Some of us are needing to prepare for death and grief at this time. Whether this relates to our own possible deaths or those of loved ones. We know that in some circumstances usual grieving rituals will not be…
In coming weeks and months in many different places, it will be impossible to conduct face-to-face therapy sessions or meetings. Many people are going to need to explore online counselling / meetings. So ... how are we going to be…
Many of us are spending a lot more time in our rooms/apartments/houses than we are used to! And so, it seems appropriate to 'exoticise the domestic' (to misuse a term by Pierre Bordeaux which Michael White drew on -…
On this page we have collected together some resources on creative forms of health promotion with respect to COVID-19. If you come across a resource or news story that would fit here we'd love you to send it through…
Inspired by Mehmet Dinc, from Turkey, a number of narrative practitioners have consulted children in their lives to create a guide for parents during lockdown. The first version can be downloaded here But we still welcome new contributions! …
We have included here: a report from India put together by Maya Sen about exploring ways of responding to violence against vulnerable children during lockdown a video about 'Worry Journaling' from family therapist Peter Fraenkel in New York City…
“We know that intimate partner/family violence increases during times of widespread social crisis. Existing violence might increase in severity, or it might be the first time that someone experiences harm. During the COVID-19 public health crisis, we are all…
From the early days of the pandemic, messages of care and solidarity have been shared between narrative practitioners of different countries. The first of these were sent from Australia to Chinese volunteers in early February. In late March, Chinese…
Lived wisdom on panic, worry and isolation: Stories to support the community amid the COVID-19 crisis, from mental health service users, survivors and ex-patients. Why This Document Exists Some of us were thinking during this period of global…
Video 1 Giriş (Introduction) Bu videoda Narrative Terapi ile nasıl tanıştığımı, sonrasında Türkiye Narrative Terapi Topluluğu olarak neler yaşadığımızı ve nihayet bu videoların ne amaçla hazırlandığını bulacaksınız. In this video, you will find how I met first with…
We want to stand with you: A bystander action project When we witness discrimination or harassment how can we respond? To the young women of the Muslim Women’s Association, Hi. We’re a group of young women - friends…
We would like to invite narrative practitioners into a project of sharing stories of how we are trying to avoid misgendering others. Misgendering — referring to someone by the pronouns or honorifics of a gender that is not theirs…
The Uluru Statement of the Heart ends with the words: ‘We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better…
Spirit of pride Here is a song, 'Spirit of Pride’ that represents the journey of making a new life in a new land: Spirit of the sea Part 9: Primary school knowledge— how we tackle problems
Click the thumbnails to see a large version of the images and a description: About the exhibition: A while ago, we heard a document created by young women at the Muslim Women’s Association of South Australia. It was called,…
In this video, Stay Strong Football Club offers some ideas about ways to come together after a fight, try not to fight with friends, and how to work towards good behaviour at any place. We hope these ideas are…
Denborough, D. (Ed.). (2006). Trauma: Narrative responses to traumatic experience. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications. Denborough, D. (2008). Collective narrative practice: Responding to individuals, groups, and communities who have experienced trauma. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications. Denborough, D. (2014).…
This project is based on narrative approaches to therapy, group work and community work. These approaches were initially developed by Australian, Michael White, and New Zealander, David Epston. Narrative therapy centres people as the experts in their own lives…
The following people and organisations made this project possible! All the young people whose ideas, skills, knowledge and stories are contained in these pages … and especially their determination to share what they know in order to assist others.…
The knowledge, ideas and stories of young people included in this encyclopedia were generated from small group discussions, often sparked by first sharing the ‘survival skills’ of another group of young people and asking for a response. In this…
This collection of stories and knowledge is still growing. We’ve only included a small sample here. There is an online site where you can read further stories from young people, see a virtual exhibit of artwork, watch video clips…
