Documents & Audiences
Image from Shaun Tan’s book – The Red Tree
One of the early defining characteristics of narrative therapy was the creative use of documentation or the written word.
In this video presentation, David Newman describes the ways in which he is using living documents with young people in an inpatient ward.
Further reading: Here is an earlier paper by David Newman describing his use of the written work within narrative therapeutic practice: Rescuing the said from the saying of it by David NewmanThis paper illustrates how we can use four different categories of document. Examples of each of the following documents are offered and the author also shares some of his experiences, dilemmas and learnings in creating therapeutic documentation.
Letters recording a session
Documents of knowledge and affirmation
News documents &
Documents to contribute to rites of passage
Using Therapeutic Documents Hugh Fox
Ncazelo Nucbe-Mlilo is a Zimbabwean psychologist and narrative therapist living and working in South Africa. Here, she introduces the ‘Narratives in the suitcase’ project which seeks to use journey metaphors and creative documentation to assist child refugees.
This work is inspired by the work of Glynis Clacherty and The Suitcase Project (see link below). It also draws upon ideas from Sherri Osborn.
In this paper we read responses to the following 8 questions.
1. What is meant by the term outsider witness? 2. Why is it important for there to be witnesses to preferred stories? 3. What is the history of these ideas and ways of working? 4. What are definitional ceremonies? 5. What sort of responses do outsider witnesses make? 6. What are some of the common hazards of outsider-witness practice and how can these be avoided? Do you have any helpful hints about these? 7. What are the different contexts in which outsider-witness work takes place? 8. What do you enjoy most about outsider-witness practices?
Marilyn O’Neill, Hugh Fox, Gaye Stockell, Anne Schober, Jeff Zimmerman, Emily Sued & Dirk Kotzé all provided material which Maggie Carey, Shona Russell compiled and which David Denborough’s editing and writing brought together in the following article.
Outsider Witness Practices Paper
For Reflection
What forms of documentation might be most relevant or resonant in your context? Are there particular ideas or practices you found within these materials you might draw on in your future meetings with people?
Have any of these questions got you hooked? Have you got another question you would like to pose to those joining you in this online learning? Please let us know below! Please include where you are writing from (City and Country). Thanks!
catherine.ann.smit
March 4, 2024I too have found that sending an email summary of key insights in a coaching session can be very powerful (as well as documenting the steps towards goals that the clients have identified as important to them). But I also, like Jill, wonder how much I have, at times, imposed my interpretation of their story and their goals, even if the intention/ motivation has been to focus attention on a positive re-framing.
The materials on outsider witnesser practices also made me reflect about the way in which the coach approach contains a focus on affirmations – and whether this could be more like “praise” which might be unhelpful, depending on the context.
I did also find myself a little concerned with the description of “Fiona’s” outsider witness session with women who were members of a support group who had also been abused, could lead people to think that was all that would be needed in recovering from the effects of childhood abuse. That as transformative as that obviously was to feel the sense of company, that there would most probably still be a need to work with intrusive memories and dreams in 1:1 therapy, for e.g. using neural techniques like EMDR and Brain Spotting etc. I would want to see the space opened up to view these approaches working together, rather than the possible interpretation that one could replace the other.
Overall though, this chapter excited me about how doing this work in a team could be energising and life-affirming – for both clients and myself. I think I would really thrive in a supportive team environment, working together to enrich clients and our own lives.
Janelle
February 29, 2024I’m Janelle, a social worker in Naarm (Melbourne) Australia working in palliative care. I really appreciated the different creative ways we can create ongoing dialogue and memory of our conversations with clients through documents, I already often send emails after I meet families as a way to share practical information but often find myself using these to summarize sessions as was done in the articles above. It’s great that we can lean further into this if clients are happy for us to and also provide the opportunities for clients to write their own summaries and stories. I would be keen to explore group-made documents with bereaved children that we work with.
jillsummerwill
February 27, 2024My name is Jill. I have worked as a social worker for over 25 years in the UK and now in Vancouver, Canada, I have often written letters to children regarding my involvement or provided story scripts for them, with the intention of helping them understand how the things that lead them to where they are. These articles are causing serious reflection on whether I am creating a narrative for them, rather than helping document their story. I will definitely reflect and reconsider the documents I have been creating and those that I will help others create for themselves moving forward. As someone who journals to help me understand my own experiences, I would not be okay with someone creating my story from their perspective and not mine. Have I been telling my story rather than theirs all these years?
