Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy which is based on two simple but powerful ideas:
We live multi-storied lives.
and
The person is not the problem.
The problem is the problem.
By viewing our identities as separate from the problems we face, we can look at problem stories and ask:
Where did they from?
Who benefits from them?
What alternative stories have been overlooked or silenced?
Narrative therapy supports us to consider how our skills, values and strengths can be used to ‘re-story’ our lives.
My paper in the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
My Approach to Narrative Therapy
I use narrative practice across coaching and counselling.
This means:
Listening not just for problem stories, but for the values, beliefs, and strengths that can provide a counter-balance.
Paying close attention to context — including the cultural, social, and historical forces that affect people’s lives.
Helping people reconnect with their own knowledge, choices, and agency.
For women in midlife, narrative practice offers a way to reflect on how old identities have been shaped, and to consider what kinds of new stories can be nurtured going forward.
It’s also a good fit for neurodivergent minds because so many of us live with internalised (and imposed) beliefs that we are the problem — disorganised, unreliable, too much, not enough. Narrative practice creates distance from those labels, and space for new perspectives.