Psychiatrist,
registered trainer-psychotherapist, teacher of solution-focused
therapy, co-director of Helsinki Brief Therapy Institute Ltd,
and Twinstar Ltd. Approved Supervisor of the American Association
of Marital and Family Therapy 1995-2000.
Ben has worked for years
with his colleague Tapani Ahola developing various ideas and practical
tools pertaining to solution-focused psychology.
Ben's publications
include, among others, "Never too late to have a happy childhood", "Solution
Talk - hosting therapeutic conversations" and "Kids'
Skills: practical and playful solutions to children's problems".
His book about the Kids' Skills method was originally written in
Finnish but has since been published in 10 different languages
including Japanese and Chinese. He has recently finnished writing
a new book on Kids' Skills tentatively entitled Kids' Skills in
Action to be published at the end of 2009 or beguinning in 2010
at least in Australia, Finland, Denmark and Holland.
One of Ben's
recent books (with Tapani Ahola), titled "Change through cooperation
- handbook of reteaming", is a manual for the solution-focused
coaching method Ben and Tapani have developed together.
In 1986 Ben founded, together
with Tapani Ahola, The Helsinki Brief Therapy Institute, which
provides professional training in solution-focused psychotherapy.
The institute's three year training program is accredited in Finland.
In addition to his work
in the field of solution-focused psychotherapy Ben has also been
active exploring other applications of solution-focused psychology
such as coaching, leadership training, team building, education
and parenting.
Together with Tapani Ahola
he has developed a solution-focused method for coaching and managing
change called reteaming and a concept for teaching
solution focused leadership and communication they call the Twin
Star.
Together with Tapani Ben
has also developed a number of methods to help children and adolescents
overcome problems. Kids' Skills is a solution-focused approach
to helping children solve all sorts of problems together with their
family and friends, Steps of Responsibility is a constructive
way of dealing with the wrongdoings of pupils at school. Most recently
Ben and Tapani have developed a solution-focused parenting program
tentatively titled Kids' Skills for parents. which
will be field tested in the near future in Germany, Finland and
Norway.
Ben teaches in and lectures
in his own country as well as abroad. In Finland he is will known
for his informative psychological program on national TV which
he hosted for several years during 1990's and 2000's.
Ben
lectures internationally and has over the years had engagements
in all Scandinavian
countries, in several european countries including Germany, Austria,
Spain, Hungary, Poland, Holland and England as well as overseas
including USA, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, Singapore,
Taiwan, Israel and Egypt.