will find creative exercises to engage students in goal-setting, reflection, and growth; language strategies to help students subtly shift into a creative, solution-building perspective; adaptable group strategies for goal-setting, identifying strengths, and working in groups; real-world case studies that show how SFBT works in diverse school settings; and brief intervention tools for quick, strengths-based conversations. Created for social workers new to solution-focused work as well as those looking to deepen their practice, this book is go-to resource for making the approach practical, student-centered, and effective-right where it matters most.

In Narrating Humanity, Cynthia G. Franklin makes a critical intervention into practices of life writing and contemporary crises in the United States about who counts as human. To enable this intervention, she proposes a powerful new analytical language centered on "narrative humanity," "narrated humanity," and "grounded narrative humanity" and foregrounds concepts of the human that emerge from movement politics. While stories of "narrative humanity" propagate the status quo, Franklin argues, those of "narrated humanity" and "grounded narrative humanity" are ones that articulate ways of being human necessary for not only surviving but also thriving during a time of accelerating crises brought on by the intersecting effects of racial capitalism, imperialism, heteropatriarchy, and climate change. Through chapters focused on Hurricane Katrina; Black Lives Matter; the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; and the Native Hawaiian movement to protect Mauna a Wakea, Franklin reveals how life writing can be mobilized to do more than perpetuate dominant forms of dehumanization that underwrite violence. She contends that life narratives can help materialize ways of being human inspired by these contemporary political movements that are based on queer kinship, inter/national solidarity, abolitionist care, and decolonial connectivity among humans, more-than-humans, land, and waters. Engaging writers, artists, and activists who inspire radical forms of relationality, she comes to write side-by-side with them in her own acts of narrated humanity by refusing the boundaries between autobiography, community-based activism, and literary and cultural criticism.

In Narrating Humanity, Cynthia G. Franklin makes a critical intervention into practices of life writing and contemporary crises in the United States about who counts as human. To enable this intervention, she proposes a powerful new analytical language centered on "narrative humanity," "narrated humanity," and "grounded narrative humanity" and foregrounds concepts of the human that emerge from movement politics. While stories of "narrative humanity" propagate the status quo, Franklin argues, those of "narrated humanity" and "grounded narrative humanity" are ones that articulate ways of being human necessary for not only surviving but also thriving during a time of accelerating crises brought on by the intersecting effects of racial capitalism, imperialism, heteropatriarchy, and climate change. Through chapters focused on Hurricane Katrina; Black Lives Matter; the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; and the Native Hawaiian movement to protect Mauna a Wakea, Franklin reveals how life writing can be mobilized to do more than perpetuate dominant forms of dehumanization that underwrite violence. She contends that life narratives can help materialize ways of being human inspired by these contemporary political movements that are based on queer kinship, inter/national solidarity, abolitionist care, and decolonial connectivity among humans, more-than-humans, land, and waters. Engaging writers, artists, and activists who inspire radical forms of relationality, she comes to write side-by-side with them in her own acts of narrated humanity by refusing the boundaries between autobiography, community-based activism, and literary and cultural criticism.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy in Alternative Schools (SFBT) provides a step-by-step guide for how school social workers and counselors can work with other school professionals to create an effective solution focused dropout prevention program. Along with illustrative cases and detailed explanations, the authors detail the curriculum and day-to-day operations of a solution focused dropout prevention program by drawing on the experiences of a school that uses this approach.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy in Alternative Schools (SFBT) provides a step-by-step guide for how school social workers and counselors can work with other school professionals to create an effective solution focused dropout prevention program. Along with illustrative cases and detailed explanations, the authors detail the curriculum and day-to-day operations of a solution focused dropout prevention program by drawing on the experiences of a school that uses this approach.

Since the publication of the First Edition, there have been several advances on the research on Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in schools. This Second Edition contains updates on how to apply SFBT to specific problem areas that school social workers frequently encounter. Each chapter has been updated and expanded to provide to incorporate a Response to Intervention approach (RtI) in many of the clinical "SFBT in Action" chapters. The authors also utilized results from the second national school social work survey, conducted by a team led by Dr. Kelly and currently in press at School Mental Health Journal and Social Work, to identify several targeted school-related problems that school social workers encounter in their work and demonstrate how to use solution-focused techniques for them. Despite being places with tremendous challenges for students and staff, schools are also places of solutions, strengths, and successes. This practical guide shows school social workers how to harness the solutions; filled with case examples, key points to remember, guidelines for reviewing resaerch, sample dialogue, and best practice tips, this book gives readers the essential tools to begin incorporating SFBT into their practice immediately.

Taking Charge is the first empirically tested program of its kind, designed specifically to improve academic achievement and self-sufficiency for adolescent and teenage mothers, who face increased risk of dropping out and experiencing poverty. This eight-session, in-school group intervention uses cognitive-behavioral principles to bolster life skills such as focusing on action, setting goals, solving problems, and coping. The message embedded in the curriculum is one of self-efficacy and self-confidence, drawing on young womens strengths and teaching them how to manage the challenges of school, relationships, parenting, and employment. A treatment manual with detailed guidelines for establishing and leading a culturally diverse group, this guide also reviews the successful results of three school-based trials of the program, vividly illustrated with vignettes and containing all of the handouts and materials necessary for a school-based professional to implement the program. -- Groups can be led by social workers, counselors, school nurses, teachers, and even volunteers with little additional training -- An all-in-one treatment manual provides dialogue, forms, and handouts for facilitators to use in each session -- Empowers young women to take charge of their education and develop skills that will help them succeed in school and in life