Narrative Approaches

Narrative ways of working with individuals, couples, families and communities is a respectful approach to therapy, counselling and psychosocial support which is based on the notion that people make meaning of their lives through the stories they hold about life, themselves and others. Narrative approaches assume that people have the skills, abilities, knowledge and commitments to deal with whatever they are facing and facilitates making these visible, available and usable. In collaboration with the counsellor people generate alternative stories, based on what they hold dear and important, to make new steps in preferred directions possible. Working narratively involves asking unusual questions to uncover the untold stories which can lead to amazing new options.

The following links have excellent descriptions about narrative approaches :

Commonly asked questions (Dulwich Centre Website)

Ten second introduction to .... (David Epston's Website)

OneMinuteQuestionSween.pdf

Please also see the links page.