Sarah
February 26, 2024Sarah from Torquay, UK. I don’t know where to start with this session. It was packed with so many good ideas! I am looking at this material in the context of running training for people to get into work, both students in education and jobseekers. The whole outside witness content reminded me of the power of empathy, that trying to get people to be resilient in the face of finding work could benefit from asking them to share their experiences and have the rest of the group contribute, or even the course coaches. I’ve seen this happen on a small scale already and want to think about how I could make it part of the training itself. I also loved the suitcase project with its journey maps. I have a gut feeling I will be able to do something with this, even though its not obvious to me now. The whole analogy of what we choose to lug around with us on our life’s journey is just brilliant. I really enjoyed every insight in this section.
dvmilam
February 17, 2024The importance of people sharing their stories can be so empowering. I liked learning about living documents, certificates, and mapping their journey and creating a big banner together with people who are experiencing like journeys. The information of the living documents can be so helpful for ideas for others, certificates can be very celebratory, mapping your personal journey can give people knowledge of all the things they have already gone through and accomplished and it can also solidify their goals, and the banner would be encouraging to people that they can see that they are not the only one going through this journey.
Learning how to ask better questions and how to delve deeper into stories fascinates me. It makes me curious!!
tr234001
February 9, 2024I was moved by the concept of living documents, and I feel this can be a powerful tool to use in therapy, especially for clients who have experienced significant trauma.
Kate26
January 30, 2024I am very excited by the idea of letter recording a session. I think this would be such a powerful tool for people to be able to continue to benefit from the session in the time between sessions. It feels like such a holding experience and therefore I see it being great for people who are really craving connection and comfort. I have long term clients and am interested to explore rites of passage documents further both as an ending but also as key touchstones throughout the therapeutic process. I think the letter recording in a session could also be incorporated into this space, reflecting on previous letters and thinking about where things are now.
annie.coole
January 30, 2024I found this section of narrative documents interesting and thought provoking. I work with adults with special needs / additional needs and disabilities. Most of them are comfortable pictorial writing which helps them process information. I wonder what this form of narrative documentation would look like for these clients. I am wondering if there is a place towards the end of the session to ask them to draw or describe what the session has helped them explore. I will leave a drawing or picture of some creative art for them to reflect on and explore with their support workers through the week. Their stories are powerful encounters for myself as well as others around them Support workers are able to see a glimpse into the personality of a non verbal client just by exploring their own story through other mediums. The narratives in the suitcase highlighted to me how people with disabilities and special needs are often ‘labelled’ and experience biases amongst care and support workers which is often not seen as discriminatory but actually can have a profoundly negative affect over time within an institution.
This is something I want to explore further and help individuals reveal their true selves and enabling them to be accepted and respected by developing a deeper understanding if support workers about their clients.
Martin
January 20, 2024Without a doubt, Documents of rite of passage sit perfectly within the context of my writing workshop/life-coaching business. As stand-alone one-off sessions, there is a definite need to facilitate the transition for my attendees from “client to consultant” by the end of the day. Unless they are attending a further workshop, or seeing me for one-to-one tutoring (where these documents would only be used at the final session), the need for “separation” from and “reincorporation” of the workshop content into their daily routine is paramount to the effectiveness of said content. A certificate or award for completing the workshop certainly legitimates their transition from “novice to veteran”, via “communal acknowledgement”.
