International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Read more about the article Spiritual care chaplaincy as joining with people in the “betwixt and between” and beyond: Meegan’s story with a big-ass mirror — Jesse Size
Sand Verbena glow with late afternoon light in the desert of Californian at Anza Borrego State Park. CA
2025 / 2025: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2025:1)

Spiritual care chaplaincy as joining with people in the “betwixt and between” and beyond: Meegan’s story with a big-ass mirror — Jesse Size

Spiritual care in a hospital setting regularly involves joining with people in the “betwixt and between” of life. This paper considers Michael White’s (2016) rite of passage metaphor and the way that it supports double-story development by acknowledging the difficulties people experience while also recognising that a hospital admission can include the possibility that one might arrive at a new place.

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March 14, 2025
Read more about the article A narrative therapy approach to supervision and critical reflection: A conversation card resource — Ash Husband
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2025 / 2025: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2025:1)

A narrative therapy approach to supervision and critical reflection: A conversation card resource — Ash Husband

In this paper I explore a narrative therapy approach to supervision and critical reflection and present the “Reflective Conversation Cards”, a resource to support practice reflection. The cards guide conversation partners through a series of reflective questions informed by narrative ideas, aiming to democratise access to narrative therapy supervision. I present four stories from practice, which show how the cards were developed in collaboration with other practitioners. The practice stories also show how the cards can be utilised by individuals and groups in diverse practice contexts and with practitioners of varied professional backgrounds. Importantly, the practice stories show how the cards can support collaborative conversations that incorporate an ethic of accountability to the people we work alongside.

4 Comments
March 14, 2025
Read more about the article Healing narratives: A journey of transformation and renewal — Mercy Shumbamhini
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2025 / 2025: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2025:1)

Healing narratives: A journey of transformation and renewal — Mercy Shumbamhini

This article shares a narrative journey with a young man grappling with the effects of problematic substance use. Substance use had disrupted his dreams of becoming a medical doctor, keeping him out of university for a year. I embarked on a transformative journey with the young man and his family, guided by ideas and practices of narrative pastoral therapy. This narrative journey was non-blaming, collaborative, participatory, inclusive and contextual. The family and I wove a new tapestry telling a story of healing, transformation and renewal.

4 Comments
March 14, 2025
Read more about the article Double story development in contexts where injustice is ongoing: Learnings from practice — Maya Sen
Aerial view showing a lake surrounded by rugged landscape seen from top of the Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, Australia.
2025 / 2025: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2025:1)

Double story development in contexts where injustice is ongoing: Learnings from practice — Maya Sen

This paper explores challenges posed to double–story development in situations of ongoing injustice. Located within the Indian context, it proposes various narrative practices to address these challenges and facilitate re-authoring. The paper examines two key practices: contextualising stories and narrative explorations of the body. Additionally, it demonstrates how different narrative maps – externalising, deconstruction, re-authoring, re–membering and body-based narrative practices – can be interwoven to respond.

1 Comment
March 14, 2025
Read more about the article Fire conversations: Ways narrative practices can intersect with an inclusive spiritual care approach — Katrina Power and Jesse Size
Golden acorn banksia in Australia
2025 / 2025: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2025:1)

Fire conversations: Ways narrative practices can intersect with an inclusive spiritual care approach — Katrina Power and Jesse Size

This paper considers the ways that narrative practices can intersect with and add richly to a meaningful and inclusive spiritual care approach. In this paper, Aunty Katrina, a Kaurna Elder, and Jesse, a spiritual care chaplain, reflect on conversations together in a hospital setting and what helped to make these occasions of mutual respect and blessing.

2 Comments
March 14, 2025
Read more about the article Poststructuralism and therapy: what’s it all about — Leonie Simmons
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / Audio (2024:2) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Poststructuralism and therapy: what’s it all about — Leonie Simmons

In this audio recording of a favourite paper from the journal’s archives, a team from Dulwich Centre, coordinated by Leonie Simmons, offers answers to frequently asked questions about poststructuralism and therapy. Narrative therapy is influenced by poststructuralist ideas and yet, for many of us, it can be quite a challenge to understand what poststructuralism is and what it might mean for our practice as therapists. This brief piece sets out structuralist and poststructuralist ways of seeing the world and how they have shaped therapeutic approaches.

