2008: Issue 1 Archives - The Dulwich Centre

Cards as Therapeutic Documents— Adam Hahs

Dulwich — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:59:26 +0000

Therapeutic documents have been a feature of narrative practice for many years. In this paper, the author introduces a little-used type of therapeutic document, greeting cards. Examples include a ‘bon voyage’ card to worry, a celebration card due to the reduction of fear, and an anniversary card marking a year of ‘reduced sadness’. The author has found this type of brief therapeutic document to be a very effective part of the therapeutic engagement.

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A Letter to Robyn: Explorations of the Written Word in Therapeutic Practice— Mandy Pentecost

Dulwich — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:57:41 +0000

This paper explores the co-production of a literary therapy. It is drawn from research conducted by Mandy Pentecost which investigated the therapeutic writing practices employed in one narrative counselling relationship in which Robyn was the client and Mandy the counsellor. Four different genres of writing were engaged with during the counselling process: ‘homework’ questions, a therapeutic letter, a ‘rescued speech poem’, and a short story. These four genres are described in this paper which is written in an auto ethnographic form in the shape of a letter to Robyn.

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Turning the Spotlight Back on the Normalising Gaze— Jane Hutton

Dulwich — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:54:50 +0000

This paper explores notions of what it means to be ‘normal’ in modern Western culture, and the attendant relationships with normative judgement and the ‘normalising gaze’. One option for deconstructing these practices in everyday life – to both address the operations of power within normative judgement, and to address experiences of personal failure – is the ‘failure conversations map’ employed in narrative therapy. This map is outlined through one of the authors’ own application of it to her relationship with her daughter, as well as an exploratory use in some therapeutic conversations.

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