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Narrative Practice: Applications

Challenging the effects of childhood sexual abuse

Charley Lang works with individuals, couples, and families at Narrative Counseling Center in Los Angeles, California (narrativecounselingcenter.com). A teacher of narrative practices, he is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker and Director of the BA Psychology Program at Antioch University. Charley wrote this article in response to requests from students and colleagues interested in seeing narrative practices at work while addressing issues related to trauma. The article documents his experiences consulting with a client in his private [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:48-04:00December 1st, 2013|0 Comments

Narrative practices in mental health settings

Gaye Stockell and Marilyn O'Neil founded the Sydney Narrative Family Centre in Sydney, Australia. They have been engaging with narrative ideas for more than twenty years within psychiatric settings. Raymond & the Black Dot Gaye and Marilyn's conversations  with Raymond in 1990 had profound effects on their work practices as mental health workers in a psychiatric rehabilitation center. Diagnosed as a schizophrenic, Raymond shared "A black dot" story that draws a link to  an experience [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:48-04:00November 29th, 2013|0 Comments

Psychotic experience and discourse

"Michael White worked in state psychiatric hospitals, child and adolescent psychiatric services and was consultant for many years to a large state psychiatric hospital in Adelaide. Throughout his life Michael maintained an enduring commitment to questioning practices that were pathologising of people’s lives, and to developing collaborative ways of working. His work in relation to psychotic experience and, in particular, assisting people to revise their relationship with voices was a significant part of the interactions [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:48-04:00November 26th, 2013|Comments Off on Psychotic experience and discourse

Peggy Sax: Finding common ground: parents speak out about family centered practices

After 7 years, I wrote up the findings from my dissertation project about experiences of “finding common ground” between human service seekers,  providers, and planners. I interviewed about 100 people (group and individual) from different designated roles (parents of young children with mental health concerns; therapists, early childhood care and education and other providers; and federal & state planners). The article Finding Common Ground : Parents Speak Out About Family-Centered Practices was published in The Journal of [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:48-04:00November 26th, 2013|0 Comments

Working with families with infants and toddlers

“Narrative therapy and family support: Strengthening the mother’s voice in working with families with infants and toddlers” (1997) was published in Narrative Therapies with Children and Adolescents by Craig Smith and David Nyland. This chapter is the first time I wrote something for publication about narrative therapy.  I remember the effort it took to rise to the occasion. I was grateful to Bill Lax for inviting me to write the chapter instead of the one he had [...]

2015-07-07T15:20:23-04:00November 26th, 2013|Comments Off on Working with families with infants and toddlers

Playful approaches to serious problems

David Epston's playful approach invites mutual creativity in the resolution of family problems. His writings illustrate the hospitality, playfulness and “respectworthiness” with which David engages people facing difficult problems.Together with Jennifer Freeman and Dean Lobovits, David co-authored of the book, Playful Approaches to Serious Problems: Narrative Therapy with Children and Their Families,  now available in English, Spanish, Chinese and German. Clickhere to read a brief description of narrative therapy with children. In 1997,  following the publication of Playful Approaches [...]

2015-07-07T15:23:40-04:00November 26th, 2013|0 Comments

‘Narrative therapy trauma manual: A principle-based approach’

 By John R. Stillman Recommended by Peggy Sax.   This book uses a journey metaphor to take the reader through the experience of narrative therapy. John conceived of this guidebook was conceived when invited to train social workers practicing within a community working and living on a garbage dump in Kien Giang, Vietnam. It makes narrative principles accessible to people through illustration and story. Each of the principles is woven into the metaphor of a [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:48-04:00November 26th, 2013|0 Comments

Peggy Sax Workshop: Takoma Park, Maryland

Reclaiming Community out of Personal Catastrophe Peggy Sax, PhD Takoma Park, Maryland April 11, 2014 Presented by The Narrative Reading Group & The Center for Healthy Families at the Family Science Department, University of Maryland Through video, audio, and story-telling, Peggy Sax will explore therapeutic practices that engage clients who have survived psychological catastrophes -their worst nightmares - in the supportive actions of the communities around them, peer-to-peer support, and “giving back” practices. Weaving in [...]

2017-08-01T14:51:53-04:00March 1st, 2013|0 Comments