Narrative Therapy

Theory - Narrative Therapy

Definition - Narrative Therapy is used in clinical and community work and assumes that individuals are experts in their own lives. Narrative Therapy also separates problems from people and assumes that people have skills and talents that they can use to change their relationships to their problems.

Narrative Therapy Centre of Toronto. (n.d.). About Narrative Therapy Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapycentre.com/narrative.html

Application - Narrative Therapy can be used in community work through helping the community inventory their own strengths and by consulting with the community on the problems they face to ensure that solutions to problems are driven by:
1. What the community says their problems are and
2. The strengths, skills, and talents of the community
Narrative Therapy will also help the community separate the problems they face from their identity and create a critical consciousness around what creates problems in their communities.

Alternative Application - Narrative therapy can be used in therapy with individuals in much the same way. It empowers individuals to construct their own solutions to problems that are external to them and allows them to inventory their own strengths that can be used to change their relationship to the problems they face.