About Narrative Therapy
About Narrative Therapy
(This helpful text was adapted from the Informed Consent and Narrative Therapy Consultation Information sheet as provided by Walter Bera of the Kenwood Therapy Centre)
Narrative ideas are a growing set of ethically based and innovative therapy ideas that recognize people use narrative, or story, to make meaning of their lives and identity and as such can re-author them. Such Narrative ideas and practices are becoming increasing widespread and accepted.
We may consult you about your life and concerns to facilitate what we hope is a meaningful conversation of re-authoring life, family or community according to your intentions, purposes, values, beliefs, hopes, dreams, visions, and commitments to ways of living. We want to creatively consult some of the personal and professional stories, resources and ideas you may or may not have fully considered in the hope that they might provide new possibilities and ways to address the concerns that brought you here. And we invite you to creatively express yourself through writing, words, art, music, logic, etc. In addition, we are trained in and may suggest other possibly helpful, collaborative and research informed consultation approaches and ideas.
We see people as knowledgeable in their own lives and view problems as separate from people. Narrative therapy assumes that people and communities have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments and abilities that will assist them to reduce the influence of problems in their lives.
We avoid thinking or speaking of those we consult with or their loved ones or community as the “Problem.” Rather, the Problem is the Problem, and we strive, with compassion and understanding, to ally with people as they stand up to or change their relationship to problems and reclaim their lives, families and communities from their influence.
As someone consulting here, you might notice that if you say, “I am depressed,” your consultant might ask, “How did you notice Depression first influencing your life?” This is an example of how we separate the person from the problem. This can help move from what we call problem-saturated identities toward more rich and full descriptions of life and can help put problems in their broader contexts.
Just as one’s preferred identity may be rendered invisible by problems, so also one may look back at life and see little, except a problem-saturated, hopeless history. Your consultant may ask unusual, exceptional, and curious questions that may help you put in words often thinly described, hidden stories of richer understanding, strength, possibility and hope. In this way, we find people can often creatively reclaim or construct, with the help/support of others, what we call preferred realities and identity.
The consultant you talk with strives to be “influential but de-centred,” working to keep central you and your ideas and preferences. We strive to be responsible collaborators and co-authors with those we work with, rather than pretending to be all-knowing experts to tell you how to live your life. While we may share some of our ideas, resources and experiences regarding some ways a problem can influence a life, based on what others have told us, we prefer to first acknowledge and build on your unique story, wisdom and resources. We view the consultant as skilful in respecting and making more visible your own preferred words, ideas, theories and practices of life, perhaps imposing some ill-fitting theoretical, cultural or societal mandates.
We have found that problems can isolate us and make it hard to find options, possibilities and connections in our lives. As appropriate, we may ask you, with your full approval and understanding, to allow us to collaborate with key family members, relatives, friends, associates, and involved professionals, who may be helpful or concerned. Any requested assessment, report, or letter is reviewed with you. We strive to collaborate in sensitive, responsible, ethical, legal, diplomatic and creative ways.
The background of many problems can be a history or experience of injustice and cultural difficulty. We may spend some of our time considering such socially constructed, taken for granted stories of family, gender, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, economics, faith, etc., and their influences in your life and identity. This can help make such influences more visible and may help you decide more clearly if those ideas and practices may fit with what you want in your life and relationships.