In this Collab we remember Michel White who died in April 2008. We bring together a number of people lucky enough to know Michael personally to talk with each other about memories, Michael's legacy and what lies ahead.
"In one of the last Michael White workshops that I attended he introduced his work as "a tender therapy." He said the training would be a week of prayer and protest. These words have resonated with me so deeply as they described so well what I witnessed when watching Michael work in Narrative ways with people. I have held that concept of tenderness in my heart ever since then and moved it into how I approach my work and my life. In this Salon, we will use one of my stories of how I apply Michaels' teaching and his essence into my own life. This is a story of me processing my sister's death with the help of my internal Michael interviewing me. I will be interviewed about this story and how it applies to how I work with Michael. We will create a live outsider witness team in the session with the participants."Sarah Hughes
Eminent scholars such as Makungu Akinyela and marcela polanco have written about an anti-colonial approach to narrative therapy. Join Travis Heath as he presents: "While this philosophy has traveled with me for some time, I wasn't certain how it was actually translating to practice. This was a rather distressful discovery for me. What good was a spirit that ran along side my practice but wasn’t making its way into the work? Over the last several months I have been spending much time trying to cultivate anti-colonial narrative questions. I will share my initial attempts at an anti-colonial narrative practice by showing questions within practice stories."
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!