OSKAR

1. Introduction

Version followed: OSKAR as Mark McKergow and Paul Z Jackson publish it on their sfwork site (five elements, with the question sets given there), combined with the "Six Solutions Tools" (Platform, Future Perfect, Scale, Counters, Affirm, Small Actions) from their book The Solutions Focus (1st ed. 2002; 3rd ed. 2024). Their white paper "Coaching with OSKAR" and their OSKAR-versus-GROW paper are not drawn on; the account here rests on descriptions of the book, not the book itself. Treat anything finer-grained than the sfwork question sets as [uncertain] or [synthesis] where marked.

What it is. OSKAR is a coaching model, not a psychotherapy. It stands for Outcome, Scaling, Know-how & Resources, Affirm & Action, Review. McKergow and Jackson developed it around 2000 for a "Coaching for Results" programme at Walkers Snackfoods (UK). It is now used by independent coaches and by managers who coach their staff. [source: sfwork OSKAR pages] It applies Solutions Focus (SF) to coaching. SF is the organisational adaptation of de Shazer and Berg's solution-focused brief therapy, which has roots in Erickson and the MRI group. [source: McKergow Substack; SFCT Clues 1.0]

How change happens, as the authors describe it. The change the coachee wants is usually "starting to happen already" in some small form. The coach's job is to help the coachee find those instances and build on them with small steps, rather than analyse the problem. [source: Coaching at Work 2012, co-authored by McKergow] McKergow's short definition: change is happening all the time, and the work is to spot useful change and amplify it. [source: GCI podcast quoting McKergow (secondary)] Unlike GROW, OSKAR lets the coach share know-how alongside asking questions. It favours affirmation and small actions over removing every barrier, and it can be taught as a set of separate tools rather than a fixed sequence. [source: sfwork OSKAR pages]

For a psychotherapist. Using OSKAR as a coach is a different role from treatment. The ICF, EMCC and AC all state that coaching is not counselling, psychotherapy or medical treatment. If you also coach, keep a separate coaching contract (see 4.1 and 5.9). If you use OSKAR's questions inside therapy, you are doing SF-informed therapy under your clinical duties, not coaching. [source: ICF 2018; EMCC/AC Global Code of Ethics] [synthesis for the practical implication]

2. Framework

Format and dose. The model has five elements. It can run as a full coaching session or be used one element at a time in short conversations ("corridor coaching"); not every element is needed every time. [source: sfwork; Coaching at Work 2012] None of the sources gives a session count, session length or programme length for OSKAR [uncertain]. In practice, the first session runs O-S-K-A, and later sessions open with R and then cycle back through S-K-A. [source: sfwork describes Review as looking for what's better; the session pattern is synthesis]

Pre-step: Platform (one of the Six Tools, not a letter of OSKAR). Goal: establish who wants what from the coaching, "who is a customer and for what?" [source: sfwork Six Solutions Tools] McKergow describes the platform as a base to move forward from, not a description of being stuck. [source: ilfaro masterclass notes] How Platform fits into OSKAR is [synthesis]: it overlaps with the opening Outcome questions.

[source for element goals and questions: sfwork OSKAR pages; Coaching at Work 2012. Third column: synthesis.]

Ending. The sources give no explicit ending rule for OSKAR [uncertain]. Suggested: close when the coachee rates themselves at their "good enough" point and is confident of keeping it going [synthesis]. The EMCC/AC Code requires that the length of the engagement fit the agreed goals, and that the engagement end if the client would be better served by another kind of help. [source: Global Code of Ethics]

3. Guiding principles

The SIMPLE principles from The Solutions Focus (as listed in Principe's 2024 review):

• Solutions not problems. Spend the time on what the coachee wants and what works, with only as much problem detail as you need to redirect.
• Inbetween: the action is in the interaction. Look for change in what happens between people (behaviours others would notice), not inside the person's head.
• Make use of what's there. Build from the coachee's existing skills, exceptions and resources before importing anything new.
• Possibilities: past, present, future. Mine past successes, present counters and the desired future equally.
• Language: simply said. Use the coachee's own words and plain, concrete language; avoid jargon and diagnostic terms.
• Every case is different. Don't apply a template; let this coachee's answers set the next question.

