The Korzybski Institute – Birthplace of the Bruges Model

The Korzybski Institute is one of the oldest and largest training and research centres for Solution-Focused practice in the world.

We occasionally organise English spoken activities online and have live international trainers that teach in English, if you are interested we can keep you posted, please send an e-mail (with possible fields of interest) to info@korzybski.be.

A Short History

The first Korzybski Institutes—those in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands—were officially founded in 1984 as training centers in systemic and Ericksonian psychotherapy.
The founders were: Dr. Luc Isebaert (+2019), Dr. Myriam Le Fevere de Ten Hove, Louis Cauffman, and Marie-Christine Cabié (France).

The Bruges Model began with a central idea: therapy as a process of restoring freedom of choice. This led to a strong focus on clients’ own goals, their competencies, and the exceptions to their symptomatic behavior. In 1990, the Institute established contact with Steve de Shazer, whose Solution-Focused model aligned so closely with the Bruges vision that integrating it seemed both natural and powerful.

Later, the development of the theory of habits created a connection with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). As a result, the Bruges Model evolved into what is now known as Solution-Focused Cognitive Therapy—or more broadly, Solution-Focused Cognitive and Systemic Therapy, as systemic thinking remains a core part of the approach.

In 2008, the Institute began collaborating with Barry Duncan, Scott Miller, and Bruce Wampold—leading figures of the Client Directed, Outcome Informed movement. Building on the legacy of Jerome Frank and Michael Lambert, their work explores what truly makes therapy effective. Their research confirmed that common factors and client feedback account for the majority of positive outcomes—precisely what the Bruges Model has been emphasizing all along.

International Involvement

The Korzybski Institute and its staff have been or still are (founding) members of key international and national networks, including:

  • IASTI (International Association of Solution-Focused Teaching Institutes)

  • EBTA (European Brief Therapy Association)

  • EFTA and IFTA (European and International Family Therapy Associations)

  • SFBTA (Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Association)

  • SOL (Solutions in Organisations Linkup)

  • BVOS, BVRGS, AERTS, and VVDO in Belgium

Staff members have also been active in institutes such as Cercles de Compétences (Lyon), Cerfasy (Neuchâtel), and the Institute for Solution-Focused Therapy (Chicago & Sturgeon Bay, USA).
The Institute has long-standing collaborations with academic partners such as Université de Mons-Hainaut, Howest (Belgium), RINO Noord-Holland (Netherlands), Talent Maastricht, and Centro Latino de Terapia Sistémica Breve (Peru), as well as the Heart and Soul of Change Project (USA).
In recent years, the Institute has also provided training in Poland at the invitation of Pracownia Psychologiczna in Poznań.

Training and Research

The Institute offers in cooperation with Howest University of Applied Sciences:

  • A four-year postgraduate training in Solution-Focused Cognitive and Systemic Therapy

  • A two-year postgraduate counselor training

  • A two-year Expert Counselor program

These are held in Bruges and Antwerp and attract over 200 students annually. The Institute also organizes specialized trainings, such as “Introduction to SF for GPs” and “Mental Coaching in Sports: An SF Approach.”
Over the past four decades, thousands of professionals have graduated from the Korzybski Institute.

Early research focused on identifying and refining the therapeutic principles that would become the Bruges Model. Later, research shifted to collaboration with St. John’s Hospital in Bruges, where Dr. Luc Isebaert and Erwin De Bisscop held prominent positions.
One highlight of this work was the follow-up (katamnestic) study with clients suffering from alcohol dependence. This led to a landmark article co-authored by Steve de Shazer and Luc Isebaert:
“The Bruges Model: A Solution-Focused Approach to Problem Drinking” published in Journal of Family Psychotherapy (2003, Vol. 14, Issue 4).

From 1990 until Steve de Shazer’s death in 2010, the Institute hosted an annual Scientific Board meeting on the second Sunday after Easter in Bruges. Regular attendees included Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg (USA), Marie-Christine Cabié (France), and Alasdair MacDonald (UK).

At the end of his life, Dr. Luc Isebaert was working on a final book that would bring together leading voices from the international Solution-Focused community. After his passing in 2019, the book was lovingly completed by Geert Lefevere and published in Dutch in 2022—an impressive 840-page volume. An English edition is eagerly anticipated.

Recent Developments

In recent years, the Korzybski Institute has been organizing study days (e.g., on SF in Psychiatry) and reflection days for trainers and affiliated professionals, serving as spaces for mutual inspiration and knowledge exchange.

One tangible result of this continued engagement is the 2024 research project on boys, masculinity, and societal challenges in Flanders, in a cooperation by trainers Sébastien Vernieuwe and Alexander Witpas and funded by the Agency for Home Affairs of the Flemish Community.

Another exciting initiative in 2024 is a research group formed by fourth-year students, coordinated by Dr. Dirk Quagebeur. They are studying feedback patterns in SF supervision, using an extensive dataset gathered by Dr. Myriam Le Fevere de Ten Hove.

Also in 2024, trainer Sébastien Vernieuwe began collaborating on the development of AI-supported tools for practitioners, in partnership with the Avatalk project and the Human Interface Technology Lab (HIT Lab) of Howest University of Applied Sciences.