Steve de Shazer

Steve de Shazer (June 25, 1940 to September 11, 2005)

He "is widely recognized as the author of the first book on Solution-focused Brief Therapy, as a pioneer in the field of family therapy, and as a primary developer of what has become internationally recognized as the SFBT approach. He sometimes was addressed as "the grand old man of family therapy" when lecturing at conferences in his later years.

"In addition to countless chapters and articles, de Shazer published ground-breaking books: Patterns of Brief Therapy; Keys to Solutions in Brief Therapy; Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy; Putting Difference to Work; and Words Were Originally Magic. Just prior to his death, he completed a new book intended to update the solution-focused therapy approach. Entitled More than Miracles: the State of the Art of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, it was published posthumously by The Haworth Press. He and his wife, Insoo Kim Berg, were co-founders of the Milwaukee Brief Therapy Center. ... He was a talented visual artist as well, having earned a B.F.A. prior to receiving a M.S.S.W. from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He also spent time at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, CA where he as mentored by the late John Weakland. They shared a lifelong friendship."