The Dulwich Centre

‘STEPS Together’ by Amanda Tay

Tiffany — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 22:30:00 +0000

Terminal illness, death and dying are universal human experiences, but discussing them can be challenging. This video demonstrates the use of a therapeutic conversation guide, ‘STEPS Together’, providing a structure to employ narrative practices to support people to develop preferred narratives in the face of hardships related to terminal illness. The video features unique conversations with people with terminal illness, their caregivers and the bereaved. This work was completed with support from Singapore Cancer Society, Psychosocial Services Department.

Author biography
Amanda Tay (She/Her) is a social work practitioner providing psychosocial services to people facing terminal illness in a home hospice in Singapore. Her interests include therapeutic social work with lived experiences, and positioning people as authors of their preferred narratives within their communities. She can be contacted at amandatay@outlook.com.

Published on March 2, 2023

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Nurturing a Narrative Milieu by Beck Paterson

Tiffany — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:24:51 +0000

This presentation describes Beck’s work as a counselor in an in-patient mental health crisis treatment program in Calgary, Canada. The goal of this project was to support nurturance and growth of narrative ideas and work in a setting that can often be hostile to such practices. Beck also hopes this project will offer solidarity and understanding of the difficulties for practitioners new to narrative ideas in navigating the shift from dominant practices to more narrative-aligned practices. Guided by the metaphor of seed-planting, growth, and nature, the initiatives described were both intentional and organic in origin, and demonstrate how bringing narrative ideas to the forefront of Beck’s practice changed not only their own work, but the larger program as well.

Author biography
Beck Paterson (they/them) is a non-binary social worker who was born and raised in Treaty 7 territory (Calgary, Canada). They are currently working as an outreach worker with young people who have been given neurodiverse diagnoses and their families. Outside of work, Beck is a budding triathlete, avid reader, and enjoys a good cup of coffee.

Published on February 22, 2023

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Collecting the experiences of young adults caring for a parent with dementia

Dulwich — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 03:52:52 +0000

An invitation for young adults who have cared, or are currently caring, for a parent with dementia

This project aims to gather the experiences of young adults who are caring for a parent with dementia. It is our hope that a resource can be developed for other young people using the responses, wisdom and knowledge gathered. This resource would be aimed at sharing the experiences of young people who have cared for a parent, but would also be a valuable resource to practitioners, service providers as well as family, friends and support people.

This project was initiated after a young adult who was arranging the administrative, financial and legal aspects of caring for their mum with early-onset dementia was talking with a friend (and narrative practitioner) about their experience navigating the processes required of a ‘carer’. They remarked about how they found it challenging to understand what was expected or needed of them, as they didn’t understand the system (whether medical, legal, or aged care) and as they’re in their early twenties, was finding it difficult to find age-appropriate services to provide information and support. As being a young person caring for a parent with dementia is somewhat uncommon, the support services for young carers available to them didn’t quite know what to offer them.

After some research, it was realised that ‘young carers’, which is generally carers who are over 18 but younger than 25 (although many are older than this), are very rarely the focus of carer support within aged care or dementia-related services. Very little information is available to represent the experiences of young people who are the sole or primary carers of a parent with dementia, and what is available often presumes the type of relationship the person has with the person their caring for, other family members, or their choice to care for their parent. We want to give the opportunity to other young people who are caring for a parent with dementia, to share their experiences, in the hopes of being able to illuminate this often-overlooked area.

Within this project, we would also like to acknowledge the complexity of relationships, power and family dynamics, cultural and societal expectations, race, class, gender and sexuality, and how these all impact the lives of young people who are in caring roles for parents with dementia. The identity of being a ‘carer’ is incredibly complex and personal, and this project aims to illuminate the varied experiences of people who are, or have been in this position.

We have compiled the below questions to gather the responses of young people who have cared, or are currently caring for a parent with dementia. We invite you to respond to any or all of the questions, and share your responses with us if you feel comfortable doing so. These questions can be responded to alone, or in partnership with family, friends or a support person/practitioner.

You do not need to call yourself a ‘carer’ to share your response. We welcome and encourage responses from young people who were tasked with caring for a parent with dementia and did not want to or were not able to continue in this role.

Additional questions have been compiled but are not included above. If you are interested in further questions after responding to the above document, please get in touch.

We welcome all feedback, questions or connections about this project and related realms: charlotte@dulwichcentre.com.au

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Assessment and narrative practice by Jake Peterson

Tiffany — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 19:13:37 +0000

This video explores the danger of a single story in traditional mental health assessments, and presents an alternative assessment tool that seeks to contribute to rich story development while satisfying organisational requirements. This double-storied assessment tool elicits stories of strength and hope alongside stories of difficulty. The work draws on the maps of narrative practice and discusses six aspects of the assessment tool: structuring safety, externalising conversations, re-membering conversations, unique outcomes, deconstruction and documentation. Transcripts from case examples are used to demonstrate the use of the assessment tool. The tool can be used by narrative practitioners and other mental health professionals who are required to administer assessments and wish to resist pathologising approaches and to invite practices of accountability into their work.

You can also read Jake Peterson’s paper, Moving beyond the single story: using a double-storied assessment tool in narrative practice, published in the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community work, 2021.

