Exemplary tales

Case stories or teaching tales are widespread in every professional jurisdiction. They provide for something other than maps or manuals. They are primarily an oral literature that circulate in any profession from senior to junior, from peer to peer. They embody far more than the formalized and canonical 'rules and regulations' of manuals and the far more informal 'map' which proposes how you get from one place to another and what considerations you might have to keep in mind as you go. Case stories intend to do far more than either and perhaps can be best distinguished as providing the listener/reader with a sense of having been there.

Narrative therapy has depended heavily on the exemplary tale (otherwise known as the ‘case story’) as one of its most characteristic means by which its practice is told. Michael White had a mastery of such a form, and now David Epston continues in this tradition. In November 2015, we were delighted to welcome David, Sasha Pilkington & Kay Ingamells (Auckland), and Travis Heath (Denver) for a special two hour session of the Collab Salon about using case studies as pedagogy (Collab members can review this Past Salon here). This time, David was accompanied by his colleague Tom Carlson (North Dakota, USA) to share what they are learning from using exemplary tales as a pedagogy with Tom’s students (Sarah and Anna) at North Dakota State University. Sasha Pilkington & Kay Ingamells also joined us. This was such a lively and thought provoking Collab Salon!