About

Since 1966 working as a Research Project at the MRI. Karin has been the Director of the BTC @ MRI after Dr. Fisch retired. After 2019, the BTC has become independent, after the closure of the MRI in Palo Alto

About Brief Therapy Center®

The revolution: Problem-Solving Brief Therapy® from the MRI to independence

The revolution: Problem-Solving Brief Therapy® from the MRI to independence

The Brief Therapy Center started in 1967 at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, CA as a research project by Richard Fisch in collaboration with John Weakland and Paul Watzlawick (John Haley and Don Jackson also participated in the beginning). Their idea: cultivate an effective therapy method, which we now know as Problem-Solving Brief Therapy. Today, the Brief Therapy Center, LLC continues as the leading institution in the promotion and exposure of this form of therapy.

 

Thanks to its efficiency, this method has gained a significant amount of global popularity; professionals across the world come to our facilities at the BTC Mexico to participate in our face to face training to hone their therapeutic skills.

 

Taking into account the global interest in learning the model, we’ve opened partner offices of the BTC in Mexico and Paraguay.

 

The Brief Therapy Center® is headquartered in the United States in Palo Alto, CA under the direction of Karin Schlanger.

Timeline

Innovative therapy practices across the generations.

1952-1961

Bateson Group at the Veteran's Administration Hospital

●1953-1956
Schizophrenia project

1959

Don Jackson founds the Mental Research Institute (MRI) as a part of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation

1961

Paul Wazlawick y Richard Fisch arrive at MRI

1967

Creation of Brief Therapy Center (BTC)

1974

Publication of Change of Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution by Watzlawick, Weakland, and Fisch

1978

First training in Brief Therapy

1983

Karin Schlanger arrives at the MRI

1994

Foundation of the Latino Brief Therapy Center

1999

Publication of Brief Therapy with Intimidating Cases: Changing the Unchangeable by Fisch and Schlanger

2007

Karin Schlanger becomes director of the BTC

2017

50th anniversary of BTC

2019

MRI sells building, Brief Therapy Center continues on...

Meet our team

The professionals of the Brief Therapy Center®. We’d love to meet you!

Karin Schlanger

Karin Schlanger was the Director of the Brief Therapy Center in MRI since 2008 until the sale of the building in 2019. She continues to be the director of the BTC currently. She has worked as a ps...

Esther Krohner

I have 14 years of experience working in mental health settings. I am and LMFT and RYT. I have been training and practicing family therapy with Karin Schlanger for 5 years at the...

Gisela Pi

I have been as psychotherapist for 17 years working at different medical centers and private practice in Barcelona. I have clients in Catalan, Spanish and English, working with ex-pats from around ...

Margarita Irazusta

Clinical Psychologist, doing Problem-Solving Brief Therapy for over 15 years. She works with teenagers, adults, couples, children, parents, and families. She has been working under the supervision ...

Clara Solís

I liked psychology since middle school. Upon arriving at the university I confirmed that I made the right choice. In the sixth semester I studied the clinical area and met the family therapy and th...

Pedro Vargas Ávalos

My first contact with the Palo Alto Brief Therapy model was through the reading of Gregory Bateson and his Double Link hypothesis during the third year of the career. My interest was to understand ...

Karin Schlanger

Karin Schlanger was the Director of the Brief Therapy Center in MRI since 2008 until the sale of the building in 2019. She continues to be the director of the BTC currently. She has worked as a ps...

Esther Krohner

I have 14 years of experience working in mental health settings. I am and LMFT and RYT. I have been training and practicing family therapy with Karin Schlanger for 5 years at the...

Gisela Pi

I have been as psychotherapist for 17 years working at different medical centers and private practice in Barcelona. I have clients in Catalan, Spanish and English, working with ex-pats from around ...

Margarita Irazusta

Clinical Psychologist, doing Problem-Solving Brief Therapy for over 15 years. She works with teenagers, adults, couples, children, parents, and families. She has been working under the supervision ...