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September 5, 2024
Read more about the article “Still standing”: Armenian revivalism and narrative practice – a story of a unique initiative — Ani Margaryan, Sara Portnoy and Heghine Poghosyan
native Australian wattle tree in full bloom featuring the typical round yellow flowers, the plant is also symbol of the country
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Multimedia (2024:2)

“Still standing”: Armenian revivalism and narrative practice – a story of a unique initiative — Ani Margaryan, Sara Portnoy and Heghine Poghosyan

Having faced wars, genocide, dispossession and natural disaster, the Armenian people have a long history of finding ways to survive, drawing on history and spiritual values.

1 Comment
September 5, 2024
Read more about the article 使用神兽隐喻进行叙事实践 在中国文化背景中 Using traditional Chinese mythical animals — Wenjia Li
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Video (2024:2)

使用神兽隐喻进行叙事实践 在中国文化背景中 Using traditional Chinese mythical animals — Wenjia Li

Metaphors invite imagination and suggest possibilities for developing multiple stories in narrative practice. Using familiar elements of the local culture as metaphors can contribute to resonant conversations. In this video, Wenjia describes how she has explored the use of traditional Chinese mythical animals as metaphors in narrative practice within the context of Chinese culture. Dominant discourses in psychology often emphasise the individual and their boundaries, which may bring about a sense of alienation for people in distress.

1 Comment
September 5, 2024
Read more about the article Response to “Re-authoring identity conclusions in borderline personality disorder” — Tiffany Sostar
Albany Banksia - Banksia coccinea also scarlet, waratah or Albany banksia, erect shrub or small tree in Proteaceae in south west coast of Western Australia, red blossom in the green bush
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Response to “Re-authoring identity conclusions in borderline personality disorder” — Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany Sostar is a narrative therapist and community worker living on Treaty 7 land (in Calgary, Alberta, Canada), and is part of the BPD Superpowers group. Here, Tiffany offers a response to Alicia Bruzek’s paper “Re-authoring identity conclusions in borderline personality disorder”, which is published in this issue of the journal.

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September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Re-authoring identity conclusions in borderline personality disorder — Alicia Bruzek
isopogon candy cone native western australian plant with bright pink flowers and yellow tips
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Re-authoring identity conclusions in borderline personality disorder — Alicia Bruzek

This paper describes the use of narrative therapy with people who had been given a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. In a context of significant stigma against persons with this diagnosis, perpetuated both within and beyond mental health systems, this paper shows how concepts of identity developed in narrative therapy were used to resist totalising identity conclusions and uncover possibilities for hope.

1 Comment
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Response to “Body as A Picture Book: A tool for narrative conversations inspired by tattoos” by Paul Graham — Jacob Tumanako
Luftaufnahme vom Sonnenaufgang im Outback bei Alice Springs im Northern Territory Australien
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Response to “Body as A Picture Book: A tool for narrative conversations inspired by tattoos” by Paul Graham — Jacob Tumanako

Jacob Tumanako works with young people, families and communities intersecting with the criminal justice system. He is also a Māori man with tattoos or tā moko. Here, Jacob offers a response to Paul Graham’s paper “Body as A Picture Book: A tool for narrative conversations inspired by tattoos”, which is published in this issue of the journal.

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September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Body as a picture book — Paul Graham
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Body as a picture book — Paul Graham

This article introduces a tool for narrative therapy conversations with young people using tattoos as a point of entry. It is inspired by trauma-informed tattooing and discusses how elements of narrative practice can be adjusted to use in conversations about tattoos, whether real or imagined. Narrative practices of externalising, re-authoring, re-membering, the absent but implicit and outsider witnessing are demonstrated. By using a template that invites the person to imagine tattoos or body paint, conversations about tattoos are made available to people who have not been tattooed themselves, including young people.

