Strengthening School Communities From a New Perspective
Solution Focus in Practice
Aug 22, 2026
Introduction by Jacqui Horan
In this thought-provoking and inspiring presentation, Julianna Tóth and her colleagues at the Bátor Tábor Foundation Hungary, describe part of a School Outreach Programme. It is designed to enable children to sensitively and successfully reintegrate into school after experiencing significant illness.
The extra ingredient in the Programme and the focus of the presentation is on the use of Solution Focused Frames, inspired by the Working on What Works programme originally developed by Insoo Kim Berg and Lee Shilts in 2002.
Universal issues of belonging, community and difference are explored and brought to life through the participatory experiences of the teachers, volunteers, children and young people involved in the Programme in the school classroom.
What also becomes evident to listeners is the scope to apply this approach to other situations where young people may be on the periphery of communities for any number of reasons. As such it offers a practical storyboard of Solution Focused ways to create a respectful, creative and person-centred story of inclusion that involves the whole community and continues to evolve.
At the heart of the Programme, we are asked fundamental questions:
- What would we be doing on our best days?
- What would we and others notice?
- What difference would that make?
Typically, reintegration, integration and inclusion programmes focus on the individual on the periphery of the community. This Programme is different. It involves the individual and the community in which they are situated, capturing the everyday little details of change.
These details help build a bridge to increase individual and community self-awareness of what we would be doing on our best days so that there is “space for everyone”.
This content was originally presented at the 2026 SF24 Conference
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Julianna Toth
InterAction Contributor
Julianna Tóth graduated as a social worker and is also a trainer, solution-focused coach, and improviser. Experiential education and experiential therapy have been central to her career from the beginning, complemented by applied improvisation and a solution-focused approach in all areas of her work. For over sixteen years, she has been part of the Bátor Tábor Foundation, which provides healing moments and life-changing experiences for children living with a serious or chronic disease (www.batortabor.org). She is currently the developer and professional leader of the School Outreach Program: a programme that helps chronically ill children reintegrate into school.