Clara Solís

I liked psychology since middle school. Upon arriving at the university I confirmed that I made the right choice. In the sixth semester I studied the clinical area and met the family therapy and th...

Pedro Vargas Ávalos

My first contact with the Palo Alto Brief Therapy model was through the reading of Gregory Bateson and his Double Link hypothesis during the third year of the career. My interest was to understand ...

Karin Schlanger

Karin Schlanger was the Director of the Brief Therapy Center in MRI since 2008 until the sale of the building in 2019. She continues to be the director of the BTC currently. She has worked as a ps...

Esther Krohner

I have 14 years of experience working in mental health settings. I am and LMFT and RYT. I have been training and practicing family therapy with Karin Schlanger for 5 years at the...

Gisela Pi

I have been as psychotherapist for 17 years working at different medical centers and private practice in Barcelona. I have clients in Catalan, Spanish and English, working with ex-pats from around ...

Margarita Irazusta

Clinical Psychologist, doing Problem-Solving Brief Therapy for over 15 years. She works with teenagers, adults, couples, children, parents, and families. She has been working under the supervision ...

Clara Solís

I liked psychology since middle school. Upon arriving at the university I confirmed that I made the right choice. In the sixth semester I studied the clinical area and met the family therapy and th...

Pedro Vargas Ávalos

My first contact with the Palo Alto Brief Therapy model was through the reading of Gregory Bateson and his Double Link hypothesis during the third year of the career. My interest was to understand ...

Our Collaborators

Paula Hernández

Passion for human processes and their similarities. Interest in behavioral science. I have always had a particular interest in understanding how experiences, emotions, and behaviors are built. My vocation has been to intervene in these processes t...

Carmina Gillmore

Journalist and Graduate in Social and Information Sciences, Gabriela Mistral University. Master in Collaborative Conflict Resolution – Mediation, from the Universidad de Los Andes. She is doing residency and intensive studies at the MRI (Mental Re...

Diana Guelar

I have always been interested in therapies that would help in an effective way to get out of suffering in reasonable terms. She studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona, psychoanalytically oriented. However, once I graduated, I obtained a...

Mariangeles Ruiz

I was introduced to the TB Problem Solving Model through the books I read at University while training as a psychologist; In order to study a university degree, I needed to leave my place of origin and move to a bigger city where I could have acce...

Paula Hernández

Passion for human processes and their similarities. Interest in behavioral science. I have always had a particular interest in understanding how experiences, emotions, and behaviors are built. My vocation has been to intervene in these processes t...

Carmina Gillmore

Journalist and Graduate in Social and Information Sciences, Gabriela Mistral University. Master in Collaborative Conflict Resolution – Mediation, from the Universidad de Los Andes. She is doing residency and intensive studies at the MRI (Mental Re...

Diana Guelar

I have always been interested in therapies that would help in an effective way to get out of suffering in reasonable terms. She studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona, psychoanalytically oriented. However, once I graduated, I obtained a...

Mariangeles Ruiz

I was introduced to the TB Problem Solving Model through the books I read at University while training as a psychologist; In order to study a university degree, I needed to leave my place of origin and move to a bigger city where I could have acce...

Los servicios más importantes del Centro

Our Trainings

We are different because we teach by focusing on the practical applications, not just theory. Our specialty trainings utilize real cases and high engagement with our trainers.

Brief Therapy Certificate®

Entry level Problem Solving Brief Therapy. Around 250 hours of face to face training, readings and case analysis

Problem-Solving Brief Therapy

Exclusive offering for colleagues who have completed the BT Certificate. Supervision of participant’s cases and 40 hours of group supervision. (Limited enrollment)

Corporate Services

We take care of the Mental Health of your people so you can focus on what you do best

How to Survive Tenage Years and Maybe Be Friends Later in Life

Gain tools to promote positive change in the families you work with. We will tackle common obstacles and break vicious cycles.

How to Survive Tenage Years and Maybe Be Friends Later in Life

Gain tools to promote positive change in the families you work with. We will tackle common obstacles and break vicious cycles.