This best-selling book is an easy-to-read introduction to the ideas and practices of narrative therapy. It uses accessible language, has a concise structure and includes a wide range of practical examples. What Is Narrative Practice? covers a broad spectrum of narrative practices including externalisation, re-membering, therapeutic letter writing, rituals, leagues, reflecting teams and much more. If you are a therapist, health worker or community worker who is interesting in applying narrative ideas in your own work context, this book was written with you in mind.
Narrative Therapy provides an introduction to the theory, history, research, and practice of this post-structural approach. First developed by David Epston and Michael White, this therapeutic theory is founded on the idea that people have many interacting narratives that go into making up their sense of who they are, and that the issues they bring to therapy are not restricted to (or located) within the clients themselves, but rather are influenced and shaped by cultural discourses about identity and power. Narrative therapy centers around a rich engagement in re-storying a client's narrative by re-considering, re-appreciating, and re-authoring the client's preferred lives and relationships. In this book, Stephen Madigan presents and explores this versatile and useful approach, its theory, history, therapy process, primary change mechanisms, the empirical basis for its effectiveness, and recent developments that have refined the theory and expanded how it may be practiced. This essential primer, amply illustrated with case examples featuring diverse clients, is perfect for graduate students studying theories of therapy and counseling, as well as for seasoned practitioners interested in understanding how a narrative therapy approach has evolved and how it might be used in their practice.
`A densely packed book with interesting and valuable research gleaned from a wide variety of therapy approaches, Narrative and Psychotherapy furnishes the reader with a cogent historical appraisal of the way psychotherapy, culture and storytelling fit together.... A good reference book for counsellors and students.... The authors' students, and clients, must be very happy that he has the interest and the capacity to tune in to others in such a fresh manner' - Counselling, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling The core of psychotherapy can be seen as a process in which the client comes to tell, and then re-author, an individual life-story or personal narrative. The author of thi
"This volume is especially useful in demonstrating the effects of placing social discourses at the center of therapy. It gores many sacred cows of the larger modernist therapeutic community, but in doing so it offers new ideas for mental health professionals attempting to help their clients with common and serious life problems." —PSYCRITIQUES "This compilation is an insightful read for practitioners who have not taken the opportunity to use narrative therapy in practice...Experienced practitioners will certainly appreciate the theoretical analysis offered by the writers as well as the opportunity for reflective practice. Narrative Therapy is a meaningful contribution to a Canadian book market lacking in clinical literature for social workers" —CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives offers a comprehensive introduction to and critique of narrative therapy and its theories. This edited volume introduces students to the history and theory of narrative therapy. Authors Catrina Brown and Tod Augusta-Scott situate this approach to theory and practice within the context of various feminist, post-modern and critical theories. Through the presentation of case studies, Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives shows how this narrative-oriented theory can be applied in the client-therapist experience. Many important therapeutic situations (abuse, addictions, eating disorders, and more) are addressed from the narrative perspective. Rooted in social constructionism, and emerging initially from family therapy, narrative therapy emphasizes the idea that we live storied lives. Within this approach, the editors and contributors seek to show how we make sense of our lives and experiences by ascribing meaning through stories which themselves arise within social conversations and culturally available discourses. Our stories don’t simply represent us or mirror lived events; they actually constitute us—shaping our lives as well as our relationships. Narrative Therapy will be a valuable supplemental textbook for theory and practice courses in departments of Counseling and Psychotherapy and of Social Work as well as for courses in Gender and Women Studies.
"What a gift to education! By practicing the ideas in this book, school counselors everywhere can help create new descriptions and stories that will transform the academic lives and behaviors of their students." —Linda Metcalf, Author Counseling Toward Solutions and Solution–Focused School Counseling Promote students′ respect for themselves and others through narrative interventions! Narrative counseling is based on the premise that stories, rather than hard-nosed realities, shape our lives. By changing the stories that negatively label and define students, we help them open up new avenues and opportunities. In this second edition of their best-selling book, John Winslade and Gerald Monk present even more case studies, guidance, and examples of counseling practice to help students narrate stories that "redescribe" who they are and can be. Mindful that today′s busy counselors need effective and brief techniques, the authors make plain the steps with which counselors can externalize problems and draw out student self-knowledge to inform new ways of identifying and behaving. Updated throughout, this new edition offers: An exploration of ethically sound accountability practices Potential obstacles and suggestions for overcoming them Guidance to help students set goals Applications of narrative ideas to restorative justice An expanded section on group work, specifically focusing on anger management and grief counseling Grounded in a deep respect for students, this book′s principles and practices will enable students to choose for themselves the new reputations by which they′ll be known.
Narrative Therapy: An Introduction for Counsellors, second edition, offers a clear and concise overview of this way of working without oversimplifying its theoretical underpinnings and practices.
Presenting a compelling evidence base for narrative therapy. Narrative therapy introduces the idea that our lives are made up of multiple events that can be strung together in many possible stories. These stories can be developed to find richer (or "thicker") narratives, and thus release the hold of negative ("thin") narratives upon the client. Replete with case examples from clinical practice, this is the first book to present a compelling evidence base for narrative therapy, interweaving practice tips, training, and research. The book’s rigorous, research-based approach meets the increasing demand on therapists to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach, critically reflecting on both process and outcomes, expanding on the concept of evidence-based practice.
Drawing on the ideas of Michael White and David Epston, this fully revised, extended and updated Second Edition incorporates the progression of their thinking over the past five years and introduces developments initiated by other narrative therapists worldwide. New material has been added around counseling for post-traumatic reactions, couples conflict and a sense of personal failure.
Current career counselling needs a shift away from the practice of modern counselling approaches, and narrative therapy is likely to be particularly appropriate, since it is part of the culture and way of life of the majority of our clients. For the very first time, current approaches have been brought together in one publication. Eminent scholars, including Larry Cochran, Mark Savickas, and Norm Amundson, Paul Hartung and John Winslade, contributed to the publication. Personal narratives of some exceptionally eminent people, including Robert Sternberg are also included. The publication is concluded by Reuven Bar-On and Maurice Elias, who delineate the connection between storied counselling and social and emotional learning. This book provides a priceless resource for scholars, academics, researchers, psychologists, teachers and clients. It § critically analyses germane questions, such as "How vital and feasible is it to build on life stories in career counselling?" § examines the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of hermeneutic-narrative, postmodern and constructivist approaches to career counselling § provides practical guidelines on the practice of narrative counselling in different contexts § presents ideas on how to engage clients actively § suggests ways of using life story counselling (including the Career-Story Interview) to produce new identities for career practice
What actually happens in counselling interactions? How does counselling bring about change? How do clients end up producing new and alternative stories of their lives and relationships? By addressing these questions and others, Peter Muntigl explores the narrative counselling process in the context where it is enacted: the unfolding conversation between counsellor and clients. Through a transdisciplinary approach that combines conversation analysis and systemic functional linguistic theory, Muntigl demonstrates how language is used in couples counselling, how language use changes over the course of counselling, and how this process provides clients with new linguistic resources that help them change their social relationships. This book will be a valuable resource not only for linguists and discourse analysts, but also for researchers and practitioners in the fields of counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, and medicine.