And of course, the whole concept of Outsider-Witness practices also blends perfectly with group workshop dynamics, where peer-assessment and group feedback on an individual’s work or ideas is very much part of the process. The only proviso I would have to be aware of is that attendees are mostly strangers (at least at the beginning of the workshop!)…so I would have to be careful to keep any feedback positive and constructive, in order to avoid judgemental statements which may dishearten the recipient of that feedback. The dynamic would be different, of course, if all of the attendees knew each other and had booked the workshop together. Although I would still have to make it clear up front that any criticism would need to be constructive in nature, emphasising collaborative growth as the aim of the workshop.
laurencavanaughlicsw
January 19, 2024The outsider witness is the hardest concept for me in this lesson. It is not customary in my practice to involve someone just to listen, they are usually involved in the therapy session in some way or share the same problem. It is an interesting intervention and I would be open to trying it. I think its so powerful the “I live for them” part of this lesson. That made such an impact on me and I find it can be so useful.
mara.bennett
January 15, 2024What I like most about the idea of using written forms of communication for therapeutic purposes is that there is no limit to what we could think about to do… and there are so many opportunities to implement this in practice. In my work with older people experiencing dementia, I would like to try to see if clients are interested in more intentionally doing life story work with their loved ones. This is something a lot of families decide to do – i.e., take down the history of the person who has dementia while they are still able to tell it, but I had not thought of using it therapeutically. I think it could be an invaluable way of working through ambivalent grief (grieving the loss of someone as they were, while they are still alive). One of my clients carries pictures of her wedding day from 60 years ago in her purse as a way of remembering her husband as he was, and in hindsight it would have been beautiful to see if she was open to writing a story about it. Reflecting now, I just remembered that she was very particular about wanting to write a good eulogy for him after he passed, because she had found writing the eulogy for her mother when she passed to be very important for her sense of closure and meaning making. I really look forward to seeing what clients are open to in the space of grief, change and dementia.
John Hankins
January 10, 2024As I read through this material, I thought the concepts were were totally new to me. Then I realized that some of these are very central to Restorative Justice practices, especially the outside witness. So I now realize that I’ve used this in my work and have seen the power of it first hand. I also found Hugh Fox’s paper to be very instructive. In particular, I am drawn to the idea of the letter recording a session. I think this is very powerful.
catherine.ann.smit
March 4, 2024Thank you for mentioning that, John. I have done some training in Dominic Barter’s Restorative Circles approach. Do you mean that when the facilitator is asking questions of participants, the circle are actually acting as outsider witnesses? I think there are many resonances between the approaches, for sure.
Anjali Bhatia
January 5, 2024This module gave me two key directions:
1. There are some former clients I am still in touch with, who are now taking therapy provided by their current organization, and occasionally share with me some of the struggles they are still facing. I have realised that I can explore writing letters to them about the positive changes I observed in them over the course of therapy with me. This will serve as a record of their successes, the ‘alternative story’ that is all-too-easily forgotten during difficultt times and bouts of despodency.
2. The outsider-witnesses practice can be very useful in my work with university students.
keishacorbeil
January 5, 2024I enjoyed reading the article by Hugh Fox on the different types of documents. As a new therapist, I struggle with my clinical notes – what to include, what to exclude, etc. The article provides creative and narrative ways of doing clinical notes. I especially enjoy the collaboration with clients in creating the documentations. I also love the idea of the document of knowledge and affirmation. Collaboratively creating documents with clients and giving them a copy gives them a sense of purpose, empowerment, and control.
rebecca.plain
December 17, 2023I work in an acute adult psychiatric ward, and I often dread paperwork and documentation as it often feels like no one actually reads the notes and it doesn’t often capture enough of the narrative of my consumers nor our work together. I also agree with other comments here, that this section has given me space for reflection and consideration of how I change my interactional documentation and psychosocial assessment documentation to more accurately reflect narratives. Hopefully this can be modified to assist my consumer where needed to summarise our work together and also be reflected better in clinical notes, which often ignore much of the persons’ narrative for clinical observations, which whilst also important upon reflection, add to an almost dehuminising of that person.
Teresa Wheeler
December 8, 2023Thank you for this section, it was particularly useful to think about the documentation that I produce within my work. If I am working directly with a child or family I do produce a therapeutic letter that tells the story of our work together (although am aware that at times, this may not be as rich as it could be-so for future I will ensure to keep more detailed records) and for younger children I produce a booklet, almost like a visual story of the work we did, what they enjoyed, their words etc.