1 Comment
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article The Read Everything Michael White Published Project — Will Sherwin
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2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

The Read Everything Michael White Published Project — Will Sherwin

This paper tells the history of The Read Everything Michael White Published Project, in which I read all the works available to me that were published by Michael White, the co-originator of narrative therapy. I describe the reading project’s conception, its effects on my work, some practices that Michael White believed were useful for therapists, tips for others considering a reading project of their own, and new initiatives this project was generative of in my work.

3 Comments
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article We are a spider’s web: Friendship in times of mental health crisis — Frankie Hanman-Siegersma
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

We are a spider’s web: Friendship in times of mental health crisis — Frankie Hanman-Siegersma

Community responses to those experiencing mental health crisis and distress are important. However, in Australia and many other colonised countries, responses to distress have become highly medicalised, punitive, individual and privatised. Exploring friendship responses to mental health crisis may increase the possibilities for building on community connectedness and local support networks. The work described in this paper aimed to make visible the acts of care, solidarity, friendship and mutuality that friends and members of the community have taken up in response to someone close to them experiencing distress. The work was guided by intentional peer support and narrative practices including re-authoring, collective documentation and outsider witnessing.

1 Comment
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article When grief arrives — Anne-lise Ah-Fat
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

When grief arrives — Anne-lise Ah-Fat

When Grief Arrives is a narrative therapy and oral history project aimed at re-storying narratives of grief and loss within queer, trans and Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities. The project documents multi-storied accounts of grief that resist the individualisation and isolation of grieving that is common under settler colonialism and capitalism. By honouring overlooked landscapes of experience, the project seeks to generate solidarity and interconnection through shared knowledges. This article discusses the project’s methodology, ethical considerations, and the transformative potential of collective storytelling in fostering solidarity and healing within marginalised communities.

1 Comment
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Delusions: Seeking epistemic justice for the most unusual of stories — Hamilton Kennedy
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Delusions: Seeking epistemic justice for the most unusual of stories — Hamilton Kennedy

The label of delusion can be so powerful that people so labelled are no longer believed or supported in preferred ways by those around them. This leads to a lack of meaningful and non-pathologising support for their significant, and at times unusual, beliefs. This phenomenon constitutes a form of epistemic injustice. To address this issue, this paper outlines specific approaches practitioners can adopt to better respond to such beliefs, illustrating these strategies with real-world examples from practice. By doing so, it aims to foster a form of epistemic justice that respects the knowledge and experience of people labelled as delusional and supports them to understand and lessen the impact of these often-distressing experiences. This paper is informed by research undertaken with people who had been labelled by psychiatry as “delusional”.

1 Comment
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Existimos y resistimos como retazos u nidos: Prácticas narrativas colectivas en contexto activista: Desafíos y respu estas frente a u n crimen por lesbo-odio — Yasna Mancilla Monsalve
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

Existimos y resistimos como retazos u nidos: Prácticas narrativas colectivas en contexto activista: Desafíos y respu estas frente a u n crimen por lesbo-odio — Yasna Mancilla Monsalve

Este artículo ilustra un proceso de trabajo metafórico y participativo en el cual un grupo de activistas feministas, lesbo-feministas y disidentes nos reunimos para responder terapéuticamente a los efectos del lesbo-odio. El contexto terapéutico se creó progresivamente, junto al despliegue de un conjunto de metáforas relacionadas con el arte textil, inspiradas en las conversaciones de reautoría propuestas por Michael White.