[source: Journal of Solution Focused Practices review, 2024]

Further principles from other pages the authors wrote or approved:

• Responsibility stays with the coachee. Ask, don't direct; the coachee chooses goals and steps. [source: sfwork SF Tools page]
• Know-how can be shared. You may offer your own or the organisation's know-how, as one resource among others, not as the answer. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Small actions over removing all barriers. Aim for the next step, not a full plan. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Amplify what's better. Every follow-up looks for and builds on improvement. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Not a fixed process. Use any element alone when that is all the conversation needs. [source: sfwork; Coaching at Work 2012]
• Emergent, not formulaic. The next question depends on the last answer. [source: McKergow Substack]
• Listen to problem talk when the coachee needs it. SF is not insisting on positivity, and telling someone to look on the bright side can feel flippant. [source: McKergow Substack]
• Client is expert; assume as little as possible. Take a not-knowing, resource-oriented stance and build on the coachee's language. [source: McKergow Substack; SFCT Clues 1.0]
• Emotions are not opened up as a topic. The authors write: "we do not find it useful to initiate talk about emotions". In practice, acknowledge feeling when it is voiced, then ask what difference the change would make. [source: McKergow Substack] The practical rendering is [synthesis].
• Future Perfect is the difference the goal makes. Ask about effects on everyday life, not just the target. [source: ilfaro McKergow masterclass; Coaching at Work 2012]
• Compliments are gifts. Offer affirmation that the coachee may accept or decline; never insist. [source: ilfaro McKergow masterclass]
• SF is not a panacea. It is a first line of approach for interactional difficulties. It should give way when a problem is medical, or when SF isn't helping. [source: McKergow Substack]
• Stay inside coaching's boundary. Coaching is not counselling, psychotherapy or medical intervention. Work within your competence and refer when the client would be better served elsewhere. [source: EMCC/AC Global Code of Ethics; ICF 2018]

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory covers every element and question set on the authors' OSKAR pages and every one of the Six Solutions Tools. The authors name the Six Tools in one line each; the steps given for them here are my working-out, marked [synthesis]. Items 4.1 and 4.15 come from the coaching bodies, not from OSKAR. All example language is my own wording, labelled (illustrative), unless it is a short quotation with a citation.

4.1 Coaching agreement and scope contract (before O)

• Purpose: Agree what coaching covers and excludes, the limits of confidentiality, and who the stakeholders are, especially when an organisation sponsors the coaching. Use it at the first contact, and again if the scope drifts. [source: ICF 2018 (Core Competency 2; Code of Ethics 3.18, 3.23); EMCC/AC Global Code, "Beginnings" and "Confidentiality"]
• Steps: (1) Explain the nature and limits of coaching, including that it is not therapy. ICF's sample statement opens with the phrase "Coaching is not therapy." (2) State when confidentiality would be broken (risk of harm to self or others, illegality) and get agreement where possible. (3) For sponsored coaching, agree what the sponsor will and won't hear. (4) Say that you are in supervision. (5) Agree the number of sessions and how you will review usefulness. [source: as above] (6) If you are a therapist, never coach a current therapy client, and never turn a coachee into a therapy client without a fresh, explicit decision and contract. [synthesis]
• Example language (illustrative): "This is coaching. It's about where you want to get to and what's already helping. It isn't therapy. If anything comes up that needs a different kind of help, I'll say so and we'll decide together what to do."
• Watch for: A coachee who wants help mainly with distress, symptoms or the past rather than a forward goal. That points to 4.15 rather than starting OSKAR. [synthesis, informed by ICF's contrast between coaching and therapy]

4.2 Platform: who is a customer, and for what?

• Purpose: Establish what this person wants from the conversation, and whether they want anything from it at all. This matters most when someone else (a boss, HR) referred them. In the authors' words: "who is a customer and for what?" [source: sfwork Six Solutions Tools] It gives a base to move forward from. [source: ilfaro masterclass notes]
• Steps [synthesis]: (1) Ask briefly what has brought them, and listen to the problem description without probing it. (2) Turn it toward what they want: "So you don't want X. What would you like instead?" (the "SF-switch" taught by Growth Coaching International, a secondary source). (3) If the coachee was sent, ask what the sender hopes for and what the coachee themselves would find worthwhile. (4) Agree a topic the coachee owns before moving to Outcome.
• Example language (illustrative): "Your manager suggested this. What would make it worth your time, for you?"
• Watch for: Goals stated only in someone else's terms, or only as things the coachee wants to stop. Keep looking until the coachee names something they want. If they don't want anything from coaching, say so openly rather than pushing on. [synthesis]