Another part of my work that I had not really considered in regards to the narrative approach is the writing of formal reports. Within these formal reports, there is a task that is set by the local authorities which is to identify need and recommend provision, however through these reports I believe that I can also use some of the approaches included in the papers to hopefully do this in a way which tells a story, and is not simply a list/bullet points of the “problems/strengths”. At the moment I always try to use person centred planning activities to include families and children within the story telling process, but I am going to work more on translating this to the final report so that when others read it, they are receiving the story that is meaningful to the child/family.
Pam
November 28, 2023Hello! I found this module extremelly helpful! I usually draft therapeutic letters at the end of my interventions, and I feel this module has given me some inspiration to improve them and try different things. I’ve created a few documents of knowledge for children and young people and they have found it helpful to have some of their reflections handy, especially when feeling distressed. I was alsomoved by the suitcase project and the amazing work that Ncazelo Nucbe-Mlilo described. This type of intervention seems to be a brilliant, creative and playful way to help children think about their context and make sense of what’s happening to them, as well as to connect with and share their stories with others. I think this technique could be adapted to different contexts across the lifespan, so I will definitely keep this in mind.
k.e.m.taylor@gmail.com
December 1, 2023Hi all. I’m Kirsten, occupational therapist on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in Castlemaine, Victoria. I enjoyed this section of the course very much! I work with people experiencing persistent pain, as well as older people living with wellbeing challenges and bereavement. In this context, I am excited to try using letters as forms of documentation. People who are ageing and people living with pain often feel invisible, and they have more to them than they or others know at first glance – letters could be a way of sharing more stories about who they are as people and the important identities they carry. I thought the idea of a suitcase was great, using the metaphor of a journey – I would like to try asking people to bring in photographs of people, places and activities that have been important to them – and creating something together, that they could share with their caregivers/NDIS workers.
Paulina
November 21, 2023Hi I’m Paulina, from Mexico, and the las community work I did it was with lesbians, fortunately the community I worked had access to education, so what we. (My co-worker and I) did was to put all of the words talking about certain theme together and then read it to them, they loved hearing their own voices and then they act as external witnesses from that text.
So with that exprience i think that the forms of documentation most relevant or resonant in my context might be the mailing one and the witness one, I think it is a really good way to Describe more the alternative story.
Are there particular ideas or practices you found within these materials you might draw on in your future meetings with people?
Probably the suitcase, and use a lot more the witness one, I think it was one of my favorites
Ana
November 6, 2023I really enjoyed the skills and knowledge document idea. I can imagine how interesting it would be to come back to that document later in my client’s healing journey and reflect back. I would like to try that with my clients and hopefully help them understand the power of writing. I feel like I always find some barriers when I try to encourage people to try journaling. I wonder if developing those activities and resources with them will help them see the value of it.
nicholas.farr
November 1, 2023Nic from Melbourne Australia
I was part of a team supporting young people with mental health issues and we (the team) had conversations about how we could start a shared, living document that could be shared with other young people accessing our service. We noticed that many young people were finding it difficult to communicate what was going on for them; often it was the first time someone had asked. We hoped that sharing and building upon words, experiences, vocabulary, and descriptions that other young people used to describe their experiences would help spark their own descriptions. Unfortunately, funding for our program was cut before we could start but I hope I can carry the idea (in some form) to my current practice.
James
October 30, 2023I found the idea of the outsider witness to be quite an interesting concept that brings its own method of healing. The idea of being seen and heard allows for the person who is suffering to see how far they have come and how they have managed to deal with challenges when it is reflected back to them in outsider witnesses who acknowledge what the individual has done and how that has impacted the outsider witness in a positive way. It’s a chance to be acknowledged and having made it as far as they have.
Emily
October 26, 2023I see great benefit in using clinical documentation as a treatment tool, as it can take away the idea that the clinician is “writing about” the participant and more so that they are writing for their participant/family.
The idea of including the outsider-witness to sessions helps to identify “safe adults” within my particular context and may help parent-guardians identify therapeutic interventions that may work better than others within the family’s home.
mccartyc
October 25, 2023Crystal – Kitchener, Ontario Canada
I would be curious how folks put these documentation suggestions into practice in regions where the practice of psychotherapy is governed and we have specific things to identify in our clinical notes. Are these additional documents folks are producing and do they also include it as part of the client file?