Subscribe to the journal for access to the rest of this issue and all of the other papers that have been published.

Author biography
Jake Peterson (he/him) is a narrative therapist, supervisor and community worker based in Melbourne. He has worked as a community worker for over 10 years in Australia and the US across different communities, including in child protection and mental health contexts. He is currently working with sex, sexuality and gender diverse communities in a counselling setting. Jake is particularly interested in queer-affirming narrative practices, moving beyond the single story and resisting pathologising practices. In 2021, Jake completed a Master of Narrative Therapy and Community Work at The University of Melbourne. His writing is available at www.jakep.net

Published on December 16, 2022

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Collective Narrative practices with women who have experienced Trauma by Lesley Grant

Tiffany — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 20:57:14 +0000

In this presentation Lesley will share how collective narrative practices can be an effective remedy for the lingering effects of trauma and violence against women. These practices acknowledge and dignify the complexity, defiance, resistance, and human agency of the women that live with these ongoing effects. In this presentation she will demonstrate how, through the use of letters of encouragement and other documents, women can make powerful connections, sharing ideas and resources about their lived experience. Shared documents and connecting women provide an antidote to isolation and a sense of being alone, that too many women experience after violence, and these ideas can provide a sense of solidarity and rekindle a glimmer of hope.

Author biography
Lesley Grant (she/her) is a narrative therapist, feminist, social worker, supervisor who lives and works on Awabakal land (Newcastle NSW). She has worked in a number of health settings such as community health, sexual assault and child adolescent mental health for over 25 years. Having moved into her own practice in 2014 with accreditation as a Mental Health Social Worker and Approved Victims Service Counsellor she works in partnership with people who come to her with challenging life experiences and problems stories. Informed by narrative ideas, she is committed to supporting people back to preferred ways of living. Currently she works mostly with women and children who are impacted by gendered violence and are living with trauma and its ongoing effects. She is very interested in challenging individualistic traditions of therapy and using collective narrative practices in her work. You can get in touch with Lesley at lesley@replenishcounselling.com.au.

Published on November 25, 2022

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Our Journeys Into Homelessness, and for Some, Back Into Being Re-Housed by Michael Arcuri

Tiffany — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 23:29:06 +0000

In this presentation, Michael shares his co-research with people experiencing homelessness drawing on collective narrative practices. Michael’s work was informed by a solidarity team carefully selected for their insider and professional knowledges to foster his accountability to those who had experienced “survival”, “fleeing violence”, “living without a roof”, or “feeling invisible”. The learnings from these collaborations subvert, upend, step beyond and outside of the dominant discourses of homelessness. We’ll learn about the betwixt and between space of being newly re-housed and the ways in which choosing homelessness might represent an act of resistance against a culture that does not work for everyone.

Author biography

Michael (he/him) is a psychiatrist who at age 73 migrated to narrative therapy practices because he realized with those skills and knowledges, he could work in partnership with others in a way he had always wanted to. Currently he provides narrative psychiatric services to community members who are still, or formerly were, unhoused in San Luis Obispo, California. Identities of privilege and oppression, and cultural contexts that invite his co-researchers to find paths beyond feeling isolated, stigmatized, de-skilled and unknowing are very much part of each session. His work is part of a Full-Service Partnership with each community member coordinated by Transitions Mental Health Association, on land first settled by the Chumash People.

Click here to read the ‘Journey’s’ document created in this project. If you would like to get in touch with Michael or share a response to the document, you can email him at mic312arc@gmail.com

Published on November 7, 2022

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Special event for Masters graduates from 2020, 2021 and 2022 in April 2023

Dulwich Centre — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 01:10:44 +0000

We’re happy to invite you to the first significant face-to-face event we’ve held in Australia since the pandemic began. We gained more confidence from the recent conference/adventure that we held in Rwanda. It was so energising to be with each other in Kigali in person!

Now we are looking forward to bringing together graduates of the Master of Narrative Therapy and Community Work from 2020, 2021 and 2022 as these are the ‘pandemic’ years where the teaching blocks have been held online.

The plan is that we will hold:

A welcoming event at Dulwich Centre on Sunday 2^nd April
Workshops on 3^rd and 4^th of April at the beautiful Adelaide Pavilion (https://www.adelaidepavilion.com.au/)
Workshop at Dulwich Centre on the morning of 5^th April

These dates have been selected so that they will not clash with Passover or Easter. These dates are also significant because April 2023 represents 15 years since Michael White passed away and 40 years since Dulwich Centre first opened.

Workshops will feature graduates from diverse countries and contexts highlighting the ways that the field of narrative practice continues to change and innovate. We will also engage with Michael White’s archive and make plans for future alumni networks.

There are strictly limited number of places available for this event, so please register as soon as possible with the link below.

Cost: AUD$385 (including 10% GST)

If the graduates from 2020, 2021 and 2022 do not take up all available places, then we will open up to earlier years. But we think this is unlikely.

The cost for the event will be AUD$385 (includes GST).

In the event of a participant needing to cancel their registration, any cancellations before the 20^thof December 2022 will be refunded in full (minus an AUD$15 admin fee). If you are needing to cancel after this date, please contact us via email (dcp@dulwichcentre.com.au) to discuss.