4.3 Outcome questions

• Purpose: Set the objective for the coaching overall and for today, and agree how the coachee will know coaching has helped. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Steps: (1) Ask about the overall objective of the coaching. (2) Ask what they want to get from today's session. (3) Ask about the long-term aim. (4) Ask how they will know the coaching has been useful. (5) Go straight on to the Future Perfect (4.4). [source: sfwork OSKAR, steps 1–4; the order is synthesis]
• Example language: sfwork's own questions include "What do you want to achieve today?" and "How will you know this coaching has been of use to you?" [source: sfwork OSKAR] (Illustrative follow-up:) "And by the end of today, what would tell you this hour was well spent?"
• Watch for: Vague aims ("be more confident") need translating into observable differences, which 4.4 does. It is working when the coachee can state a session aim in one sentence. [synthesis]

4.4 Future Perfect

• Purpose: Build a detailed picture of everyday life once the problem has gone, or once the outcome has been reached. The authors describe it as "life in detail with the problem vanished" [source: sfwork Six Tools]. It is "not the goal", but the difference the goal makes [source: ilfaro McKergow masterclass]. Coaching at Work gives the question "What difference will success make to everyday experience?" [source: Coaching at Work 2012]. In SF practice it may use the miracle question or other future-perfect questions. [source: SFCT Clues 1.0]
• Steps [synthesis, building on the above]: (1) Ask the coachee to picture a near future in which the outcome has happened. (2) Ask for the first small signs they would notice, for example the morning after. (3) Ask what others would notice them doing differently, and how those people would respond. (4) Keep asking "what else?" and "what difference would that make?" (both are among McKergow's "conversation boosters" [source: ilfaro]). (5) Keep descriptions in the presence of something, not the absence of the problem ("what would you be doing?" rather than "what wouldn't happen?"). [source: SFCT Clues 1.0] (6) This description becomes the 10 on the scale (4.5).
• Example language (illustrative): "Imagine it's a few months on and this is going the way you want. Arriving at work on a Monday, what's the first thing you'd notice? What would your team notice about you? … What else?"
• Watch for: Answers that only describe absences ("I wouldn't be stressed"). Ask what would be there instead. If every future picture depends entirely on others changing, ask what the coachee would be doing in that future. It is working when the coachee's descriptions become concrete and involve behaviour others could see, and the coachee often shows more energy. [synthesis]

4.5 Scaling

• Purpose: Assess progress without a problem analysis, show that something already exists, and define the next increment. [source: sfwork OSKAR; Six Tools: "where are we now?"]
• Steps: (1) Set up 0–10: 10 is the Future Perfect, 0 is the worst the situation has ever been. (2) Ask where they are now (n). (3) Ask what they did to get as far as n. (4) Ask how they would know they had reached n+1. [source: sfwork OSKAR] (5) Variant for dilemmas: turn an either/or choice into a range between the two poles. [source: ilfaro masterclass notes] (6) Optional variants [synthesis]: scales for confidence, for motivation, or for the "good enough" point ("what number would be enough?").
• Example language: "You are at n now; what did you do to get this far?" [source: sfwork OSKAR] (Illustrative:) "So, a 4. What's already there that makes it a 4 and not a 0?"
• Watch for: A 0, or "below 0". Shift to coping ("how have you kept it from getting worse?"); if distress is high, consider 4.15 [synthesis]. Don't argue with the number. It is working when the coachee can name reasons for n and a concrete sign of n+1. [synthesis]