Dulwich Centre
October 25, 2023Dear Crystal, how people engage with professional documentation requirements varies enormously, but you might appreciate this article which grapples with the politics of representation in relation to case notes: https://dulwichcentre.com.au/articles-about-narrative-therapy/collaborative-representation/
ricmathews.lmhc
October 24, 2023I quite love the idea of writing letters as a form of documentation in the therapeutic process. The point about the spoken word and the written word resonates strongly with me and I often encourage my patients to spend 5-15 minutes after each session writing down what they remember, what stood out, what questions they had, etc. I have some patients who religiously take notes while in session, too. Quite often I use letter writing as a form of communication and processing deeper work, as well, be it letters they write to themselves or others. I recently had one patient who was having a very difficult time with his mother and talking about it was proving to be impossible for getting any resolution. I suggested he write her a letter, and we spent some time going over what he wanted to say. A few weeks later he gave her the letter. His mother was able to respond to him and expressed her thanks for the letter. A few months after this, she suddenly and unexpectedly died in her sleep. My patient was so grateful that he’d written her that letter and was able to find peace in the difficulty of her passing.
I’m intrigued on giving more thought to how I might introduce other ways of using letters in this narrative way into my work, e.g. from me to them.
Cary
October 5, 2023Cary, Washington State, USA
The ideas I was most intrigued with were the letters, documentation sharing and suitcase video. I envision they could be quite useful with my clients. I enjoyed the reflection on importance of written word versus oral and how they differ and are perceived. I will be using these ideas in session with clients, excited to see how they help them with ownership of their stories and experiences.
Eugenia Pyne
October 4, 2023Hi, from Wollongong, NSW Australia
The entire idea of separating the problem from the person (Externalising) is something I find amazing, and I can’t wait to start putting this into practice. The Narratives in the suitcase’ project really touched my heart and gives me the desire and hope to be able to help other children in similar condition in this way. Coming from West African background, I have seeing children/people labelled and called by whatever condition they find themselves in. For eg. a child who steals is called “a thief” and so on. This is an everyday experience for many people I know. It’s great to be able to learn more about externalizing
daron.askin
September 28, 2023I liked David Newman’s piece on helping others to find ways to find words that are not always easy to find. I work in a rural area of Northern Ireland where people can find it difficult talk at all never mind in therapy about things in life that have been difficult. Shame too, I think, can limit our ability to find words that describe what we have experienced. David’s descriptions offered a fresh way for me to think about this and the value of empathy, compassion and patience in helping others to find words when finding words is hard.
Jennifer
September 12, 2023Hi from Wellington New Zealand,
As a visual learner within an agency motivated to move paperless and become fully digital i was invigorated and affirmed through this lesson of the value that alternative documentation styles. The assurance that alternative documentation can offer a format for insight when words are too laden with societal meaning and pressure encourages me to persist in sharing my ideas in which ever format best captures the concept for me and in turn giving my clients license to share their own narratives within a format that is of best ease for themselves.A Child’s voice can not only be caught in a sea shell.
ishik.cevik
August 23, 2023In narrative practice, therapeutic documents provide people with an opportunity to share their ideas and experiences, as well as their life lessons, while providing them with a living document that can continue to speak even when they are unable to speak. One of the strengths of this article is that it emphasizes the importance of maintaining a document of knowledge that can be easily carried by individuals so they can embark on their own self-discovery process, as well as reminding them of their own narrative, personal characteristics, capabilities, and knowledge as much as the importance of having a practice of engaging outside witnesses to reflect on the client’s worldviews, which provides acknowledgment and validation to the client, who can transport their experiences to be shared with others similarly affected. I found it quite pertinent to my line of work that a part of the article involves two young women who discuss their knowledge of what to do when they experience self-hatred, suicidal thoughts or self-harm. A significant message or knowledge is conveyed in this article. People are better able to learn about themselves and their networks through documents that are more durable than spoken words. It was also particularly interesting to read the following statement made by Michael White: When we take words out of a conversation, hold them up, examine, rescue, and use them in a document of some sort, they become more solid when pulled out of a conversation, examined, rescued.