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Elevating children’s voices when working in communities that have been impacted by natural disasters by Hailey Trudgeon

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 01:55:36 +0000

In this Friday Afternoon Video, Hailey Trudgeon details her experience using narrative practice to help children be a part of conversations about emergency preparedness within their community. It explores the importance of children’s voices in discussions about emergency preparedness within their communities. Children are viewed as resilient and capable contributors within their communities throughout this video.

Hailey discusses how she facilitated the creation of a therapeutic document for people who have a loved one who works in emergency services. She details how this document detailed the skills and knowledge of people who have loved ones working in emergency services. In doing so, the video explores how the Team of Life approach can be adapted to the context of emergency preparedness. Hailey explains how she used the metaphor of an “Evacuation Bag of Life” to encourage children to think about people who have made positive influences in their lives.

Hailey also explores the importance of intergenerational collaboration and how centering children’s voices in community discussions about natural disasters can bring important changes to communities. It is hoped that through sharing this video, it will inspire others to provide children and young people with more opportunities to be part of important community discussions.

Author biography
My name is Hailey Trudgeon. I am from the Mid North Coast in NSW. I have worked with children for the past 5 years. I am passionate about helping young people have their voices heard and after the devastating bushfires in 2019 I helped compile children’s stories into a book. This experience is why I chose to study the certificate in Narrative Therapy and Community Work in 2021. Since completing this course I have worked with communities to come up with emergency preparedness plans. In this role I supported children to be part of these conversations. Now I am studying a Bachelor of Community health and hoping to work in the field using narrative therapy techniques when I finish my studies. Now I recently began a role with my local council where I will be supporting youth to design and implement a creative project within their community. I can see a great use for Narrative Therapy techniques in this role and I am excited for the possibilities.

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The Garden Metaphor by Beata Mukarusanga

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 27 May 2022 06:39:01 +0000

In this week’s Friday Afternoon Video, Beata Mukarusanga speaks about the use of gardening metaphors in work with adults and young people in Rwanda. As she discusses, many Rwandans have experiences of farming and gardening and readily took up gardening metaphors to reflect on their experiences, developing ideas like the need to ‘weed’ unhelpful influences, protect themselves from ‘pests’ and keep their preferred values and skills well ‘watered’. Using this culturally resonant language allowed for a move away from Western ways of understanding to elicit and value local knowledges and cultural practices, including exploration of the ways in which expert knowledge about tending crops could be applied to the care of children. In this way, the use of gardening metaphors contributed to decolonising therapeutic practices.

Author biography
I am Beata Mukarusanga, Rwandese, Trainer, Narrative Therapist and Clinical Supervisor. I have worked in the domain of mental health as a psychologist for 9 years, heading the department of Clinical Psychology in the National referral neuropsychiatric Hospital.

My academic training is in Clinical Psychology (2000-2004), and I hold a Masters in Narrative Therapy and Community Work (MNTCW), a joint program of the University of Melbourne and Dulwich Centre, Australia (2018-2019). I also have post-graduate certificates in Professional Counselling and Psychodrama for Children (Alfred Adler Institute of Individual Psychology of Torino). In addition, I am a trainer in Systemic and Narrative supervision after a 2-year diploma course (2018-2019).

My domains of interests include HIV counselling, individual and group interventions for people with drug misuse, and PTSD complexities, child development and parenting skills training, children and adult psychotherapy both in individual and group settings, trainings for caregivers in child care and protection, and clinical supervision for managers and health/social work professionals.

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Telling, retelling and retelling the story: Survivors telling their stories with purpose and authorship by Erin Costello

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 05:53:24 +0000

In this week’s Friday Afternoon Video, Erin Costello brings together collective stories of sexual assault survivors working with a sexual assault team. Through the use of narrative therapy principles, these stories make visible the ways in which ‘expertness’ can take authorship away from survivors, and explores the ways in which outsider witness practices, and the telling, retelling and retelling of preferred stories support double-story development.

Biography
Erin Costello is a women’s health and sexual assault counsellor based on the Gurambilbarra lands of the Wulgurukaba people, known as Townsville, Queensland. She works within a sexual assault response team and is interested in how narrative therapy can be used as a counter practice in the context of taken-for-granted ideas and processes that replicate gendered issues of power and oppression, and the ways in which this can make visible political problems from collective.

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In Our Own Ways: Beyond psychological colonisation

Dulwich — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 06:09:19 +0000

Beyond psychological colonisation

This web resource seeks to trace histories of practitioners, teams and communities in diverse cultural locations creating their own culturally resonant forms of healing practice within the fields of family and narrative therapy. It is hoped that this will assist in current initiatives in avoiding psychological colonization and also acknowledge how the projects below have transformed the field of narrative practice and continue to do so.

