November 20, 2022 Collab Salon: Improv Narrative: Saying “yes, and” in narrative therapy and social work across the globe

Elena Baskina (Moscow, Russia, New York & Moscow) is a co-founder and counseling psychologist at the Charity Foundation for Psychological support, «Будущее Сейчас». The Foundation embraces narrative practitioners committed to changing the way psychologists communicate and think of people who they are helping. The Foundation’s team implements and develops Narrative Practices in different context. Elena is teaching both the on-line and off-line courses on narrative therapy, An Introduction to Narrative Therapy, Principles and Skills for Collective Practices, Responding to Trauma. Her therapeutic practice involves working with women, who live with the effects of infertility, losing children and family members, traumatic experiences, anxiety and depression. Since 2010 Elena has run the support groups and developed collective narrative practices for various contexts.

Kitty Thatcher is an Australian who trained as a Clinical Psychologist in Systemic Therapy at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Chile where she was first introduced to narrative therapy ideas. Through a twist of fate, she went on to train in the fantastic narrative apprenticeship with Kay Ingamells, Tom Carlson and David Epston. She is also a fan of improvisation, having been warmly embraced by an improv community in Santiago called ‘Lospliemovil’. She found in improv a way of being and playing that saw ‘failures’ as simply opportunities to collectively think more creatively or cleverly about the next move. In this she thinks there are a lot of parallels with narrative therapy. She is excited about sharing what they learn with the wonderful Reauthoring Teaching community.