It seems appropriate to end this collection of stories and knowledge by looking to the future Not giving up on our goals by Chrakhan Fardi I was born in the cold of the snowy winter in Kurdistan, where there…
We are a group of young people living with disability who are passionate about making changes. Like anyone, sometimes we go through some pretty rough times. We’ve all had experiences of when people have said thoughtless or discriminatory things, or…
When a group of Syrian mothers heard these young people’s welcoming tips, they sent the following message: Hello, We are a group of Syrian mothers meeting at the Muslim Women’s Association here in Adelaide. Today we heard the letter…
We are a group of young Syrians who arrived in Adelaide 4-6 months ago. Some of us have already made many new friends here. Some of us are still looking for friends. And some of us are really missing…
We are young people from the Feast Queer Youth Drop In Space. We know quite a bit about journeys and migrations. There are some journeys we’ve already completed. Others that we are still on. Some we are just beginning…
[box] Thanks for visiting! Bystander Project— Coming Soon [/box]
Stories from young members of the Muslim Women’s Association of South Australia Sometimes other people make a difference. When they do, we remember. Friends as backup At school, my friends back me up. They say to me, ‘If anyone…
G’day, Tonight at the Feast Queer Youth Drop-in Space we heard some of the ways you try not to take people’s hate into your hearts. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. One of us smiled when we heard…
Hi. We’re a group of young Muslim women who live here in Adelaide. We’re interested in exchanging ideas and stories about ways of dealing with weird experiences like being stared at, being yelled at by random strangers driving…
There are 15 students at our small community school in Adelaide. Many of us have attended quite a few other schools before coming here. Some of us have moved homes a lot which means we change schools too, but…
Hi. We are young people living here in Adelaide, who came to Australia as refugees. Many of us have known times of great sorrow, or worry. Times when we have lost hope. Some of us have nearly drowned in…
In this section, young people share stories about the ways they got through some of the hardest times in their lives.We begin this section with tips on how young people have been able to overcome bullying, then we move…
Dear LeRoy, Tamzyn, Lakiesha, Isaac, Shakira, Kent, Allira, Jaliyah, Sophie and Tyrick, We are the Aboriginal AFL Academy at Port Adelaide Football Club. Thank you for writing to us! It was kind. Some of us read it three times.…
We begin with the youngest voices – primary school students who have some fantastic ideas about ways of tackling problems and how not to fight with friends. First let's hear from Aboriginal primary school students, followed by a message…
How we overcome bullying, survive the ocean of depression, try not to take people’s hate into our hearts, and much more!This ‘book of knowledge’ brings together important tips from young people about ways of tackling problems, overcoming bullying, surviving…
Transforming our national anthem There are many current initiatives to transform our national anthem. Hopefully, one day the peoples of this land will get to choose a new version (or versions!). We don't think it's up to us…
G’day Since 1994, ‘Australia Day’ has been a public holiday across the country, but this year Dulwich Centre will remain open. As we'll be working on the day, if you get stuck for something to do you can send…
In this Friday Afternoon video, Julie introduces cultural studies methodologies as conceptual and conversational resources that help us have meaningful and productive conversations about peoples' relationships with the commodities and practices of popular and media culture. The video provides a brief overview of cultural studies, questions for reflections, sample questions from the three domains of inquiry (political economy, textual analysis, and audience reception), and suggestions for further reading.
In this Friday Afternoon Video, Caca Wong presents an exploration on using art in narrative practice for children and youth to express their experience as well as acknowledging their skills and knowledge on facing ‘Anxiety’. Through the exercises of Art, they have chance to externalize and re-authoring their anxiety stories with hopes and dreams.
In this Friday Afternoon presentation, Chad shares some stories about his use of ceremony and ritual - what he calls Liturgical Practice - in therapy and introduces some of the thinkers and ideas that have informed this work.
This Friday Afternoon video presentation outlines the process and experiences that were co created in Melbourne in 2015 as narrative therapist Cyndi Darnell and a group of individuals met weekly for 15 weeks to apply the principles of group Narrative therapy within a sex and pleasure context.