Just Therapy Team
Reclaiming our stories, Reclaiming our lives – Narrative gatherings: An Aboriginal Australian invention
‘Pang’ono pang’ono ndi mtolo’: Little by little we make a bundle: The work of the CARE counsellors of Malawi & Yvonne Sliep
‘In our Own Ways’ publication
Divining a post-colonial therapy
Seeking to avoid psychological colonisation: Stories from Sri Lanka – responding to the tsunami
Tree of Life and The Imbeleko Approach
Raising heads above the clouds: Caleb Wakhungu in Uganda
Honouring Rwandan healing ways
Acculturation/decolonization of narrative therapy into Latin America
A Brazilian invention: Community therapy
Further metaphoric practices
First Nations narrative practice
Azima ila Hayati – An invitation in to my life: Narrative conversations about sexual identity
Narrative therapy, Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese medicine
Gender and culture together
Looking forwards, looking back

Just Therapy Team

From the late 1970s, long before narrative therapy was ever known, the Just Therapy Team from the Family Centre in Aotearoa New Zealand and Dulwich Centre in Adelaide were in dialogue and friendship. The Just Therapy Team led the way in inviting/challenging the field of family therapy to consider the imperative of different cultures self-determining their own forms of healing practice. This team has a three tikanga (cultural) organisational structure of Māori, Pacific Island and Pākehā (European) sections who work independently but share resources inter-dependently and created forms of cultural and gender partnerships and accountability that have been powerfully influential. Their work included family therapy and community work as well as social policy work and research.

We have included three pieces from the Just Therapy Team’s work here:

Just Therapy by Warihi Campbell, Kiwi Tamasese & Charles Waldegrave
‘Honouring Samoan ways and understandings: Towards culturally appropriate mental health services’. A research project by Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese has profound implications to the field of ‘mental health’.
Stop Abuse Project by Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese. This short paper describes a community project to address abuse within the Samoan community in culturally resonant ways. It also briefly introduces the considerable work Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese did to generate understandings about gender and culture being considered together.

The work of the Just Therapy team and their collaboration, friendship and partnerships set the scene for later developments.

Reclaiming our stories, Reclaiming our lives – Narrative gatherings: An Aboriginal Australian invention

In 1993, Tim Agius, then Director of Aboriginal Heath Council of South Australia approached Dulwich Centre to collaborate on responding to Aboriginal families who had lost a loved one to death in custody. Determined to create a culturally appropriate response to grief caused by injustice (both familial and collective), Tim suggested a gathering shaped by narrative therapy ideas. This led to the development of the first narrative gathering at Camp Coorong: ‘Reclaiming our stories, Reclaiming our lives’.

Included here is a video of Tim Agius describing the gathering.

The write up of the gathering: ‘Reclaiming our stories, Reclaiming our lives’.

‘Pang’ono pang’ono ndi mtolo’: Little by little we make a bundle: The work of the CARE counsellors of Malawi & Yvonne Sliep

In 1996, the work of the CARE Counsellors of Malawi & Yvonne Sliep led to significant developments. They engaged with the narrative practice of externalising but transformed it into a collective and theatrical process in ways that fitted with Malawian culture and also centred local metaphor and proverbs.

We have included here the write-up of:

The work of the CARE counsellors of Malawi conversations with Aids and Care

And three accompanying interviews:

We have also included an extract of a video of the work of the CARE Counsellors which proved profoundly influential. You will see members of the CARE Counsellors playing the roles of ‘Chief of the village’, ‘AIDS’ and ‘C.A.R.E. (standing for Community Action Renders Enablement). This form of narrative theatre / collective externalising was then carried out in villages in Chichewa (the local language). To read more about this influential work please see the article above.

When Aboriginal Australian practitioners watched this video they were then inspired to create their own forms of practice.

In South Australia, Barb Wingard, a participant in the Aboriginal Women’s Health and Healing Project, created a number of programs inspired by the ideas of the CARE counsellors. You can read her work here:

Bringing the work home by Barbara Wingard

‘In our Own Ways’ publication

In 2000, Dulwich Centre published a small printed resource called ‘In Our Own Ways’. It was introduced by these words:

At the inaugural Dulwich Centre conference (1999), a number of significant conversations took place in which people from a range of cultural backgrounds spoke of how cultural traditions influence their explorations of ways of working. A part of these conversations related to ways in which they are engaging with narrative therapy (an approach to counselling and community work that seeks to re-engage people and communities with their own stories, skills and knowledges).

In these conversations, a range of important considerations were discussed including:

How can cultural communities reclaim/retain their own ways of healing?
Are there ways in which narrative ideas can be used in this process?
While engaging with narrative therapy or other approaches of healing that draw from western culture, how can care be taken to ensure that distinctions remain clear around what are traditional knowledges?

A number of people involved in these discussions said that they would find it helpful to have a document that explored some of these questions.

‘In Our Own Ways’ featured writings by First Nations practitioners and African American and Jewish narrative therapists. Here are three pieces from this publication:

Divining a post-colonial therapy

The following influential paper is by Makungu Akinyela. He describes his hopes for an African centred therapy:

It is my hope that African centred therapy could provide African individuals and families a space to talk about their lives, to make sense of their relationships, free from the interpretations and judgments of dominant Eurocentric culture. It is my hope that a post-colonial therapy could offer a ‘liberated territory’ in which New Afrikan people could re-value their lives before heading back into a world that is so often hostile to the hopes and dreams of our people.