Claire Nulsen
August 22, 2023Hi, I’m currently living in Youghal, Ireland but I am originally from Perth were I was practicing as a Clinical Psychologist working with children and families; I have used documentation in my therapeutic work for many years but less formally as I often write notes for clients to take home summarising the session, sometimes these notes are written by my clients and may be on my whiteboard (in which case I take a photo of them, with permission, and email the photo to the client), sometimes they include drawing as well; I feel that this is so helpful as it’s less school-like than the traditional homework/fact-sheets but also gives a lasting reminder of the work we have done and important points to consider. I really appreciated the paper on Outsider Witnesses and the power that this process has to affect change in clients.
jgor
August 3, 2023Jason from Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S. Really got a lot out of the use of the imagination for creating the suitcase. I’m also a trained Montessori teacher, and the idea of “following the child” is one of Maria Montessori’s most powerful. Once people ignite their curiosity and imagination, they seem to be off and running with energy and enthusiasm. It’s wonderful to see it in such a therapeutic context.
kai.niezgoda
August 1, 2023My name is Kai and I am writing from Kaurna Country (Adelaide, South Australia).
This chapter has challenged me to think about the ways that documents and audiences could be used in work with the LGBTQIA+ community (and more broadly). While most all stories involve an element of temporality (first, and next, and finally), LGBTQIA+ people in particular are often said to be living on “queer time” or “queer temporalities.”
For many LGBTQIA+ people, resisting norms around gender, sexuality, and bodies, and resisting norms around life stages and milestones are irrevocably intertwined. This may pose challenges but it also presents opportunities. For example, a queer temporality opens up possibilities to follow ‘a path less travelled’, to reject the pressure to conform to set life and relationship stages, and to reject the idea that our identities and selves are fixed and time-bound.
More on queer temporalities for anyone interested: https://oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-1182;jsessionid=649B26CB047EBCE48F9B233BC8AC67F3
andrewkilgour
July 31, 2023Hi, Andrew from Newcastle Australia. In working in an alternate high school I see a real opportunity to shift the way we use documentation by moving it away from the rigid templates and administrative requirements that so many schools have, and instead move them towards documentation processes that capture the voice and heart of each young person in a more holistic and deeper way. We often use the process of goal setting as the one opportunity for young people to share their dreams however after completing this chapter I feel like we can do so much more and shed a completely different light on what treasures, knowledge, strengths and abilities each young person brings to us. I think the creativity of these documentation ideas has real relevance in the way we work with young people and opens up new possibilities in the future.
Lorna Downes
July 31, 2023Hi I’m Lorna, living in Jambinu (Geraldton, Western Australia) the lands of the Yamatji people.
This chapter causes me to reflect on the various forms of documentation that I’ve used in work contexts without much thought about the process of development or the ritual associated – for instance, the development of fact sheets and the certificates at the end of courses. I am also reflecting on a definitional ceremony that a colleague facilitated as a form of supervision for facilitators.
This chapter opened my eyes to the wide range documentation can be valuable and therapeutic. I am inspired by ways that documents can make the fleeting and ephemeral more real and concrete.
I’ll be taking away from this chapter the idea of using questions in follow up emails or texts and prompts to think of creative ideas for documenting individuals journeys, histories, values, strengths and knowledges as inspired by Ncazelo Nucbe-Mlilo’s work with children.
Oltman Weeber
July 30, 2023Hi My name is Oltman from Melbourne Australia (mental health worker & recovery coach)
The question about where outsider witnesses came from is interesting; reflecting team work and the term ‘definitional ceremony’, where communities of people construct their identities. This made me think of the recovery movement, and how it was started by communities of services users that felt the mental health system were not helping them to get better, so the the recovery movement was started, focusing on collaboration, strength and hope.
The article by Hugh Fox is interesting. I was very much inspired by the idea of writing letters that acknowledge the preferred stories and identity claims with an atmosphere of ‘curiosity and mystery’.
mikem
July 17, 2023I was most inspired by Ncazelo Nucbe-Mlilo and her valuable work with children in helping them to connect with and share their stories, offering them the opportunity to break-free from the robust judgement often directed towards them. I’m going to approach my team and ask them to watch Ncazelo speaking, so we can “workshop” possible ways that we can use a similar creative/ innovative approach in supporting the adults we work with – who live with mental illness. I have a gut feeling that we will find that most of the adults we work with will love to re-connect with their inner-child and tap into those stories, memories, dreams, strengths and hopes that they have harbored since childhood and not had the opportunity to share in a safe and loving manner!
