Telling Tales to End Wails: Narrative Therapy Techniques and Rehabilitation Counselling

Abstract

Therapeutic intervention usually begins with a detailed description of the presenting problem and its antecedent history. Through the process of communicating their problem the client presents a story, potentially laden with their experiences, attitudes, beliefs and understandings. The topic and manner in which a story is relayed provides direct and indirect sources of information that help the therapist to both understand the client's problem and formulate goals and approaches to therapy. Rather than simply using the client's story as a guide to understanding and treatment, narrative therapy focuses on the client's story or ‘narrative’ as a medium through which change can be effected. During the process of narrative therapy the client is encouraged to deconstruct and critically appraise their story in the search for new meanings (White & Epston, 1990). The client is encouraged to retell their story with new language and new insights. Thus, the implementation of narrative therapy may be construed as a natural extension of taking the client's problem history, where the story told serves as the content foundation for the therapeutic process. The purpose of the present article is to provide a brief overview of narrative therapy techniques and their application in counselling.