De-colonizing our lives: Divining a post-colonial therapy by Makungu Akinyela

The following two pieces were published in the same issue of the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work (2002, Issue #2) as Makungu Akinyela’s paper. They provide powerful and moving descriptions of cultural/political reclamations.

Opening the Door of Return by James Anani Amemasor

This interview with James Anani Amemasor took place in Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, West Africa where he was the historian in residence. Cape Coast Castle is one of the key fortresses used by the English for the purpose of slavery. Cheryl White, Makungu Akinyela and David Denborough were the interviewers.

Stories of Pride: Linking the experience of Aboriginal Australian, African-American, Latino and Native American communities by Barbara Wingard

In June 2001, Barbara Wingard, Cheryl White and David Denborough travelled to the USA to meet with people from African-American, Latino and Native American communities to talk through cultural protocols in relation to the upcoming International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference to be co-hosted by Dulwich Centre and Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia. This piece of writing was created from an interview that took place on the banks of the Murray River upon return to Australia. This piece of writing powerfully makes links between the experiences of Aboriginal Australian, African-American, Latino and Native American communities.

Seeking to avoid psychological colonisation: Stories from Sri Lanka – responding to the tsunami

Seeing to Avoid Psychological Colonisation: Stories from Sri Lanka – Responding to the Tsunami by Shanti Arulampalam et. al

In December 2004, tsunamis devastated areas of Sri Lanka’s coastline and local community workers and psychosocial workers responded to the aftermath. This paper documents the ways in which dedicated local organisations were determined to hold onto and utilise local knowledge and expertise in responding to the experience of Sri Lankan communities and avoid psychological colonisation.

Tree of Life and The Imbeleko Approach

In 2005, Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo a Zimbabwean psychologist and narrative therapist, had the idea of combining narrative practices with the metaphor of the Tree of Life (Timmel & Hope, 1984) in order to develop a culturally resonant way of working with vulnerable children in Southern Africa. The Tree of Life narrative approach has subsequently been embraced by many. We have included here a video of Ncazelo speaking about the Tree of Life and her Imbeleko Approach; a chapter about the Tree of Life approach; and a handbook on the Tree of Life approach created by REPSSI.

Tree of Life Chapter from the book Collective Narrative Practice
Tree of Life resource produced by REPSSI

Raising heads above the clouds: Caleb Wakhungu in Uganda

After being trained in Social Work in the city, Caleb Wakhungu returned to his rural village, in Mt Elgon, Uganda, to develop ways of using narrative practices to spark and sustain economic projects. In a process Caleb describes as ‘raising people’s heads above the clouds of poverty’ this work responds to social suffering and material (economic) conditions and refuses to separate these. His work is a most powerful example of developing a unique culturally resonant approach that has gone on to influence others.

Watch the presentation here.

Honouring Rwandan healing ways

In neighbouring Rwanda, survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi embraced narrative practices as part of their work as Ibuka counsellors (link to Adelite’s interview). In more recent years, Chaste Uwihoreye has developed forms of practice that honour Rwandan healing ways, language and proverbs. During the pandemic this work also took place through radio, television and social media in most sparkling ways.

Decolonization of narrative therapy into Latin America

Within the following video presentations (in Spanish and English), marcela polanco addresses the decolonization of narrative therapy into Latin America through the means of “translation resistance” (Tymockzo, 2010). Drawing from the same political, epistemological and theoretical tenants of narrative therapy, she presents its translation into her Colombian Spanish. Marcela proposes a therapy of solidarity as a Latin American version of narrative therapy. She presents this proposal as furthering the life of narrative therapy keeping it from becoming colonizing, refreshing and reinventing its practices when ‘arriving’ to a new linguistic context — Colombian Spanish.

Watch the videos here.

Cultural Democracy: Politicising and historicising the adoption of narrative practices in the Americas

Many practices of narrative therapy have spread widely around the world when adopted by practitioners of diverse cultures. In this paper, marcela polanco presents a personal reflection on her attempts at politicising and historicising the adoption of narrative therapy into her local culture. In a spirit of cultural democracy, she departs from acknowledging her own heritage of mestizaje, including the history of colonisation of Latin America. Following, she briefly presents three phases as possible preparations for the initial arrival of narrative therapy to her culture and subsequent dialogue among cultures: a) adopting a decolonial critical stance; b) foreignising narrative practices; and c) facilitating cultural agency. She illustrates her attempts at dialoging with the foreign term externalisation to translate/reimagine its decolonial version in her local culture.

A Brazilian invention: Community therapy

Brazilian family therapists, community workers and musicians combine in the a unique form of practice known as ‘community therapy’. This Brazilian way of working that responds to various forms of social suffering and ‘psychic misery’. The following piece includes an introduction to the history, key tasks, and stages of a community therapy gathering; a description of one example of a community therapy meeting; and a brief exploration of how ideas from narrative therapy have been introduced into community therapy practices.

Community therapy: A participatory response to psychic misery by Adalberto Barreto & Marilene Grandesso

Further metaphoric practices

The Tree of Life narrative approach, described above, was the first of what are now known as metaphoric narrative practices which seek to animate local folk culture as the means for reauthoring. These forms of practice often do not involve direct first person speech and they also act as ways of democratising narrative practice (link to chapter) – they are not only used by professionals but also by grassroots community members.