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September 3, 2024
Read more about the article We exist and resist as woven patches: Collective narrative practices in an activist context challenging and responding to an anti-lesbian hate crime — Yasna Mancilla Monsalve
Australian wattle background, Winter and spring yellow wildflowers, Acacia fimbriata commonly known as the Fringed Wattle or Brisbane Golden Wattle
2024 / 2024: Issue 2 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2024:2)

We exist and resist as woven patches: Collective narrative practices in an activist context challenging and responding to an anti-lesbian hate crime — Yasna Mancilla Monsalve

This article describes a participatory process in which a group of feminist, lesbian feminist and dissident activists came together to respond therapeutically to the impacts of anti-lesbian hatred. The therapeutic context was created gradually, together with the deployment of a set of metaphors related to textile art, inspired by the re-authoring conversations proposed by Michael White.

2 Comments
September 3, 2024
Read more about the article Caring for trans community – Tiffany Sostar
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2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / Audio (2024- Issue 1) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Caring for trans community – Tiffany Sostar

This audio practice note and the collective document it describes are part of “narrative projects in support of trans lives”, and are the first to be published in this collection of work. Not to fix anything, but just to offer a millimetre of relief or breath or humour or companionship": A collective document about caring for trans community brings together many stories of care within and with trans community. Our hope is that this document will help connect readers to a sense of community and collective action, and will invite readers, regardless of gender identity, to join us in taking actions of care within a social context that is increasingly hostile to trans lives. These stories, reflection questions, and invitations describe and welcome a wide range of care, including small, personal, and beautifully imperfect actions taken by and alongside trans community.

2 Comments
March 18, 2024
Read more about the article Standing upright against trauma and hardship: Checklists of innovative moments of social and psychological resistance – Muhammed Furkan Cinisli
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2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

Standing upright against trauma and hardship: Checklists of innovative moments of social and psychological resistance – Muhammed Furkan Cinisli

Trauma represents a profound and emotionally intense experience within the human condition. Beyond its evident impacts on both the physiological and psychological dimensions of an individual, this complex phenomenon encapsulates moments of resistance and strength in the face of adversity. From a narrative standpoint, individuals invariably manifest unique responses to trauma, which necessitate a close and nuanced examination for recognition and comprehension. This article proposes a framework for the systematic collection and organisation of diverse responses to trauma through a checklist of innovative moments of social and psychological resistance, contributing to a greater comprehension of this intricate phenomenon.

2 Comments
March 18, 2024
Read more about the article Narrative therapy, Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese medicine: An interview with Ming Li, Mandarin translation read by Ming Li and Qianyun Yang
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2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / Audio (2024- Issue 1) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Narrative therapy, Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese medicine: An interview with Ming Li, Mandarin translation read by Ming Li and Qianyun Yang

In this audio translation of a paper from the journal’s archives, David Denborough interviews Ming Li, a narrative practitioner in Beijing, China, with an interest in the resonances he sees between some narrative ideas and practices, and those of Buddhism, Taoism and other aspects of Chinese culture, history and medicine. Ming draws on multiple domains of knowledge and experience to describe some of the congruencies and points of difference he has noticed, and to explain what draws him to using a narrative practice approach in his own context.

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March 16, 2024
Read more about the article “It’s a sausage, not a scone”: A recipe for getting through hard times in response to the suicide of a loved one – Beth and Ben Shannahan
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2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Songs

“It’s a sausage, not a scone”: A recipe for getting through hard times in response to the suicide of a loved one – Beth and Ben Shannahan

Ben Shannahan began meeting with Beth and her family soon after Beth’s older sister Amberly ended her own life. Their conversations lead to Beth writing a song in honour of Amberly. Here, Beth and Ben share the song along with the story of how it was written and eventually performed to family members and friends.

9 Comments
March 16, 2024
Read more about the article Games and narrative practice by Noor Kulow
Australian eucalyptus or gum tree leaves in the afternoon sunlight.
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / video

Games and narrative practice by Noor Kulow

In this presentation to the International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference in Rwanda, Noor Kulow introduces a range of narrative practices that have been used with children in Somalia who have lost their biological parents early in life. Externalising conversations, the Team of Life approach and traditional children’s games are used to respond to stigma, reconnect children with their hopes and dreams, and respond to trauma and hardship. Movement-based activities like leapfrog and jumping, and traditional games like girir and jar, provide entry points to therapeutic conversations.

