Michael was very careful in his approach to rich story development. He taught us to look through a particular lens, paying attention to the influence of cultural heritage, power and gender on the construction of identity. In addition to attending to politics of experience, he gave us different ways of thinking and practicing, guided by a decentered therapeutic posture, and a specific approach to inquiry and listening. Here we begin with the journey of his close colleague, Shona Russell, as she reflects on 25 years guided by this respectful non-medicalized approach to working with children and families experiencing difficulties and mental health crises. Our cook’s tour highlights some of the key concepts guiding narrative practice. We also offer developments such as in understanding metaphors of story, maps and landscapes, and pathways to preferred story development. We’ve added some favorite resources. If you have something to share, please fill out our contribution form here.
Listening in Narrative Practice
What role does listening play in narrative practice and in rich story development. Pam Burr Smith, Ken Potter & Don McGillivray describe some of the influence of narrative therapy on how they approach their work, listening with a narrative ear. Maggie Carey describes listening in a decentered way and Double Listening. Please consider contributing some of your own!
The Narrative Metaphor
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. In a popular TedTalk, Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. We also offer a recording of Maggie Carey presenting about the narrative metaphor in current times - Maggie Carey. We welcome your contributions!
A Cook’s Tour
What do we mean by rich story development? What guides these conversations? Several recordings from Ummeed Child Development Center (Mumbai, India) are in production. In the meantime, we begin with Personal Agency, and the Absent but Implicit. We welcome other contributions!
Maps of Narrative Practice
Michael White published Maps of Narrative Practice in 2007. Since then, this book has been translated into many languages. Other maps - and metaphors for narrative practice -are being developed. We include authors' manuscripts from Shona Russell and Maggie Carey. Some of these videos are in the online course An introduction to Rich Story Development. Others are from Ummeed Child Development Center. Do you have anything you would like to contribute?
Linking Lives: Seeking Solidarity & Resonance
Narrative practitioners often seek to incorporate audiences in efforts such as letter-writing campaigns, outsider witness practices, reflecting teamwork, Tree of Life gatherings, ‘reclaiming community, and other community rituals. We listen for resonance toward making links across shared themes, seeking solidarity and building on family and community resourcefulness. Below we've included several materials by marcela polanco and Maggie Carey. We invite you to send some of your own contributions. Colouring Narrative [...]
Developing the Problem Story
Maggie Carey shows how to build on The Statement of Position Map to guide responding to the problem story, exploring the effects, creating reflecting surfaces and asking why. We briefly show how responding to the problem story can be a pathway to discover the preferred story. These illustrations are from the online course, An Introduction to Rich Story Development. Double Listening in Narrative Therapy We introduce the narrative [...]
Re-authoring Conversations
How does narrative practice render more visible a person’s preferred account of identity while making links with doing and experiencing? Here we offer a number of videos from Maggie Carey's online, An Introduction to Rich Story Development. As taught by Michael White, Maggie Carey shows how she enters into a person’s conceptual landscape of meaning, attending to categories of meaning or identity. Additionally, she pays close attention to the particularities of the doing and experiencing- listening for initiatives, [...]