4.6 Know-how & Resources: Counters

• Purpose: Find what already works: times when the outcome already happens "even a little bit", and the skills, people and actions behind those times. The Six Tools define Counters as "finding what's working". [source: sfwork OSKAR; Six Tools]
• Steps: (1) Ask what helps the coachee perform at n rather than 0. (2) Ask when the outcome already happens, even partially, and what was different then. (3) Ask what the coachee did to make it happen. (4) Ask what other people would say they do well. (5) Ask about past successes in similar situations. [source: sfwork OSKAR, steps 1–4; GCI podcast, step 5 (secondary)] (6) Get detail on each counter (who, when, how), and ask "what else?" [synthesis; "what else?" from the ilfaro boosters]
• Example language: "When does the outcome already happen for you, even a little bit?" [source: sfwork OSKAR] (Illustrative:) "Last Thursday the meeting went better. What did you do differently going in?"
• Watch for: "Never." Ask about times it was slightly less bad, or about similar situations in other areas of life. It is working when the coachee names actions they took themselves, not luck. [synthesis]

4.7 Know-how sharing (from others or the coach)

• Purpose: OSKAR, unlike GROW, lets the coach offer know-how that sits elsewhere in the organisation or with the coach, alongside asking questions. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Steps [synthesis]: (1) Draw out the coachee's own know-how first (4.6). (2) Ask permission before offering. (3) Offer one or two options briefly, as possibilities rather than prescriptions. (4) Ask which, if any, fits their situation and how they would adapt it. (5) Or ask who else in the organisation already handles this well, and what the coachee could learn from them.
• Example language (illustrative): "Would it help if I mentioned what I've seen other people try in this spot? Take or leave it."
• Watch for: The coachee deferring to you, or every step becoming your idea. Go back to their own resources. Responsibility stays with the coachee. [source: sfwork SF Tools page; the practical guidance is synthesis]

4.8 Affirm

• Purpose: Name strengths and resources the coachee has shown, so they are more likely to use them again. The Six Tools describe it as "spotting useful strengths and resources". [source: sfwork OSKAR; Six Tools] Affirmations are offered as gifts that the coachee can accept or decline. [source: ilfaro masterclass notes]
• Steps [synthesis]: (1) While listening during S and K, note specific things the coachee did, and qualities those actions show. (2) Near the end, before agreeing actions, reflect two or three of them back, linked to evidence the coachee gave. (3) Or ask the coachee to affirm themselves: "What's particularly impressive so far?" [source: sfwork OSKAR; Coaching at Work 2012] (4) Don't defend an affirmation the coachee rejects; move on.
• Example language (illustrative): "You've held that team together through two reorganisations and still made time to brief the new starters. That takes planning and persistence."
• Watch for: Generic praise ("great job") has little effect; specific, evidence-based affirmations work better [synthesis]. It is working when the coachee nods, adds to the affirmation, or quotes it back later.

4.9 Action: the next small step

• Purpose: Agree one small step, built on what already works, that moves the coachee toward n+1. The Six Tools describe Small Actions as "next steps to build on what's already working". [source: sfwork OSKAR; Six Tools]
• Steps: (1) Ask what the next small step is. (2) Ask what it would take to get from n to n+1. [source: sfwork OSKAR] (3) [synthesis] Check that it is small enough to do within days, that the coachee can do it alone, and that it is phrased as doing something. (4) Optionally offer a noticing task: watch for signs of n+1, or for times things go a bit better (McKergow's "first tiny signs" booster [source: ilfaro]). (5) [synthesis] Check confidence on a 0–10 scale; if it is below about 7, make the step smaller.
• Example language: "What is the next small step?" [source: sfwork OSKAR] (Illustrative:) "Smaller than that, even. What's something you could do by Wednesday that would nudge it from 4 to 5?"
• Watch for: Large plans or many actions at once. The authors favour small actions over removing every barrier. [source: sfwork OSKAR] It is working when the step is specific and the coachee owns it.

4.10 Review (follow-up sessions)

• Purpose: At the next contact, look for signs of useful change and amplify them. [source: sfwork OSKAR]
• Steps: (1) Open with "What's better?" (2) Ask what the coachee did to make that change happen. (3) Explore the effects of the change (on them, on others). (4) Ask what they think will change next. [source: sfwork OSKAR] (5) [synthesis] Re-scale, affirm, and agree the next small step, cycling back through S-K-A. (6) [synthesis] Check against the outcome agreed in 4.3: is coaching still useful, and is it time to end?
• Example language: "What did you do that made the change happen?" [source: sfwork OSKAR] (Illustrative:) "Since we last met, what's been even a little bit better?"
• Watch for: "Nothing's better" (see 5.2) and "I didn't do the step" (see 5.4). It is working when the coachee reports changes and credits their own actions for them.