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March 16, 2024
Read more about the article Feminist insider research by Marnie Sather
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / video

Feminist insider research by Marnie Sather

In this presentation, made at the launch of the Narrative Practice Research Network, Marnie Sather introduces some of the possibilities and complexities of feminist insider research. Drawing on her experience of completing doctoral research with women who had lost a male partner to suicide, Marnie sets out some of the options for positioning the researcher in insider research – from not disclosing insider status to placing it as the centre – and describes how she came to a position of careful utilisation of her own experience in the research process and in the writing of her thesis.

1 Comment
March 16, 2024
Read more about the article How we deal with Autistic burnout by KJ Wiseheart
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / video

How we deal with Autistic burnout by KJ Wiseheart

In this video, KJ introduces the accompanying collective document “How we deal with Autistic burnout: A living document created by Autistic adults for Autistic adults”. This document was created through a series of interviews with lived experience experts who generously shared their skills and hard-won knowledges. KJ describes the process of creating this document, and how they endeavoured to adapt and localise existing practices of collective documentation, for accessibility and cultural resonance with Autistic community values and ways of being.

3 Comments
March 16, 2024
Read more about the article A search for justice using AI-assisted image creation — Lucy Van Sambeek
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

A search for justice using AI-assisted image creation — Lucy Van Sambeek

As artificial intelligence becomes pervasive, therapists might be left wondering about its implications for narrative practice. This paper explores an unexpected discovery about the power of artificial intelligence in re-imagining a story of injustice. Lucy (the therapist) and Miles (the client) used an AI image creator to assist in the externalisation of problems.

1 Comment
March 15, 2024
Read more about the article Imagination and metaphor in narrative therapy and collective practice — John Stubley
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

Imagination and metaphor in narrative therapy and collective practice — John Stubley

In this paper I explore the use of metaphors in the creation of externalised problem narratives for individuals and larger collectives, as well as in the creation of preferred alternative narratives. Through practice examples, I relate some of the ways in which I have been working with imagination and metaphor in my own context in Western Australia.

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March 15, 2024
Read more about the article The effort and intricacies of generating experience-near language – David Newman
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

The effort and intricacies of generating experience-near language – David Newman

In this paper I explore Clifford Geertz’s distinction between experience-near and experience-distant language. In the process, I draw from mad studies and mental health service user epistemology, both written and generated through my work. I also draw on the work of the historian of emotion Tiffany Watt Smith.

1 Comment
March 14, 2024
Read more about the article The Rainbow of Life: A collective narrative practice with young LGBTQIA+ people with a health condition – James McParland and Jaymie Huckridge
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

The Rainbow of Life: A collective narrative practice with young LGBTQIA+ people with a health condition – James McParland and Jaymie Huckridge

This article describes the use of narrative practices for LGBTQIA+ young people with a health condition. It presents a collective narrative practice: the Rainbow of Life. This adapts the Tree of Life metaphor to invite rich story development opportunities when working with LGBTQIA+ people. It involves exploring their commitments, special moments and those who stand alongside them in solidarity, and creatively mapping these on to a rainbow image.

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March 14, 2024
Read more about the article An Episode of Your Life: Rich narrative engagement with episodic stories — Julie Stewart, Tiffany Sostar, Ian Myhra, Sonia Hoffmann and Jyotsna Uppal
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

An Episode of Your Life: Rich narrative engagement with episodic stories — Julie Stewart, Tiffany Sostar, Ian Myhra, Sonia Hoffmann and Jyotsna Uppal

