Wonderfulness Enquiries (with children or Virtue Enquiries (with adults) have not only become the centrepiece of my  first sessions since David Epston introduced me to them a number of years ago, they have become the entire context for my practice. If you would like to learn how to bring the wonder of wonderfulness interviews into your work with anyone,  do join us! 

Through our Re-woman project we are hoping to empower women to live in their preferred ways. In Russia the ideas are strong that "we are different from the West, as women had equal opportunities throughout the Soviet times". However, stats and practices are showing this is not the case. Through our meetings and interviews with women we are deconstructing the ideas around leadership and exploring the ways to lead. 

Chris Darmody ( Perth, Australia) will present Narrative Walks -a hope-based, depathologising outdoor program that was developed to engage with populations that may not be drawn to conventional methods of therapy. This structured day program encourages participants to explore 15 narrative therapy questions, and to engage in a number of other activities during a 20 kilometre walk through the bush. The program invites different perspectives on problem stories, and offers walking as a narrative metaphor. Chris will outline his own hopes for the future development of Narrative Walks as a program transferable to many people and lands.

Daniel Angus will introduce us to PetSafe, The Headspace Primary Care and Youth Early Psychosis Program in Western Sydney, which has developed an innovative interspecies mental health program that offers a narrative informed therapy partnering with a variety of dogs, cats, horses and parrots as well as with humans. Young people registered in this program have learned how to support animals who are experiencing mental or physical health problems and in turn they learn about themselves by reflecting on their experience as an animal helper. Helping dogs experiencing anxiety or parrots who self harm have led to a variety of outcomes including the development of interspecies coping strategies, friendships among participants and reduced mental health symptoms for human helpers and animals. Working on a forthcoming book on interspecies communication, Jenny Freeman will respond to Dan's presentation as well as share a tale from her manuscript.

The Ummeed Team will discuss using narrative practices when working with young people experiencing developmental disabilities and their families. Using examples from practice we will share how we are adapting the ideas with young people who have diverse ways of expressing themselves in preferred identity development, navigating various systems of power in preferred ways and in making possible family-centred care, where caregivers and children become partners in the journey of therapy.

Shona and Sarah will discuss key principles of their work in supervision that fit with bringing the politics of experience into supervision. These key principles include 1) positioning knowledge as discourse: using the skills of deconstruction and transparency; 2) co-constructed knowledges: valuing perspectives of supervisees and clients; 3) the use of questions verses directives, 4) valuing expansive conversations, and 5) promoting discursive agency.  Using these principles as a guide, Shona and Sarah will invite us to explore the politics of knowledge and power and consider ways to cultivate a social justice ethic in supervisory experience.

Following in the footsteps of Marcela Polanco's project to 'decolonize' what would appear to be commonplace 'cut and paste' MacDonalizations of narrative therapy in other languages, cultures and social circumstances, David and I have embarked on the journey of co-creating 'wasei' (remade-in-Japan) Narrative Therapy. So far we have attempted three workshops in Osaka and Tokyo(2017) and Osaka(2018). Along the way, we have found wonderful Japanese allies who also stand for 'language justice' and 'knowledge fair trade' (Polanco, 2016) and can provide us with honest feedback and continuous support. Although we as a team have traveled a good distance on a winding road, we still have a long way ahead of us to learn how to practice such a fair or 'kobinai' attitude ('kobinai' means the attitude of the less dominant who don't put themselves down or exalt the dominant, which is in this context Euro-American languages and cultures). This 'kobinai' attitude would be necessary for 'knowledge fair trade' to take root and thrive in Japan. Regardless, we would love to share some of our discoveries so far in the hope that it will encourage others in similar circumstances to re-imagine Narrative Therapy in their own local contexts.

Over the last several months with the support of the Mental Health Services. Aalborg University Hospital, Christoffer Haugaard and David Epston have been applying the same methodology e.g. co-researching that led to Maisel, Epston and Borden(2004): Biting the Hand that Starves You: Inspiring Resistance to Anorexia/Bulimia(New York, WWNorton).  Responding to a request to invent a narrative therapy-inspired approach to the so-called 'chronic mentally ill', they prefer the term 'those who are spoken to by voices'. This approach takes up where Michael White left off in the 1990s with the 'power to our journeys' approach. The image is copyright by artist Magda Hertzberg.

As part and parcel of marcela polanco's PhD thesis in Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern, she and David Epston set about the translation of Michael White's 'Maps'(2007). Through many twists and turns this led them to preparing a manuscript for a book tentatively titled: "Re-Imagining Narrative Therapy in the Americas." They will share with us some of their discoveries as they read and consider learnings from 'translation studies', 'decolonising methodologies'(Tuawai Smith) and creative transformations at the borders of cultures/languages.