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Best Hopes

Best Hopes
BRIEF Therapy (BRIEF)
💡 Clarification 🧠 Cognition

The signature London BRIEF opening question for a first session: "What are your best hopes from our working together?" It replaces the traditional "What brings you here?" and any routine history-taking. Every word matters: "your" means the client's hopes, not the therapist's; "best" invites bold rather than small change; "hopes" are more open and realistic than goals or wishes. The question immediately sets the direction: begin with the problem and the conversation becomes problem-focused; begin with hopes and the conversation is oriented toward solution.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Ask the question evenly and with interest: "What are your best hopes from our working together?"
  2. Listen to the answer as a desired difference in life, not as information about the therapy process.
  3. If the answer is abstract, such as "to be happier," ask: "How would that look in your everyday life?"
  4. If the client answers with a problem, such as "stop being anxious," gently translate: "And what would be there instead?"
  5. Move into the preferred future: "If you woke up tomorrow and those best hopes were beginning to happen."

When to use

  • Always at the beginning of the first session.
  • With referred clients, especially when other people have defined the problem.
  • With several participants, because each person answers the question.
  • When the client has a vague request and needs focus.

Key phrases

What are your best hopes from our working together?

Follow-up questions

How would that look in your everyday life?
And what would be there instead? If the anxiety was gone, what would come in its place?
What difference would that make for you and for the people close to you?

Alternative phrasings

What are your best hopes from coming here?
What is the best thing you are hoping for from our work?

Warnings

  • ⚠️ Do not turn the answer into diagnostic information; listen to it as the basis for the next question.
  • ⚠️ Do not interpret or evaluate the answer.
  • ⚠️ If the client says "I don't know," give time and gently ask: "If you did know, what might it be?"

Source: Ratner, George & Iveson, 2012; George, Iveson & Ratner, 1999; BRIEF (London)

first-session goals solution-focus

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Materials are informational and educational and summarize publicly available scientific sources. They are not medical or psychological advice, are not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, and do not replace consultation with a qualified professional.