Thickly describing together – utilising collaborative ethnography in narrative therapy work with young people— Jonathan McClelland

An ethnographic stance involves attention to the ‘exotic’ within the familiar – often using the trick of being a ‘foreigner’ to a situation as a way of teasing out what is going on behind what appears ‘natural’ or ‘obvious’ to those who are stuck in the situation. This article explores the potential contributions to narrative therapy of tools and viewpoints from anthropology, specifically the concept of ‘collaborative ethnography’. The article engages with the difficulties of maintaining an ethical approach when working with adolescents in the mental health field, which often does not take the viewpoints and contributions of adolescents seriously, and points the way toward a way of working that does not privilege the expertise or use of power often exerted in this arena.