Narrative- A holistic approaches (others include transpersonal, constructivist, feminist) - emphasized emotions and sensations; co-construction of real, imagined, or possible stories of past, present or future
In the 1970’s Michel Foucault a prominent French intellectual who greatly influenced a number of fields and professions and Gregory Bateson a British anthropologist, and social scientist began developing the idea of narrative therapy within the field of family therapy. Their ideas greatly influenced White and Epston. In the late 70’s Michael White a social worker and family therapist in Australia along with David Epston began to formulate writing and expand on Batson and Foucault’s theory. In 1990 they co-authored “Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends.”
People have a library of stories …. All are legitimate and important
Counselors Role Therapeutic anthropologists Supportive, facilitator, encourager… not an expert Does not seek to promote change but create shifts and bring about new meaning to the client’s story Does not seek to heal or “fix” people but to learn about them and understand them and provide a different and helpful perspective Emphasis on being respective and encouraging of client’s strengths and resources Never judge Suggest alternative viewpoints and elicit stories of power and resourcefulness Active role… suggesting exercised, offering new viewpoints, soliciting feed back Careful listening, empathetic, summarization and paraphrasing to give people ownership Participatory witness and interpersonal relationship based on collaboration not just reflection (person-centered) but interactive Mirroring- reflect themselves as well as the client
