Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy is a collaborative approach, which centers people as the experts in their own lives. Not grounded in the medical model, the Narrative Therapy worldview sees problems as separate from people. An awareness of power, as it operates in people's lives and in the therapy is a central concern, and a commitment to social justice frames the entire endeavor.
Together we will support each other in exploring and practicing within the Narrative worldview.This will include: asking questions that generate experience, externalizing problems, thickening stories to create possibilities, double listening to hear problem stories while supporting preferred outcomes, understanding problems as based on discourses, deconstruction of problem stories, moving from problem stories to preferred stories, and approaching ethics in ways that consider actual effects and beliefs about justice. We will take a glimpse into the origins of Narrative Therapy ideas in anthropology and philosophy. We will venture into and perform Narrative Practices including: creating documents to support preferred stories, reflecting teams, linking lives for shared purposes, and the absent but implicit. The goal for the course is for students to develop an initial understanding of the Narrative worldview, and practices. From here students can judge if Narrative Therapy might become a preferred direction to pursue as a social worker.