I am a clinical and counselling psychologist and a BABCP fully accredited CBT therapist who specialises in all kinds of trauma as well as a variety of common mental health conditions. I have always been interested in story telling and the way writing can help us construct and re-construct reality.
The process of writing can be different to oral narration, and we can gain helpful insights and be surprised by what comes from under our pen or when typing on a digital screen. I often integrate elements of narrative work (when appropriate or requested) and I find it can really enhance our work. In trauma work, in particular, telling own story and updating it with new information can be incredibly powerful aid in the healing process.
About me as a Narrative therapist
How can Narrative Therapy be helpful to you?
This type of therapy is known as involving ‘re-authoring’ or ‘re-storying’ conversations. As these descriptions suggest, stories are central to an understanding of narrative ways of working and narrative therapy puts an emphasis on the stories that an individual develops and carries through life. As we experience events and interactions, we give meaning to those experiences and they, in turn, influence how we see ourselves and the world. Each of us can carry multiple stories at once, such as those related to your self-esteem, abilities, relationships, and work and we can work on re-scripting these stories.
Narrative therapy helps people separate themselves from the problem by externalising it. In the process we are able to become (and embrace being) experts in our own lives. It relies on the individual’s own skills and sense of purpose to guide them through difficult times. Developed in the 1980s by New Zealand-based therapists Michael White and David Epston, narrative therapy seeks to have an empowering effect and support is offered in respectful, non-blaming and non-pathological way.