This article describes a new practice map, an “Episode of Your Life”, which adapts existing narrative “... of life” practices to an episodic story from a person’s life using metaphors from film and television production. This practice map draws significantly on ideas of “peopling the room” and the Team of Life in order to scaffold safety in imagining the process of telling painful stories through the collectivising of the storytelling process. This practice map specifically does not require that the storyteller tell the story, but rather invites them to imagine how they might tell a story from their life in a way that aligns with their values, hopes and preferred storylines. Some of the significant effects that we discovered were related to the richness of the visual metaphor for adding another layer of possible meaning-making in the storytelling process, and allowing for a “proliferation of what’s possible” in the imagining of the storytelling, such as through the use of time jumps; computer-generated imagery; inviting rich descriptions of preferred relationships, histories and values; and dignifying of stories that otherwise might be left unspoken. Participants were left with a feeling of solidarity and a “safe riverbank” from which to imagine telling their stories.

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March 14, 2024
Read more about the article Psychosocial support initiatives in the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake: A university-led community approach — Mehmet Dinç and Canahmet Boz
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

Psychosocial support initiatives in the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake: A university-led community approach — Mehmet Dinç and Canahmet Boz

This article discusses the response of a university psychology department to the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye on 6 February 2023, resulting in significant loss of life and widespread destruction. This paper focuses on the narrative practices undertaken by a university psychology department in the affected region, particularly the establishment of a psychological support telephone line staffed by volunteer psychologists.

1 Comment
March 14, 2024
Read more about the article Safety and solidarity: Using collective documents to share sex workers’ insider knowledges — Julia Sharp
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

Safety and solidarity: Using collective documents to share sex workers’ insider knowledges — Julia Sharp

Western culture and Western health care systems have created places of sexual health care that are highly individualised, privatised and professionalised. For people engaged in sex work, this reduces the possibilities for sharing skills and knowledges and instead leaves people with internalised feelings of shame, guilt and isolation. This paper describes collective therapeutic work that elicited insider knowledges, skills and sparkling moments from sex workers.

1 Comment
March 14, 2024
Read more about the article Departing from stigma and secrecy and elevating stories of agency: Narrative practice in the voices of sex workers — Kaur Serendipity
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers

Departing from stigma and secrecy and elevating stories of agency: Narrative practice in the voices of sex workers — Kaur Serendipity

This paper explores the use of narrative therapy and community work to respond to the complexities surrounding women’s experiences in the sex industry. It offers practices for therapists and community workers seeking to engage with sex workers in ways that are respectful of their hard-won knowledge and seek to elicit double-storied accounts in relation to hardship, thicken stories of preferred identities, and explore absent-but-implicit values, hopes and commitments.

2 Comments
March 14, 2024
Read more about the article My album, by Chaste Uwihoreye, Jean Marie Zivugukuri and Emmanuel Kigundu
Snow gum trees (Eucalyptus pauciflora) in Baw Baw National Park, Australia.
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Multimedia

My album, by Chaste Uwihoreye, Jean Marie Zivugukuri and Emmanuel Kigundu

My Album is a poignant collection of artworks by children and adolescents engaged in “Mobile Arts for Peace” (MAP) clubs across multiple schools in Rwanda. The artworks vividly portray painful pasts, current challenges, and aspirations for the future. The vibrant tapestry of colours, symbols, and metaphors encapsulates the resilience and courage of these young people.

0 Comments
March 14, 2024
Read more about the article Indigenous storyWORK as research by Tileah Drahm-Bulter
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / video

Indigenous storyWORK as research by Tileah Drahm-Bulter

First Nations peoples have been conducting research for millennia. As research methodology, Indigenous storywork puts Indigenous voices at the centre, transforming colonial structures by countering colonial stories that have spread across our land and claimed space. Indigenous storywork might also be thought of as a prequel to narrative practice. It offers synergies for First Nations therapists, community workers and scholars to understand contemporary issues in alignment with Indigenous world views.

