Narrative therapy

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Michael White, David Epston · 1980 · Adelaide, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand

What it is

Narrative therapy was developed by Michael White (Dulwich Centre, Adelaide, Australia) and David Epston (Auckland, New Zealand) during the 1980s. Their joint book appeared in 1990. It is a set of conversational practices ("maps"), not a manualised protocol. Its idea of change: people live by the…

Format

• Narrative practice has no fixed phases, session count or protocol. The Dulwich materials describe the maps as guides, not fixed scripts, and say they can be used in a non-linear way. Carr (1999) presents the practices as a set, not a sequence. Neither source opened gives a typical number of…
• Format. Individual, couple, family (White's work with children and families is a hallmark), group and community settings. Collective formats include Tree of Life groups and outsider-witness teams. Letters are usually sent after each session and read at the start of the next.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: Michael White's "maps" as taught by Dulwich Centre (Adelaide), based on White (2007) Maps of Narrative Practice and White and Epston (1990) Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, plus Epston-tradition letter writing (McAllum Pilkington 2018) and the Dulwich collective Tree of Life method (Ncube and Denborough). The 2007 book itself is not drawn on; its maps are described from Dulwich training…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Polite agreement. Invite real disagreement.
• Notes becoming a barrier. Put the pen down when emotion runs high.
• Cheerleading or praising. Let the person decide whether it is significant.
• Lecturing about social theory. It is working when the person separates their own preferences from imported norms.
• Pressure to contribute. Make clear it is optional. It is working when the person speaks of their knowledge with pride.

Problems the guide addresses

• Stuck: the conversation keeps returning to the problem
• Despair, hopelessness and suicide risk
• Overwhelm or dissociation during trauma-related talk
• The person rejects externalising or the name doesn't fit
• Ruptures: feeling unheard, pushed, or "positive-spun"
• Violence, abuse and responsibility (modality-specific)
• "Non-adherence" and passive involvement
• Mandated, reluctant or silent clients
• Service constraints: diagnosis, files and risk documentation
• Cultural fit and collective contexts

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.