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

Janice L Gingerich

Janice L Gingerich

San Diego

California

Janice L Gingerich

San Diego

California

Life can bring difficult, unexpected, and emotionally daunting challenges to our relationships and personal mental health. I commend you for valuing your own well-being and interpersonal growth by considering therapy. I hope to support and empower you as a professional, but first as a caring human being, in the unique journey that brings you here today! - Janice Dr. Janice Gingerich is a Licens...

Regina R. Dickinson

Are you plagued with “if only?”: If only I had the patience to deal with my child’s tantrums. If only I had more time to be a good parent. If only I could explain to others about my child’s difficulties. If only I had support. The if only can be overwhelming when dealing with a child that seems different from others of his or her age group. Each child is special and unique. Allow me to guide yo...

Katie Ostrove

I am passionate about supporting people as they step into the role of their own witness so that they can enact their innate wisdom, which is separate from the problems that bring them to therapy. In my practice I provide a supportive, process-oriented environment that enables a collaborative uncovering of patterns that are keeping individuals and families stuck. My approach to therapy is...

Fran Giroux

Going through a tough transition, dealing with a relationship problem, or searching for a new direction? At New Leaf Therapy, my goal is to help you navigate these seasons of change and help you grow and thrive. I can assist you in finding new perspectives that will get you what you want from life, whether with your family, friends, significant other, or yourself. My therapeutic orientation is ...

Denise Martinez

I help couples, families, and teens who are struggling with trauma, addiction, and major life transitions and stressors. It is my pleasure to help you and your family maneuver the choppy waters of a stressful, chaotic life. I will help you reduce symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, manage emotions easier, and build self-acceptance, self-esteem, and self-confidence. I have experience helping...

April Grimes

Daytime appointments available. April Grimes, LCSW utilizes an eclectic and effective treatment modality pulling from DBT, CBT, Narrative Therapy, and Solution Focused Therapy, based on the unique needs of the client(s). I am open-minded, authentic, direct, and compassionate. I have extensive experience working with adolescents, LGBTQ youth and adults, couples, groups, and individuals experienc...
Meredith Ruden

Meredith Ruden

New York

New York

Meredith Ruden

New York

New York

I, as part of City Center Psychotherapy, am offering therapy via video or phone to support your emotional wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed or depressed? Dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or an unhealthy routine? Recovering from a traumatic experience (PTSD), or dealing with a life transition, physical illness or caregiver stress, ...

Julia Hankerson

These are stressful times that we are living in and I know that many worry and feel sad. Sometimes worrying and sadness may overwhelm you to the point that it’s difficult to participate in your normal activities or accomplish your daily activities or even have difficulty sleeping or getting up in the morning. Feeling like this often causes you even more worries or stress which often leads to...
Gregory S Phipps

Gregory S Phipps

Greensboro

North Carolina

Gregory S Phipps

Greensboro

North Carolina

*Accepting clients for online or face-to-face sessions* I serve and support individuals dealing with mental health concerns, developmental issues, and life transitions. I believe all individuals have inherent worth, seek meaning and purpose, and strive toward wanting to be their best in life. My job is to work with you and help you empower yourself to understand and enact these principles. I am...

David Swirnoff

My clients are adolescents, adults, and couples dealing with a wide range of psychological issues and life struggles, including depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, and life transitions. I work with men, women, and everyone on the margins and in-between to reclaim lives of dignity, commitment, and passion. I have been active in the mental health field for the last six years and have specialized...

Metamorphosis Counseling

CURRENTLY, I HAVE A WAITLIST; YOU MAY EMAIL TO BE ADDED. Creating emotional intelligence involves many things: understanding mood changes and why certain circumstances create anxiety; communicating better in relationships and expressing feelings more positively; building skills as a parent or understanding what it means to go from couple to family. If we are in transition, in gender or in life...