Included here are four of these:

Narratives in the suitcase by Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo

Seasons of Life: Ex-detainees reclaiming their lives by Palestinian narrative therapist Nihaya Abu-Rayyan

The Team of Life (based on sporting metaphors and originally developed as a way of responding to former child soldiers in Northern Uganda) It is now embraced by Brazilian practitioners.

My meeting place: Rearming ourselves with cultural knowledge, spirituality and community connectedness by Vanessa Davis

When Vanessa Davis learnt about the Tree of Life approach she decided to develop her own form of practice based on Aboriginal visual literacies. The result was ‘My Meeting Place’

First Nations narrative practice

Following the lead of Aunty Barbara Wingard and Tim Agius, in recent years First Nations practitioners have developed a whole range of Aboriginal narrative practices in both the Southern and Northern hemispheres. The following paper describes a synergy between First Nations oral traditions and narrative practice:

Stoking the embers of ancient fire: Counselling First Nations adolescents within a narrative approach by Darlene Denis-Friske

It is the thesis of this paper that the oral tradition of Canadian First Nations people lends itself towards a rich cultural predisposition to meaning-making through narrative, leading towards a narrative approach as being culturally sensitive, deeply respectful and meaningful in counselling work with First Nations adolescents. In addition to a discussion about the vital importance of working within the existing narratives of First Nations youth, the author unfolds a personal narrative as a Canadian Algonquin person. This narrative piece serves to highlight externalisation, re-authoring of the story, the opening of possibilities, and the provision of a new context for the experiencing of adversity.

To view a range of Aboriginal narrative practice initiatives, click here.

This video and paper from Tileah Drahm-Butler describes how narrative practice through Aboriginal eyes involves decolonising identity stories:

Decolonising identity stories: Narrative practice through Aboriginal eyes

Azima ila Hayati – An invitation in to my life: Narrative conversations about sexual identity

In 2007, Lebanese-Australian narrative therapist Sekneh Hammoud-Beckett, in collaboration with young queer Muslims developed a form of practice that involved deconstructing ‘games of truth’ in relation to attitudes to homosexuality and the process of ‘coming out’. It is a way of working that has since become profoundly influential in many contexts.

Azima ila Hayati – An invitation in to my life: Narrative conversations about sexual identity

To read more of Sekneh’s work, see her recent paper ‘Intersectional Narrative Practice with Queer Muslim Clients’.

This paper also includes descriptions of the work of Ola El Hassan and Lobna Yassine in developing Skills, Values and Story Cards with Muslim young people.

Narrative therapy, Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese medicine

Ming Li is a narrative practitioner in Beijing, China, with an interest in the resonances he sees between some narrative ideas and practices, and those of Buddhism, Taoism and other aspects of Chinese culture, history and medicine. In the following interview, Ming draws on multiple domains of knowledge and experience to describe some of the congruencies and points of difference he has noticed, and to explain what draws him to using a narrative practice approach in his own context.

Read Ming Li’s article here.

Gender and culture together

From the earliest days of these initiatives there has been a focus on not separating issues of culture and gender; tracing the liberative gender elements within cultures; attending to privilege and cultural assumptions; and developing meaningful cross-cultural partnerships. Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese has been a key influence:

Working for gender justice across cultures: An interview with Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese

Current explorations in relation to feminisms, intersectionality and narrative practice can be found here.

Looking forwards, looking back

This web resource has traced some of the histories of practitioners, teams and communities in diverse cultural locations creating their own culturally resonant forms of healing practice within the fields of family and narrative therapy. They are also examples of stretching, transforming the field of narrative therapy and community work. The work continues …

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The story variations: Resistance to cultural gazes by Sophie Shuang Cao

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 01:58:03 +0000

In our Friday Afternoon Video this week, narrative practitioner Sophie Shuang Cao from China introduces the entanglement of individualism and collectivism in contemporary Chinese culture. Throughout, she shares two stories to present how these discourses influence the problems, and how narrative approaches can assist to co-research the problem by ‘making discourses visible’ and ‘making the individual collective’.

Biography
Sophie Shuang Cao is a narrative practitioner and psychological counsellor from China. She loves literature, music, travelling and narrative therapy! Sophie can be contacted at 49505750@qq.com

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Inviting Dreams to the Conversation by Carla Galaz Souza

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 06:14:04 +0000

In this week’s Friday Afternoon Video, Chilean feminist therapist Carla Galaz Souza begins with the recognition that even though much of our lives are spent dreaming, many people do not take their dreams seriously. Inviting dreams to the conversation is a project based on responding to this by applying narrative ideas to dreams as a pathway to support the development of alternative stories with women and children from Chile facing hardship. In her therapeutic practice, dreams came to provide a way of connecting with complex ideas and experiences around fear, meaning and identity. The process of meaning-making of dreams also offered potent spaces of cultural connection, personal reflection, and strength beyond being internalised sensory experiences. Similarly, by drawing links between dreams and waking life, Carla’s narrative conversations focused on how dreams offer a way for recognising skills and knowledges that people already have for dealing with their predicaments.