4.11 Conversation boosters

• Purpose: Short, general-purpose prompts that McKergow teaches for deepening any OSKAR element. [source: ilfaro McKergow masterclass notes]
• The five, as listed: non-verbal participation (attentive presence); "What else?"; first tiny signs that…; "What difference would that make?"; "What would person X notice?" [source: ilfaro]
• Steps [synthesis]: Use "what else?" after every answer in K and in the Future Perfect. Use "what difference would that make?" to turn a goal into a Future Perfect. Use "what would X notice?" to make answers observable and interactional, in line with the SIMPLE "Inbetween" principle.
• Watch for: Overusing "what else?" can feel mechanical. Stop when the answers thin out. [synthesis]

4.12 Using single OSKAR elements in short conversations

• Purpose: Managers and busy coaches can use one element on its own: a quick scale, a "what's better?", or a small-step question. [source: sfwork OSKAR; Coaching at Work 2012]
• Steps [synthesis]: Choose the element to fit the moment. A quick check-in can be "where are you on 0–10 and what would one point up look like?" After a success, ask what made it happen (K + Affirm). When someone is stuck, ask for the next small step.
• Example language (illustrative): "Quick one before you go: on a scale of 0 to 10, how's the project feeling? … What would make it a 7 by Friday?"
• Watch for: A manager who coaches has two roles at once. McKergow notes that managers may also need to stretch staff, which is a different method from coaching. [source: McKergow Substack]

4.13 Checking for what hasn't been said

• Purpose: Reduce the risk of missing a hidden issue while letting the client set the pace. [source: McKergow Substack, which offers the question "Is there anything that I have forgotten to ask?"]
• Steps: Ask this near the end of the first session and at review points. If the answer reveals clinical-level concerns, go to 4.15. [the link to 4.15 is synthesis]
• Example language: "Is there anything that I have forgotten to ask?" [source: McKergow Substack]
• Watch for: Disclosures of distress, risk or impairment. Take these seriously; don't reframe them into a goal.

4.14 Acknowledge-and-switch (handling problem talk)

• Purpose: Respect problem talk, then turn toward what the coachee wants. McKergow writes that practitioners listen to problem talk when clients need it, and that telling people to look on the bright side can seem flippant. [source: McKergow Substack] Growth Coaching International teaches this as the "SF-switch" [source: GCI podcast (secondary)].
• Steps [synthesis]: (1) Listen and acknowledge in the coachee's words. (2) Find what they want instead ("so you'd like…?"). (3) If they still need to talk, let them, and listen for counters and resources within the problem story. (4) Return to Outcome or Scale.
• Example language (illustrative): "That sounds really tough. Given all that, what would you want to be different?"
• Watch for: Switching too early, which can feel dismissive (see 5.5).

4.15 Referral conversation (coaching-body procedure)

• Purpose: Move the coachee to clinical care when coaching is not the right help. The ICF's core competencies include knowing when to refer, and the ICF Code (3.23) asks coaches to encourage clients to seek other professionals when appropriate. The EMCC/AC Code asks practitioners to work within their competence and to end an engagement where the client would be better served by other help. [source: ICF 2018; EMCC/AC Global Code]
• Steps (ICF 2018, paraphrased): (1) Meet privately, at an unhurried time. (2) Set a calm tone and express care. (3) Name the specific signs you have noticed. (4) Ask open questions, listen, and validate. (5) Allow silence. (6) Ask how the coachee feels about the suggestion. (7) Share resources and explain how therapy might help. (8) Help with next steps, for example booking during the session. (9) Address reluctance by normalising care; a medical analogy can help. (10) Respect their decision, keep the door open, and expect to raise it more than once. (11) Follow up. (12) Consider pausing coaching. Keep a list of local clinicians on file. [source: ICF 2018]
• Example language (illustrative): "Over the last three sessions you've mentioned barely sleeping and not enjoying anything, even outside work. I care about how you're doing, and I think this deserves more than coaching can offer. How would you feel about seeing someone who specialises in this?"
• Watch for, and emergencies: See 5.9. If you are a licensed therapist, refer to an independent clinician rather than switching the coachee into your own therapy caseload, to avoid a dual relationship. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The OSKAR pages don't address most of these problems. Unless a source is tagged, the guidance below is my [synthesis] applying the SF principles in section 3.