1 Comment
March 9, 2024
Read more about the article On critical thinking by Mary Heath, read by Mary Heath
2024 / 2024: Issue 1 / Audio (2024- Issue 1) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

On critical thinking by Mary Heath, read by Mary Heath

In this audio recording of a favourite paper from the journal’s archives, Mary Heath sets out a personal history of her journey toward becoming a critical thinker. She considers two common barriers to critical thinking: cultural disapproval of critique, and confusing critical thinking with criticism. In response, Mary argues that rigorous thinking offers benefits – and not only risks – to cultures as well as individuals.

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March 9, 2024
Read more about the article Complexities of disability, chronic illness and able-bodied privilege — Gipsy Hosking
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Videos

Complexities of disability, chronic illness and able-bodied privilege — Gipsy Hosking

This video explores Gipsy’s lived experience of chronic illness to give an introduction to disability politics. She invites the listener to investigate their own relationship to disability and able-bodied privilege and how this may show up in their narrative work. Gipsy shares with us the methodology (participant action research) that enabled her PhD research work (on young women’s lived experience of chronic illness) to also be a tool for social change and to create a positive impact for participants by the collective coming together and sharing of stories.

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September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Unravelling trauma, co-creating relief and weaving resilience: Playful collaborations with children, families and networks, by Sabine Vermeire
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Videos

Unravelling trauma, co-creating relief and weaving resilience: Playful collaborations with children, families and networks, by Sabine Vermeire

In times of hardship, talking directly about painful or traumatic experiences, overwhelming emotions, or problematic actions with children, young people or families can be difficult. As co-researchers, we invite children, youngsters and their families and networks to contribute in playful ways to unravelling the tentacles of hardship and re(dis)covering a sense of agency, belonging and coherence. Together, we look in unexpected corners for safe places to build a team of support and solidarity. In dis-covering a multiplicity of stories rather than being trapped in one dominant story of trauma or loss, we co-create relief and develop more coherent storylines that weave the experiences and stories about hardship into the fabric of their lives.

2 Comments
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Planet stories: Using AI-generated science fiction to externalise conflict in relationships — Andrea Ng
Photo of Adelaide Parklands from the Aunty Barb Walking History Journey
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / Audio (2023-issue 1) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Planet stories: Using AI-generated science fiction to externalise conflict in relationships — Andrea Ng

Externalising can be useful in addressing conflict in relationships. It can provide space for deconstruction, the consideration of shared values and new meaning-making. It also avoids the labelling and deficit identity conclusions that can accompany internalised accounts. This audio practice note describes an emerging practice for working with couples experiencing conflict: using an artificial intelligence tool to generate science fiction stories to support the externalising of a problem and open space for reauthoring conversations.

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September 7, 2023
Read more about the article My favourite questions by Jill Freedman, read by Esther Benz
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / Audio (2023-issue 1) / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

My favourite questions by Jill Freedman, read by Esther Benz

In this audio recording of a favourite paper from the journal’s archives, Jill Freedman offers three sets of questions that she names as “favourites” in her own work. The first two sets of questions are ones therapists can ask clients. The first set may help people link their lives with others. The second may help people organise their experiences into narratives. The third is a question that therapists can ask themselves to help them come to questions that promote experiential involvement.

2 Comments
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Addicted to Life, Written and directed by Pola Rapaport (2022), reviewed by David Newman
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Reviews

Addicted to Life, Written and directed by Pola Rapaport (2022), reviewed by David Newman

In the opening scene of the 2022 documentary Addicted to Life, about the Belgian athlete Marieke Vervoort, diagnosed with a painful degenerative spinal disease, we hear powerful defiance. Over an internet call, Vervoort, who has obtained papers to end her life via euthanasia, says to the filmmaker Pola Rapaport: "Everyone is pushing me and asking me, 'When are you going to die? Do you know already the date that you’re going to die?' I said, 'Fuck you. … You don’t know when you want to die. When the time comes, when I feel it’s enough, then I will decide'.” ... It is a powerful start to a tender and at times harrowing story of the last three years of a life and the intricate weaving of pain, extraordinary athletic accomplishment, determination, relationships and euthanasia. It’s a story that carefully explores the idea that “not only life but also death is political” (Özpolat, 2017, p. 28).

