What is Narrative Therapy?

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Narrative Therapy utilizes storytelling to engage people in therapy. People’s lives are a collection of stories. When you stop to examine these stories, you can pay closer attention to key characters, themes, symbols, and, ultimately, make meaning of your life experiences.

Narrative Therapy’s goal is to empower people by identifying how your experiences, or your stories, shape who you are as a person.

Counselors use Narrative Therapy for individual, couples, children’s, or group counseling. It can benefit individuals with various mental health concerns, including depressive disorders and anxiety. Counselors also use it to help children develop empathy and social skills.

Your therapist will use various techniques during counseling. They might ask you to begin by telling your story. Your story includes your life experiences and your perspective on how these experiences shaped you. By examining your life story, you and your counselor might work to identify important characters, symbols, and themes present within your narrative.

Narrative Therapy also uses externalization to help people, which is when you view your life as an outsider. This approach can help you develop a different perspective on your life’s story and experiences.

Your therapist might also use alternate narratives, or deconstruction, to help you identify ways you want to change your story. Imagining different outcomes can be a helpful way to think about the future and highlight ways you want to change.

Therapists Who Specialize in Using Narrative Therapy

Joshua Werblin, MD

Jacksonville

Florida

I offer an evidence-based medical practice that considers contemporary research and recent study trends. I adhere to the strict standards of care outlined by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. While every effort is made to minimize polypharmacy, the goal of treatment is your well-being and mental health, not a number, a dose, or a ...

Dustin Kegeris, RMHCI

Orlando

Florida

Dustin believes that every person can experience healing and hope. He creates a non-judgmental, safe environment where his clients feel welcomed, seen, and heard. Dustin enjoys working with individuals in all seasons of life from adolescence to the empty nest. Dustin has helped individuals walk through grief, trauma, major life transitions, spiritual issues, and those struggling in their vocation.
Sydney believes everyone has a story worth telling and is worthy of a safe space to share. She is passionate about working with children, teenagers and young adults and seeing them grow. Whether you are looking for support for yourself or your child/ teenager Sydney encourages you to take that first step of courage and reach out!

Madeline Allen, RMHCI

Orlando

Florida

Madeline is a Registered Mental Health Counseling Intern who currently specializes in working with individuals who may be experiencing anxiety, depression, infertility, attachment issues, life transitions, spiritual burnout or abuse, family-of-origin issues, and complex trauma.

Lauren Spencer, LMHC

Lakeland

Florida

Come in and settle into the healing power that is growth and wholeness. In counseling, I get the privilege of watching my clients transform in ways they never would have thought possible. Whether you feel stuck or broken, you are struggling with something specific or not so specific, we will work together to get you to a place of peace.