Narrative coaching

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · David B. Drake · 2015

What it is

Narrative coaching is a coaching model, not a psychotherapy. It was developed by David Drake, who founded the Center for Narrative Coaching & Design and is described as the founder of the field. The idea is that the stories people tell about themselves and their work carry both their difficulties…

Format

• Format.
• Used with individuals and with groups.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Overall shape. The model has four phases: Situate → Search → Shift → Sustain. In the book they are drawn as four quadrants with a spiral at the centre, to show that the work is dynamic and circles back rather than running in a straight line. Drake also calls this the "Narrative Spiral": a frame for…

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 intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• 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

• your own theory leaking into reflections.
• disclosure pressure in work groups, and confidentiality across hierarchy.
• do not attribute any wording to Drake's tools that you have not read in his text.
• experiments that turn into performance targets. Treat a "failed" experiment as data.
• over-reliance on the coach. Increasingly hand the support over to the client's own network.

Problems the guide addresses

• Stuck client: the same story every session
• Resistance: "Just give me a goal and an action plan"
• Overwhelm, flooding or dissociation while telling a story
• Non-adherence: experiments not done
• Ruptures and collusion
• Difficulties specific to this model
• The coaching–psychotherapy boundary as the coaching bodies and Drake state it
• Concrete signs that a coachee needs referral to clinical care
• How to refer
• Emergencies

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.