1 Comment
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Curiosity, power and narrative practice, Perry Zurn interviewed by Zan Maeder
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Interviews

Curiosity, power and narrative practice, Perry Zurn interviewed by Zan Maeder

What are some of the dominant and alternative stories of curiosity? How do we wield it and to what effect? What does it mean to attend to the politics of curiosity in our lives and work and to acknowledge it as a collective practice and social force that can colonise, normalise and divide us and disrupt, liberate and connect us? Zan Maeder interviews Perry Zurn, Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University and author of Curiosity and power: The politics of inquiry (2021) about work tracing histories of curiosity in philosophy and political theory and co-creating (with many other transgressors, past and present) possibilities for ethical and liberatory curiosity praxis.

3 Comments
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Making history come alive: Seeking truth and justice, Vijaya Teelock interviewed by David Denborough
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Interviews

Making history come alive: Seeking truth and justice, Vijaya Teelock interviewed by David Denborough

In this interview, Mauritian historian Vijaya Teelock discusses breaking historical silences, democratising history, intangible heritage, memorialising and the complexities of seeking justice and reparation for historical wrongs. The interview took place in Vijaya’s home in Mauritius with David Denborough, Cheryl White and Diana Shanto present.

0 Comments
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article A personal reflection on “depression”: Not only a problem but also a learning opportunity — Barry Sullivan
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2023: Issue 1)

A personal reflection on “depression”: Not only a problem but also a learning opportunity — Barry Sullivan

For most of 2022, I was challenged by depression. One of its effects was to derail action-taking skills in my personal and professional life, leading to a sense of paralysis. This paper documents the narrative therapy skills and knowledge that helped me to move out from under depression’s dark cloud and shows how I applied learnings from my personal experience to my work with clients, including those also dealing with depression.

4 Comments
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Building bridges across stories: Developing cross-cultural partnerships to challenge masculinity — Nicolas Mosso Tupper
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2023: Issue 1)

Building bridges across stories: Developing cross-cultural partnerships to challenge masculinity — Nicolas Mosso Tupper

This paper explores the possibilities of developing cross-cultural partnerships to support men in defying dominant prescriptions of masculinity. It focuses on the individual stories of two men of different ages and experiences living on different continents, and shows the coming together of their stories. Both undertook a migration of identity away from dominating ideas and beliefs that justified harm and abuse, and towards a preferred form of masculinity aligned with their values, and with practices of dignity and nonviolence. Through the creation, translation and sharing of documents of resistance, each of these men was able to contribute to the other, and to receive something in return.

1 Comment
September 7, 2023
Read more about the article Using narrative practices to support academic development in an after-school program — Deborah Mrema
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2023: Issue 1)

Using narrative practices to support academic development in an after-school program — Deborah Mrema

This paper describes the use of narrative practices in work with young people in an after-school academic support program in Tanzania. Through games, outsider witnessing, re-authoring conversations and the Tree of Life process, we brought to light skills and experiences that had previously been left unrecognised by the evaluation tools we had been using to track students’ progress. The Tree of Life in particular created space for our students to rediscover unique abilities and areas in which they shine. These had previously been hidden behind dominant stories about living in an orphanage or not meeting expectations at school. The use of narrative practices supported growth, development and healing for our students.

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September 7, 2023
Read more about the article The River of Life safety map: Narrative journeys in a school-based setting — Clare Kempton Sladden
2023 / 2023: Issue 1 / International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work / Peer-reviewed papers (2023: Issue 1)

The River of Life safety map: Narrative journeys in a school-based setting — Clare Kempton Sladden

This article explores the use of narrative practices in a school-based setting to approach safety planning with young people. The article proposes an alternative safety planning tool: The River of Life safety map, which draws on the migration of identity metaphor. The author explores opportunities for collaboration in safety planning and risk management, drawing on feminist ethics. A story of practice gives suggestions for how one may use the map.

1 Comment
September 7, 2023

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