Biography
Carla Galaz Souza is a feminist and narrative therapist from Abya Yala (South America) currently living on Kaurna Land (Adelaide, Australia). As a therapist, Carla has worked with women and children who have experienced violence and sexual abuse in central and southern Chile. She has also worked as an undergraduate teacher in psychology, social work, and health careers, and in projects aimed at psychosocial and educational teams. As a feminist activist, she has participated in the Feminist Autonomous Movement of Abya Yala and in collective projects, including an abortion hotline and a feminist free community online radio. She is interested in bringing feminist ideas to therapy and in translating narrative practices to the Latin American context through culturally appropriate methods. She can be contacted by email at carlagalazs@gmail.com

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Soundtrack of Your Life: A narrative therapy practice intervention by Ian Maund

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 05:46:05 +0000

In this Friday Afternoon Video, Ian Maund traces the development of the Soundtrack of Your Life (SOYL) narrative therapy methodology. In doing so, a practice story that trials its application emerges. SOYL uses folk psychology to engage young people in narrative interactions. It was created to incorporate many narrative therapy techniques, including externalising, experience-near description questions, identifying survival skills and responses to a problem, re-authoring, re-membering, social histories and outsider witnessing. SOYL was trialled as an engagement tool with a young Aboriginal boy who was entrenched in the youth justice system. The methodology facilitated meaningful engagement, unique outcomes, the development of a preferred story line and reconnection, for the boy and his family, to a lost loved one.

Click here to access our online store where you can purchase a copy of Ian’s article based on the Soundtrack of Your Life methodology

Biography
Ian Maund (wakunwakun) is a Waribarra man from Far North Queensland, Australia. Ian is a youth worker for a program supporting young people involved with or at risk of entering into the youth justice system. He works at an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nongovernment organisation based in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Ian can be contacted by email at wakunwakun@hotmail.com

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Bringing a narrative focus to the social work role in palliative care by Lisa Jones

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 06:18:47 +0000

In this presentation, Lisa Jones explains four ways of incorporating narrative approaches into palliative care social work. Along with their colleagues, Lisa adapted the ‘psychosocial assessment’ to include narrative questions, allowing for a different tenor of responses. Next came unpacking ‘unique outcomes’ such as ‘determination’. Lisa was also interested in exploring more the theme of ‘becoming a burden’. Finally Lisa looks at the important role of ‘outsider witness’ in working with people coming toward the end of their life.

Author biography
I am grateful to live and work on Whadjuk Noongar Booja, Perth Western Australia. I work as a social worker, and at the time of recording this video was working in a community based palliative care service. I am always on the lookout for subordinate stories that are hidden, but waiting to be told or uncovered in some way. Narrative approaches have allowed me to work in ways that keep me anchored to the values and ethics I hold precious.

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More to me (than the measurement): Creating preferred identity report cards at school by Tarn Kaldor

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 04:20:30 +0000

In this Friday Afternoon Video, Tarn Kaldor explores the effects of ‘the measurement’ on young people and the development of preferred identity school report cards. It shares stories of young people challenging the imposed definitions of their “performance” and “normality” by others. In this narrative response young people are recognised as co-researchers and experts, sharing their insider knowledge about the phenomenon of ‘the measurement’ and their acts of resistance to it.

This presentation suggests that institutions such as schools are sites of great potential for social change and countering the reproduction of constructed norms. Building upon the influential thinking of Paulo Freire, this exploration makes visible some of the limitations of working and lingering only in the dominant discourses and normative power relations prevalent in education systems.

The video also explores the application of Michael White and David Epston’s concept of ‘counter-documents’ to a school context. This endeavour enables young people to broaden or contest the thin identity conclusions commonly recorded in formal identity documents, such a school report cards. School report cards are written by teachers, for caregivers, about young people. Young people’s input and expertise is bypassed in this process, deeming them passive subjects to their own story, rather than the experts of their own lives.

Throughout, Tarn describes the process of co-creating ‘More to me’ report cards, in which young people determine the criteria and nominate who they’d like to invite to witness their chosen expertise in the report card. It is hoped this creation of counter documents has, and will continue to, contribute to the recognition of young people’s knowledges, competence and contributions.

Biography
Tarn Kaldor has been working with young people in Mparntwe for the last six years, on the stolen land of the Arrernte people. Tarn has a background in social work, community development and narrative therapy. Tarn is passionate about challenging and re-authoring the dominant discourses that attempt to define young people in Central Australia. Tarn’s practice has been greatly shaped by the young people she works and learns alongside. Tarn welcomes your thoughts and feedback and can be reached via tarnkaldor@gmail.com

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Narrative responses to police brutality by Nicolás Mosso Tupper

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 04:41:29 +0000

It can be difficult to find opportunities to tell and reconsider stories of police or state violence. Speaking out can pose a risk to the person, particularly if the story might connect them to protests or persecuted groups. When a person does tell a story of police brutality, it is likely that they will more richly describe the violence they have experienced than the ways they responded and continue to respond to that violence. In this Friday Afternoon Video, Nicolás reflects on particular considerations when working with people who have experienced or been affected by police brutality. It offers a structured series of questions for inviting double-storied testimonies that attend to both the violence and the person’s responses to the violence.

