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I have sat on this question for some time, finding it difficult to narrow it into a short answer. The end result is that I don't have a short answer, and perhaps that is the essence of narrative ideas at work. I was initially attracted to narrative practices many years ago because it was the first philosophy where I felt I could just be my "normal self" with no apologies, excuses, or concessions. Yet while I experienced a sudden freedom in my personal and clinical life, it took a little while to catch on in my teaching. After a few years of trying to be the "classical" professor, with all that authority and expertise, I finally asked myself, "Why am I doing this? Why would a narrative approach be something I only teach in a counseling skills or theory course? What would happen if instead of making it just a piece of subject matter, I made it be the very heart and soul of my professor life?"

And that has been my project for the last 20 years. I'm still figuring it out. What I hold dear to keep that momentum going is curiosity, embracing how much I don't know so that I am always motivated to seek more. To also acknowledge that just by being with others, engaging in the dialogue, we are co-creating knowledge and experience -- and by doing so, we keep widening, broadening, opening the playing field so our teams are made up of amazingly 'normal,' interesting, fascinating people. To recognize that variation is music, and narrative teaches me to sit quietly and listen.

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Tim Donovan - How do narrative ideas shape my adventure with co-research?

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Tim Donovan - How do narrative ideas shape my adventure with co-research?

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I got there!

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Robert, thank you so much for taking the time to create a thought-provoking video and slide on narrative influences on your approach to supervision. I'll post the full Padlet here;

https://padlet.com/robertolester9/my-exquisite-sandbox-6b2ar5sbgzn627v7

I'm happy that several of our conversationalists share your interest in supervision, and I look forward to all the sparks you will generate between us all.

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I was first exposed to Narrative Therapy/Practices (NP) 11 years ago. Since then, I have tried to carry its influence with me in therapeutic spaces and outside of them. I teach undergraduate students, and I engage in research and community work with migration and environmental issues.

The ideas from NP that I keep closer to myself when I teach, research, co-research and write are:

Thickening: what narratives should my research make visible, thicken, strengthen, promote?

Unique Outcomes: in a world full of despair and dehumanization, what are unique outcomes that can help us hold onto our humanity?

The critique to power imbalances/hierarchies in the imposition of dominant discourses in local and global communities.

The understanding that discourses/stories have concrete effects on people's lives. Keeping in mind concrete implications that discourses/narratives have on individuals and collectives is important to make sure we keep present the link between narrative justice, healing justice, social justice and material justice.

Narrative Practices inform my reflexivity practices. They help me ask myself and my peers “what are our intentions in this space? How do I want to show up? What values/stories inform/shape our work? What values*stories am I interested in deconstructing/thickening?

Reflexivity: NP helped me understand the social construction of any field of practice, including counseling, education, research, etc. Thanks to this notion, I try to pay attention and talk to peers about the discourses and social forces shaping my scope of practice and ethical guidelines, with or without our awareness.

"The Problem is the Problem" is to me a critique to the over-individualization or privatization of Social Problems, which is what Critical Psychologists call "psychologizing".

In general, Narrative Practices help me keep my humanity in a society that constantly dehumanizes us.

I believe that Narrative means are insufficient and indispensable for Justice ends. Justice in our world cannot be achieved only through narrative means, but without them it is impossible. If injustice needs the imposition of certain narratives over others, then NP is an important tool to resist and preserve local and ancestral knowledges.

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Arturo Sanchez: What informs my narrative teaching?

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Arturo Sanchez: What informs my narrative teaching?

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From where I see it now, my “narrative backbone” is nested within the foundation of my training as a phenomenologist combined with “narrative practices,” and continues to inform my teaching. The “backbone” is the artful design of pulling together the “best” examples of writings, viewings, and activities that led me to adopt Narrative practices myself and scaffolding them as meaningful course curriculum. The reveal of “apprentice” artistry/craftmanship tends to take on a life of its own through the confluence of curriculum and diverse/complex lived life experiences of the student/apprentice.  The reveal is rarely predictable but always a joy to witness. What is required of me is a good dose of humility, trust, respect, and confidence in the organic process before me.

It has been and continues to be an honor and delight to be involved our Narrative Communities. ! I do believe the "nex-gen" is creating a wonderful platform to continue onward with the Narrative Spirit! I have never in my 45-years in the helping and teaching professions experienced a community where one's inclusion was so warmly welcomed and nurtured regardless of standing within the larger profession.  This virtuous welcoming is at the heart of what it means to be engaged in "narrative work."  I, for one, in supervision and consultations , try in earnest to discover and employ diverse ways and means of  "respectful welcoming" (David Epston).  I am encouraged that the" next-gen" is offering meaningful ways to keep us engaged and in community.

Arturo Sanchez

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As I attempt to orient fellow counselors and interns to Narrative Therapy, I often find myself viewing their prior training and professional perspectives as obstacles.

Yesterday, in reviewing an experienced intern's documentation of a therapy conversation, I critiqued the internal state assertion that the client was "deeply traumatized." I then opined on the necessity of "unlearning" structuralist psycholog-ese in order to more fully inhabit Narrative theory and practice.

"Should I re-write it?" he asked.

"Only if it's important to you to be a purer Narrative Therapist," I responded. "'Clinically identifying someone in the notes as 'deeply traumatized' is certainly more in line with professional norms that whatever I would write."

"I can change it," he said.

"What if instead of erasing it, you added something? You may be able to say something and subvert it or trouble it a bit at the same time."

I then started crafting potential questions to add to the "assessment." "How about something like, 'If X found that he was able to get some space from this trauma, what else might he like to hold deeply instead?'"

Rather than my automatic critique or dismissal of psychological notions of "deep-ness," what if I instead sought to addend this common construct by nudging it from an adjective or noun towards a verb?

In an effort to make Narrative Therapy known, I consistently emphasize how it is "different." Perhaps this focus on difference has the paradoxical effect of making Narrative Therapy less know-able, especially to those who are already seasoned therapists.

Rather than viewing more dominant modes of therapy and psychological thinking as "obstacles" to Narrative theory and practice, I'm excited to consider these points of difference as potential "thresholds" towards Narrative theory and practice.

Perhaps honoring similarity to CBT, DBT, ACT, etc., might provide a less encumbered path to appreciating and practicing the rich difference of Narrative work.

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What a delight it was to chat with Beth Prullage about teaching narrative ideas ahead of our gathering on the 17th November!