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

Ashante Taylorcox

*ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS* Hi, I’m Ashante! I am a licensed associate counselor who is passionate about serving children, teens, adults and families who have experienced trauma in the South Jersey area. My work with clients is rooted in the belief that everyone has the potential for greatness; given a safe, supportive environment, and a compassionate, empathetic relationship to learn from. I want ...

Kiersten Farrell

I am a Resident in Counseling approved by the Virginia Board of Counseling working towards Licensure. I am currently under the supervision of Marla Peyser, LPC. I am also a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor. I have worked in outpatient, hospital, and college settings with teens, young adults, and adults. I have worked with individuals experiencing substance use, abuse struggles, trauma, stres...

Emily Joseph

Hello and welcome! Congratulations on taking your first step to living the life you want. I am a licensed clinical social worker with almost 10 years of experience working with adults, children, and families. I am here to help you achieve your goals using a strengths-based and goal oriented approach. I am here to listen and empathize while providing you with guidance to achieve the goals that a...

Felicia Luz Pope

If you are looking for someone who is caring and compassionate and laid back I am who you are looking for. If you are struggling with anxiety and depression or self harm tendencies I would like to work with you to help teach some coping skills and use a empathetic approach to help you to start feeling better about yourself. I work best with adults and teens but also work with children. I enjoy...

Integrative Well-Being

Recognizing the diversity of human experience, I have sought comprehensive and multicultural clinical experiences. My interest in holistic health has led to a wide breadth of professional experiences throughout the United States and abroad. I have served in numerous settings including in a forensic clinic, a refugee shelter, a university counseling center, with homeless veterans, and in general...

Leslie Gura

Are you stuck with in a narrative you didn't count on? It may be causing emotional or physical pain, weariness and hopelessness. But narratives are only one piece of a person's overall story. As a lifelong writer and editor, I found once I entered the clinical mental health counseling profession that narrative therapy is a unique way to help people recognize the dominant narrative in their live...
Jocelyn Ivy

Jocelyn Ivy

Knoxville

Tennessee

Jocelyn Ivy

Knoxville

Tennessee

I have always been interested in understanding the world from other people's points of view. I realize that every person sees the world from their own unique perspective and that we are all shaped by the lives we have lived and how we chose to tell our stories. Sometimes we experience things in life that we don't know how to handle on our own--or that we would like to handle differently. It is...

Marla R Elliott

As your therapist I am not only a guide to help you gain insight about the challenges you are facing, I am here to walk beside you as we explore solutions & build a plan of action. When trouble arises, the emotions can be overwhelming & chaotic. It may be difficult to sort out your feelings & make decisions. When your child is the one suffering or acting out, solutions can seem impossible. I am...

Virginia R Nielsen

Therapy and case management is a collaborative process between the therapist and the client. As a counselor, I will be using an integrative approach incorporating many techniques from different theoretical approaches and using Narrative therapy, Art therapy, behavioral therapy, and person-centered therapy. Each client will be treated differently, ensuring that his or her goals incorporated into...

Gentle Force Counseling Services

These days, there is pervasive anxiety about many things. Certainly, at present, the pandemic leaves us uncertain, depressed, confused and fearful. When the pandemic passes, which it inevitably will, what will your “return to normal” actually mean in terms of moving forward? We can help you formulate a plan for a grounded, fulfilling, positive life, step-by-step.  Our goal-based structured ther...
Kristina Andaya

Kristina Andaya

Las Vegas

Nevada

Kristina Andaya

Las Vegas

Nevada

*Accepting New Clients** I am a Trauma informed therapist who helps individuals and couples overcome past trauma in order to alliviate anxiety, pain and depression. I work with individuals who are experiencing significant relationship issues, including but not limited to life changes in the relationship, divorce, and infideltiy. What if there was a way to reduce chronic symptoms, have a greater...

Elizabeth Vital-Gragnani

I believe that the world is a beautifully complex, and yet sometimes concerning place. Within our human connections we are able to lighten the load and free ourselves from the burdens we carry. I offer compassionate and individually designed sessions. My approach is strengths based and garnered to find hope and inspiration. In my work I also incorporate theoretical perspectives such as expressi...

Karen Mittet

Narrative therapy is committed to a relational and contextual view of people and their problems. It explores the social or cultural implications that may be responsible for problems taking control over a person's life. Narrative therapy seeks alternative avenues for people to stand up to their problems instead of being defined by them. Through skilled therapeutic questioning, rich dialogue flow...
Becca Bradley

Becca Bradley

Brooklyn

New York

Becca Bradley

Brooklyn

New York

I am right here and ready to move through this with you. Whether you are in transition, longing for peace of mind & body, grieving, suffering, stuck, overwhelmed, navigating a relationship, transforming, growing or just maintaining; I want to meet you there. Together we will lean in toward a deeper understanding of you, celebrate your strengths, and build skills that will support fulfillment an...
Alice Leaf

Alice Leaf

Chicago

Illinois

Alice Leaf

Chicago

Illinois

We have all experienced various levels of loss, harm or violation in our lives and this will have an effect on us. Are you experiencing disordered eating; unwanted sexual behavior; depression, anxiety, anger or turning to substances for relief? Often people feel a pain inside they are unable to understand or articulate. Perhaps you're frustrated and beginning to feel hopeless or helpless to...