What is Narrative Therapy?

Narrative therapy was developed during the 1980s by Australian social worker Michael White and David Epston of New Zealand. As a respectful, collaborative, and non-blaming approach, narrative therapy aims to empower individuals, recognizing them as the experts in their lives. It distinguishes problems from people and acknowledges the abundance of skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments, and abilities individuals possess to mitigate the influence of problems.

How does Narrative Therapy work?

A narrative therapist actively listens for indications of knowledge and skills that challenge the dominant narrative of problems. These clues often lead to subordinate stories encompassing intentions, hopes, commitments, values, desires, and dreams. Curiosity and exploration can make these preferred stories and accounts of people's lives more nuanced and vivid.

Within the framework of narrative therapy, individuals' lives and identities are viewed as multi-dimensional rather than limited to a single narrative. The focus is not on experts providing solutions to problems but on collaborative exploration, where people and therapists together discover the hopeful, preferred, and previously unnoticed possibilities within themselves and hidden storylines. In this regard, narrative therapists work alongside individuals to "re-author" the stories of their lives, actively reshaping them.

Who can Narrative Therapy help?

Anyone looking to re-story their experience can benefit from narrative therapy, including people with disordered eating, those feeling stuck in the victim, hero, or perpetrator role, and anyone with a problem-saturated story that feels unmoveable.

References: The Dulwich Centre, Narrative Therapy Centre, Evanston Family Therapy Center

Marcus Berley is a Self Space Seattle therapist who works with high-achieving people who want to access the deeper areas of their lived experience, including individuals who struggle to fully enjoy their success and couples who struggle to address conflict and cultivate a more intimate connection.