In this Friday Afternoon video Marc talks about a Collective Narrative Practice project which involves exploring the Bicycle as its central metaphor. He will provide an overview of this collective practice methodology and share specific examples of how he has explored this metaphor with the use of ‘place-based’ narrative questioning practices within his own context.
This video explores the use of narrative documentation in work with people from refugee backgrounds, specifically in contexts of responding to trauma. Through the lens of narrative documentation, a number of narrative principles and practices are explored, including eliciting responses to trauma,…
In this Friday Afternoon video, Chris Tse presents an experience of collective narrative practice with young people with Asperger who experienced bullying in their lives. This project intends to connect young people together collectively.
Apart from swimming with her Border Collie and being a taxi for young people who live with her, Carolyn's working life is primarily with children. Having been taught by Michael White in the early 90's, Carolyn now practices Narrative…
In this Friday afternoon video we (Manja and Gipsy) share some snapshots from our 28 years of loving, living and working together in the intersections of age, sexuality and illness as non-biological mother and daughter in a Lesbian family.…
This Friday Afternoon, Narrative Practitioner Annette Dudley explains her project, 'Unspoken Words'; it is about writing letters to significant Elders who have influenced her on her life journey.
G’day! It’s amazing to think that the year is coming to a close. We’ve been so busy lately we haven’t had time to catch you up on all that’s been happening! Now’s our chance to do so and to thank you for your support and interest over the last year. You’ll find here links to new free resources, lots of news and announcements for next year!
In this Friday Afternoon video, Tileah Drahm-Butler aims to bring forth conversation on the ways that Narrative therapy can be used as a decolonising practice, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and skill in resistance is honoured and talked about in a therapy setting.
In this video, Viviane describes how she has been using a narrative framework to receive and document testimonies of trauma to support people to reclaim their lives from the effects of abuse and violence. She also shares a story…
This video explores the intersection of Critical Disability Theory with the principles of Narrative Practice. Norman Kunc & Emma Van der Klift are narrative practitioners who have disabilities; Norman has cerebral palsy and Emma is Autistic. In a conversation…
This video describes a narrative collective practice project in a community in Singapore that experiences financial difficulties and other complex issues. Conversations with the families set out to allow rich description of their experiences of 'Pocket Kering', or 'no money'.…
Loretta Pederson works with families in Western Sydney at a non-government organisation. She also works in private practice and is a member of the Dulwich Centre teaching faculty. In this video Loretta speaks about working with women who have…
Julie Tilsen is the author of the book 'Therapeutic conversations with queer youth: Transcending homonormativity and constructing preferred identities'. In the first part of this video, Julie discusses queer theory as a theoretical resource for therapeutic practice. Next, Julie…
This presentation entitled, 'Of drawers and coffee cups: Rescuing Relational Meaning from the Otherwise “Ordinary” Everyday Events of Life', is by Tom Stone Carlson and Amanda Haire. We're delighted to offer this video presentation from Tom and Amanda which…
G'day and welcome to this Friday afternoon video presentation from Dulwich Centre in which we invite you to join a project considering the challenges and possibilities in relation to narrative practices contributing to 'social movement'. I've also included various…
We're delighted to include here two videos from Reciclando Mentes/Recycling Minds (Brasil) and Romina Martínez/Marta Campillo (México) showcasing creative uses of the Team of Life Approach. Originally developed by David Denborough to assist colleagues in Uganda responding to former…
Leonie Simmons was born in Vietnam and adopted to an Australian family. This thoughtful and beautiful video describes her journey to return to Vietnam and her efforts to deconstruct taken-for-granted ideas about culture, identity, family and home. It will…
In this video presentation, David Newman describes the ways in which he is using living documents with young people in an inpatient ward. The documents he discusses will soon be collected and published in a special resource of young…