5.1 Coachee wants nothing from coaching, or was sent

• Use Platform (4.2). Ask what the sender hopes for and what would make it worthwhile for the coachee. If nothing does, say so, and agree with the coachee (and the sponsor, within the contract) to stop or pause. Don't keep coaching a non-customer. [synthesis; Platform from sfwork Six Tools]

5.2 Stuck: the scale doesn't move, nothing is better

• Ask how they have kept it from slipping lower: coping is a counter (SFCT Clues lists coping alongside scaling and exceptions). Ask what has stayed steady. Shrink the step. Re-check the Outcome: is this still what they want, and is it within their influence? Re-check the Platform. If there is still no movement after several sessions, review whether coaching is the right help. McKergow describes SF as a first line that other approaches can follow when it doesn't work, and the EMCC/AC Code asks you to end when another form of help would serve better. [source: McKergow Substack; SFCT Clues 1.0; Global Code; rest synthesis]

5.3 "I don't know"

• McKergow suggests that "I don't know" may mean the person hasn't thought about it yet. [source: ilfaro masterclass notes] Wait in silence. Then try a different angle: what would person X notice, what's a guess, or what was it like on a better day. [synthesis using the ilfaro boosters]

5.4 Non-adherence: the step wasn't done

• Don't treat it as resistance. Ask what got in the way, then what they did instead that was useful. Check whether the step was too large or was really someone else's idea. Re-scale, and let the coachee choose a smaller step or a noticing task. [synthesis]

5.5 Coachee feels unheard or rushed (rupture)

• This often follows a switch from problem to solution talk that came too early. McKergow says practitioners listen to problem talk when clients need it, and that urging people to look on the bright side can seem flippant. [source: McKergow Substack] Repair by naming what happened ("I may have moved on too quickly"), letting them say more, and asking what would make the conversation useful. If the coachee is interested, explain the process openly; McKergow rejects the idea that SF is "tricksy". [source: McKergow Substack; repair wording synthesis]

5.6 Strong emotion or overwhelm in session

• The SF authors don't start emotion talk themselves, but they don't avoid it when the coachee raises it. [source: McKergow Substack] Acknowledge the feeling, slow down, and ask what would help right now. Once they are settled, ask how they have been getting through it (a coping counter). If overwhelm keeps recurring, is out of proportion, or involves trauma symptoms, treat it as a referral signal (5.9). Don't do trauma or memory work inside a coaching contract. [synthesis; trauma boundary from ICF 2018]

5.7 "Yes, but…": every option is rejected

• Stop offering know-how (4.7) and go back to the coachee's own counters (4.6). Scale the dilemma between the options they are weighing. [source: ilfaro, scaling a dilemma] Then ask what small piece of either option they might try. [synthesis]

5.8 Manager-as-coach and organisational-goal tensions

• When the manager also sets performance targets, the two roles need separating. McKergow notes that managers may sometimes need to stretch staff, which is a different method from SF coaching. [source: McKergow Substack] Say openly which role you are in. Where confidentiality is limited, agree the limits first (4.1). [source: Global Code, "Beginnings"; rest synthesis]

5.9 Signs a coachee needs referral to clinical care

The coaching bodies frame the boundary like this. ICF: coaching focuses on the present and future, performance and development, with generally well-functioning people. Therapy addresses psychopathology, emotional healing and trauma recovery. A coach does not diagnose or treat. EMCC/AC Global Code: coaching "is not counselling, psychotherapy or medical intervention". Members work within their competence, refer to suitably qualified practitioners, and end the work when another form of help would serve the client better. The model's authors: OSKAR's own pages say nothing about therapy. McKergow notes that SF should give way when a problem is medical, and that SF is not a panacea. [source: ICF 2018; EMCC/AC Global Code; McKergow Substack]

The following signs come from ICF 2018 (paraphrased) unless marked:

• Overall test: the issue interferes with daily functioning (self-care, work, leisure), especially for weeks at a time.
• Within coaching: no progress because of an apparent psychological barrier; the coachee is fixed on a past event, repeatedly casts themselves as a victim, or keeps suffering the effects of trauma; signs that cluster and persist; your own discomfort, or a sense that it exceeds your competence.
• Anxiety: excessive worry on most days over months, with restlessness, fatigue, poor concentration, tension and sleep problems.
• Depression: persistent low mood or loss of interest lasting over two weeks; changes in sleep or appetite; guilt or worthlessness; grief that has become overwhelming.
• Eating difficulties: preoccupation with food or weight, cutting out food groups without medical reason, life organised around diet.
• Trauma: intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance, hypervigilance or detachment lasting a month or more after a frightening event.
• Substance use: tolerance, dependence, neglected obligations, hiding use, withdrawal, being unable to stop.
• Psychotic features: paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, incoherent speech.
• Suicide risk: hopelessness, saying there is no reason to live, giving possessions away, seeking means of harm, recklessness, agitation or withdrawal, a recent attempt.
• General distress: marked mood change, falling performance, withdrawal from others, neglected hygiene, sleep disturbance.
• Added [synthesis]: a scale that sits at 0 or below across sessions alongside functional decline; Future Perfect answers that are only about symptoms going away; requests to "work on" childhood or trauma material; mania-like changes (much less sleep, grandiosity, pressured speech); safeguarding concerns about children or vulnerable adults.

What to do (ICF 2018, paraphrased):

• Use the referral conversation in 4.15.
• If there is imminent danger to the coachee or others, call emergency services.
• If there is a risk of self-harm, stay with the person until help arrives, and ask them to hand any means (for example medications or weapons) to someone else for safekeeping. Agree who will be notified, and use crisis lines.
• If you are unsure how urgent it is, consult a clinician.
• Confidentiality gives way to safety, within the limits you contracted.

A therapist acting as coach should still follow their own professional body's standard risk-assessment practice. [synthesis]

5.10 Modality-specific pitfalls

• Running OSKAR as a rigid script. The authors stress that it is a toolset and not formulaic. Let the coachee's answers lead. [source: sfwork; McKergow Substack]
• Turning it into positive thinking. SF is about finding what works, "often in very dire circumstances", without glossing over difficulty. [source: McKergow Substack]
• Adding other techniques to "improve" it. The authors advise assuming as little as possible and keeping things simple. [source: McKergow Substack]
• Therapist role drift. Signs include starting formulation, history-taking or symptom work inside a coaching contract. Pause, name the shift, and either re-contract (with an independent referral) or return to the coaching scope. [synthesis; boundary from EMCC/AC and ICF]

Sources

Sources:

• OSKAR coaching – sfwork (McKergow & Jackson)
• OSKAR – sfwork (alternate page)
• Six Solutions Tools – sfwork
• SF Tools – sfwork
• Ripple effect – Coaching at Work, 2012 (McKergow, Oglethorpe, Faulkner)
• Principe J. (2024) Review of The Solutions Focus, 3rd ed. – Journal of Solution Focused Practices 8(2)
• 35. Misunderstandings about Solutions Focus – Mark McKergow (Substack) [uncertain: the post is written as "the authors"; any co-authors were not identified]
• Masterclass Solution Focused Coaching – Mark McKergow (ilfaro, event notes)
• Clues 1.0 – InterAction 1(1), SFCT
• The Solutions Focus Approach – Growth Coaching International podcast (secondary)
• Hullinger A.M. & DiGirolamo J.A. (2018) Referring a Client to Therapy: A Set of Guidelines – ICF
• Global Code of Ethics for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors, V4 (June 2021 / Dec 2025) – EMCC
• Global Code of Ethics – Association for Coaching

Further reading (not drawn on): McKergow M. & Jackson P.Z., Coaching with OSKAR (white paper, sfwork.com/pdf), and The relationship between GROW and SF (sfwork) [uncertain].

Further reading (not drawn on; content known only through the review and the sfwork pages):

• Jackson P.Z. & McKergow M. (2002). The Solutions Focus: The SIMPLE Way to Positive Change. Nicholas Brealey.
• Jackson P.Z. & McKergow M. (2007). The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change SIMPLE (2nd ed.). Nicholas Brealey.
• Jackson P.Z. & McKergow M. (2024). The Solutions Focus: Transforming Change for Coaches, Leaders and Consultants (3rd ed.). Nicholas Brealey.