Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy is a collaborative and non-pathologizing approach to counselling which acknowledges people as the experts of their own lives.

A narrative approach views problems as separate from people and assumes people as having many experiences, skills, abilities, values, commitments, beliefs and competencies that will assist them to change their relationship with the problems affecting their lives.

This impairs individuals’ capacity to process and integrate traumatic or distressing life experiences in an adaptive manner.

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It is a way of working with clients that takes into consideration the broader context of people’s lives particularly in the various dimensions of diversity including class, race, gender, sexual orientation and ability.

Counsellors and therapists engaging with narrative ideas and practices work alongside people in resisting the effects and influences of problem stories and deficit descriptions. In therapeutic conversations this involves listening and looking for clues to clients’ stories of resilience and skills that run counter to the problem-saturated story.