Sparkling moments from Michael White’s archive: an online course
Welcome
Welcome to this free online course: ‘Sparkling moments from Michael White’s archive’. This resource is a response to many requests from practitioners in different parts of the world who wish to watch video recordings of Michael White and learn more about this work.
About this course
This course has been organised into two parts. The first section is designed for those who are newer to the field of narrative therapy. It includes Michael sharing stories of his practice, some historical papers and documents, and a video in which he outlines some general assumptions that he held.
The second section considers more complex practice matters and is suitable for those who are already familiar with Michael White’s approach. This section includes video recordings of Michael teaching and sharing stories of his practice alongside extracts from the PhD thesis of Kelsi Semeschuk. Kelsi’s research involved rigorous engagement with Michael White’s video archive and was a collective endeavour involving a range of narrative therapists in different parts of the world.
In the second section of this course, you have the chance to explore key complex realms, including:
- De-centred and yet influential practice
- Attending to gender politics and refusing to separate practices of abuse/violence from power;
- Deconstructing dominant masculine culture and addressing men’s violence
- Narrative practice and memory
- Curiosity in contrast to wonder
As you move through the course, you’ll find places to write your comments and reflections and to share stories from your own practice.
Acknowledgements
It would not have been possible to put this course together without the work done by Kelsi (Sassy) Semeschuk and Mark Hayward.
New to the work of Michael White?
There are many ways to learn about Michael White’s approach to counselling and what has become narrative therapy and community work. If you are completely new to these ideas, you might first like to first dive into our free ‘what is narrative practice?’ online course which conveys not only key principles and practices but also some of the history of its development, including the key collaboration and friendship between Michael White and David Epston.
There are also four key books that we would recommend:
Maps of Narrative Practice
Maps of Narrative Practice by Michael White which vividly conveys the key maps of narrative practice – externalising, re-authoring, re-membering, definitional ceremonies, scaffolding conversations and ways of highlighting unique outcomes. Also available as audiobook. The Maps of Narrative Practice free online course put together by Mark Hayward features demonstrates interviews of these maps.
Narrative Therapy Classics
Narrative therapy classics by Michael White which gathers together papers and interviews by Michael White that transformed conventional notions of therapy, reshaped understandings of psychosis, provided new ways of responding to grief, and continue to profoundly challenge the hegemony of psychiatric knowledges.
Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends
Narrative means to therapeutic ends by Michael White and David Epston which was the classic early text (1990)
Narrative Practice: Continuing the Conversations
Narrative practice: Continuing the Conversations Published after Michael’s death, this a collection of the work on topics dear to the psychotherapeutic world: turning points in therapy, conversations, resistance and therapist responsibility, couples therapy, and narrative responses to trauma.