Narrative practice and community assignments — Michael White

This paper describes how narrative practices can be used with communities who are facing various concerns and predicaments. It describes in detail the assumptions behind this work, as well as key principles such as transparency and ‘doubly listening’. Also explored are understandings about addressing psychological pain and emotional distress in a context of trauma; developing partnerships between the therapeutic team and community members; and how to structure community-wide gattherings using definitional ceremony and documentation. This is a key article in the field of narrative approaches to community work.