Sonya Watson
June 23, 2023Hi all,
There was much to take in for this module! My attention was particularly grabbed by one therapists way of writing documentation regarding a client to other healthcare professionals by writing a letter to the client. I liked how this kept the person receiving support as central to the process of conversation between practitioners. I can imagine that this would be a nice way for the central person to read about themselves and that they would feel significantly respected. This process definitely makes sense in narrative practice’s stance that the person is their own expert (not us practitioners). I know that I will be thinking about opportunities for me to also do this when communicating to external healthcare providers.
The power and beauty of bearing witness and to a central person’s story was quite striking! I can recall times in the past where I have either heard of other therapists doing this (inviting someone else into the conversation) or when I have thought of this myself. It makes me mindful of the blurb that I often give about privacy for a client in a session. I think moving forward I will focus on making my point clear that just because the client has the right for privacy with whatever stories they share with their therapist, doesn’t mean that they have to remain private. Bringing others into the room is certainly an option :)
Many thanks for providing such in depth information.
Sonya, New Zealand
jiahuanhe.psy
June 21, 2023These therapy techniques and concepts, particularly the outsider-witness practice, are incredibly innovative. I had a strong focus on ensuring privacy during therapy sessions to create a sense of safety for clients to open up. However, after reading the article, my viewpoint has shifted. It is still crucial to honor clients’ privacy and handle confidentiality with care. Nonetheless, it is through sharing, being witnessed, and being acknowledged by more people that alternative stories are given importance and become memorable. As written in the article, the stories we tell about ourselves are a social achievement.
Nancy Bell
June 17, 2023Hello, I’m Nancy Bell from Brisbane Australia. I have found this module rather intriguing. I have to admit that in my work with older people, the popular mode of communication is usually talking, and the thought of working with clients to document meaningful passages presents significant challenges. Many older people live with significant sensory loss and using ‘another’ as a scribe might infect the intended word. I can certainly understand the importance of using documentation to ‘rescue the said from the saying of it’ as defined by David Newman. I found those words quite powerful. Older people are sometimes encouraged to embark on autobiographical stories to record important moments in their lives for posterity and reflection, and this activity does offer the opportunity for writing and reinterpreting and reinterpreting over and over, however in my experience ‘another’ is usually employed as the scribe. I need to think on this further. Outsider witnesses can be invaluable in the form of sons or daughters and other family members/friends who can remember significant milestones and life moments and can offer alternative narratives sometimes. Within loving relationships those alternative narratives can be great shared moments, sometimes a chuckle during a shared fond memory. Important point to ensure that the outsider witness supports the desired narrative. I still have thinking to do around this but I can certainly understand the importance of documentation and the depth it offers the narrative. Thanks again, Nancy B
Elsie
June 2, 2023Narrative documents
Wow this section was so expansive to read! It really seems so simple yet so effective and important to incorporate recording and writing into therapeutic practices. I’m often jotting down impactful words or phrases in my own life, and love coming back to them in times of need. I really feel the power of words to anchor people into a particular.at belief, and to serve as a reminder of ability to be a certain way. I really think words are magic and if we write them down to come back to the, we can cast spells over our days and lives.
I particularly liked the document by Hugh Fox that talks about different types of narrative documents that can be created. I would like to incorporate these into my work. I think the document of knowledge would be particularly helpful for me, to document something that people can easily carry with the, to remind them of their preferred story, identity, narrative, skills, knowledge etc. I was also particularly impressed and moved by the idea of creating documents to acknowledge the rites of passage people move through during significant events in their life. And to use these documents to create positions of authority and acknowledge change in the individual.
I was also so moved by the concept of living documents that David Newman talks about. Creating a living document that assists not only an individual but a creates a community of people who share similar events, stories ect . I can really see how these documents would be such a useful tool, and how different people can continue to interact with the do u,entails in different, effective ways.