Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is a style of therapy that can help you become - and embrace being - an expert in you own life. In narrative therapy, there is an emphasis on the stories that you develop and carry with you through your life. As you experience events and interactions, you give meaning to those experiences and they, in turn, influence how you see yourself and the world. You can carry multiple stories at once, such as those related to your self-esteem, abilities, relationships, and work. Narrativ

The story of who we are and what our life is and means has a significant impact on how we feel and experience the world. Unfortunately, so many of the stories told by the larger culture have negative impact on our mental health and well-being. I seek to unpack the stories to push back against oppressive dominant narratives that are unhealthy and unhelpful to create new stories that bring joy, freedom, and comfort and allow one to live fuller and truer life.

Society, our families of origin, and negative relationships can create narratives that people can inadvertently retain as self-talk and otherwise truth. Narrative therapy helps to look at other ways people can write the stories of their lives -- those they tell themselves and share with others. There are fun insightful and empowering activities (not all written) to encourage people to see their strengths and positive experiences in life, so they can make decisions to lead the lives they desire.

I often utilize narrative based approaches to help the client distance themselves from the problem and re-write their life history with empowerment and understanding.

Narrative therapy is like rewriting the movie of your life where you stop being the awkward sidekick and become the epic main character. We’ll dig into your story, find the plot holes, and kick out those unhelpful narrators saying, “You’re not good enough.” Then, we’ll rewrite it with YOU as the hero, complete with triumphs, growth, and maybe even a killer soundtrack. It’s all about owning your story and making it one you’re proud to star in—no cheesy plot twists allowed!

I encounter most concepts in life through a narrative lens and this has informed my work and study. I have pursued various opportunities to work under and research various Narrative Therapy practitioners and techniques. It is a goal of mine to continue to do this moving forward.

Narrative Therapy is a helpful tool for individuals, couples, and families seeking to better understand their life experiences and how the past informs the current moment.

Rather than playing the expert and objectively prescribing client’s motives, needs, drives, ego strengths, or personality characteristics; I value and respect differences between myself and my clients/families; I aim to collaborate with patients giving what they have to say equal privilege, and helping them to consider alternative stories. I help my clients identify their own strengths and wisdom to make positive change, and treatment is always customized to meet their unique needs.

Narrative Therapy allows room for the client's full life in the therapy room. Narrative therapy realizes that the client is the expert on their own life, and it is the therapists job to ask good questions that help thicken the story line and increase the client's own agency. Narrative therapy was my introduction to trauma therapy and I weave the principels of it into all the work I do.

Engaged in narrative therapy training, facilitating experiential groups, and working towards certification.

Narrative Therapy is my personal favorite!!! I find such passion in stories and exploring the narratives that we tell about ourselves. The power of storytelling is innate in humanness and harnessing that power to drive change and healing is transformational.

Narrative ideas include the externalization of problems such that one can see oneself and one's values as separate from the problem, letting go of ideas like "I am an anxious person," and shifting to "I am actually from anxiety's influences at specific times and it impacts my life in these specific ways... Therefore, I am able to get the upper hand on it when it is harassing me." Dominant ideas that are oppressive can be deconstructed and we can come out from under Normal's damaging gaze.

Narrative therapy is effective at helping clients who have experienced trauma. Mild traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a condition that affects people who have been exposed to a severe or life-threatening event. Narrative therapy helps clients to process their experiences and work through the trauma they've faced. It uses storytelling as a way to heal, which allows the client to use their own voice and create meaning from their experience.

My graduate training is primarily in narrative therapy, and my approach is to engage in self-exploration by taking an outside, curious perspective of ourselves and our stories, gain greater insight into the events that have shaped us, enrich our stories by recognizing our resilience, and use that knowledge and perspective to better define what we would like our futures to be.

Narrative therapy is sometimes called "post-modern" because rather than defining a problem as a deficit in you, it intentionally gives you permission to "author" you own stories. The problem isn't you. The problem is just the problem. This lets your view of the problem evolve naturally. Something that starts out as a problem in your mind might turn out to be a wounded ally, a tool, a battle scar, a part of you that you love, or even still a problem. You control the story.

Individual people and communities of all sizes understand their identity and purpose via the stories they tell. Narrative theory is about unpacking the stories we tell about ourselves and where they come from, societal stories, family stories, community stories. It's about actively choosing what stories we want to tell in the future. My practice of narrative therapy is informed by the work of Black feminists like The Combahee River Collective, Octavia Butler, and Toni Morrison.

To me, being a narrative therapist means that I take a non-judgmental, expansive view of my clients' lives. The stories we tell ourselves or the stories that others tell us end up shaping our reality. When I work with my clients, I listen for harmful narratives or beliefs that are causing them pain. I believe that much of our pain has been put upon us by harmful narratives (from families, relationships, or society). I also believe in the potential of anyone to create the life they dream of.

My personal journey in therapy has been within this modality since 2017 and I've been in love with the framework since! I honor storytelling as one of the most ancient forms of healing, memory, remembrance and community care. Narrative therapy helps me center the Native origins of so many of the healing practices we use as therapists.