Biography
Nicolás Mosso Tupper is a Chilean psychologist with a Master’s degree in Narrative Therapy and Community Work at the University of Melbourne. Nicolás is based in Adelaide, Australia, and works both in private practice and for a non-government organisation (NGO). He has specialised in family and couple therapy and has worked with people facing issues of violence and abuse, parenting, grief, addictions, and relationship matters. He is particularly interested in social injustice and has published articles about clinical therapy and police brutality, both in Chile and Australia. Nicolás can be contacted by email at nicolas.mosso@mail.udp.cl

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Enabling sparks to emerge: games, activities and narrative practice by Serge Nyirinkwaya

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 07:30:00 +0000

In this Friday Afternoon Video, Serge Nyirinkwaya draws from narrative practices – re-authoring conversations, the absent but implicit and collective narrative practices – and from experiential learning models – as he tells his story of practice: a playful approach to assist children and young people who have experienced hard times to respond to traumatic memories from a safe territory, without requiring them to speak in the first person about their experiences

Games and other activities are used to create a shared experience in which young people employ skills and values. These experiences are used as the basis for a cycle of experiential learning in which children reflect on their experiences and make links with their pasts and futures to support alternative story development and rich acknowledgment of what they give value to and their skills of living and being. In addition to seeking ways to avoid retraumatising, pathologising and stigmatising young people, this process has been developed to offer practitioners an easy to apply and locally resonant way of engaging with children and young people who have been through hard times. It uses local metaphors like making visible young people’s capacity to resist and endure (Being Mudaheranwa), inviting young people to stand together on Akarwa k’Amahoro (Peace Island), and enabling mutual contribution through features of traditional Itorero schooling, including the use of stories of pride, songs and poetic mottos (Ibyivugo).

Click here to access our online store where you can purchase a copy of Serge’s article based on this work

Author biography

Serge Nyirinkwaya is a narrative therapist, trainer and clinical supervisor from Rwanda. He works with vulnerable children, young people and families as Director of Programs at SOS Children’s Villages, Rwanda. He is currently involved in a psychosocial support program to build mental health competencies for supporting vulnerable children and young people in Rwanda where part of his tasks is to teach narrative practices to practitioners from Rwanda and other African countries. Serge has completed the 2019 Master of Narrative Therapy and Community Work at the Dulwich Centre. He can be contacted by email at nyirser@gmail.com

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Researching the Michael White Archive by Kelsi (Sassy) Semeschuk

admin@dulwichcentre.com.au — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 06:30:00 +0000

In this Friday Afternoon Video, Kelsi speaks to her PhD research on Michael White’s video archive, which features approximately 300 video recordings of his therapeutic practice and educational teaching. With the support of Cheryl White, Penny White, and Dulwich Centre, who are the custodians of the Michael White archive, the main objective of this research project is to articulate aspects of Michael White’s therapeutic practice that have not yet been fully articulated in his published writings. Specifically, the focus is on White’s practice with people who have experiences of abuse and trauma, as this is the area that Kelsi has been practicing in – especially with survivors of childhood sexual abuse and assault.

It is important to note that this Friday Afternoon Video was recorded when Kelsi was 6 months into her 3.5 years research project and thus, it describes some of her initial curiosities and learnings from watching and cataloguing Michael White’s video archive. With this in mind, and in consultation with her primary PhD supervisor, David Denborough, it was decided that it might be important to also include a transcript from Kelsi’s recent ‘Meet the Author session’, which is a more up-to-date portrayal of where her research project has taken her. In this transcript, Kelsi responds to questions from narrative practitioners from around the world about her research into Michael White’s video archive.

Click here to download the transcript from Kelsi’s Meet the Author session

Click here to access Kelsi’s article Refusing to separate critique from respect, published in 2019

Click here to access Mary Heath and Sarah Strauven’s podcast, discussed in the transcript

Author biography

Kelsi Semeschuk (she/her) is a Canadian who lives and works on Kaurna Land, in Adelaide, South Australia. Kelsi completed the Masters of Narrative Therapy and Community Work (MNTCW) in 2018 and has been a tutor for the program ever since. Kelsi is also currently completing a PhD through the University of Melbourne on Michael White’s video archive, which features video-recordings from his therapeutic and teaching work. The focus of her research is on how Michael White responded to people with experiences of abuse and Kelsi is endeavouring to link these learnings to the therapeutic work of current narrative practitioners in the field. She can be contacted by email at kelsi.semeschuk@gmail.com

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Pandemic projects from India

Tiffany — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 18:46:00 +0000

These two projects from India both richly describe narrative practices developed in response to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Responding to grief and loss in the context of Covid-19

In Responding to grief and loss in the context of Covid-19, Maya Sen and Anwesha describe a tender, rigorous process of engaging with Anwesha’s grief following the loss of her father and aunt. This grief was complicated by guilt in the context of Covid-19, and practices of making the context visible, unpacking ideas about a good death, exploring and richly describing alternative ways to honour loved ones, peopling the room, and using practices of documentation all contributed to making the visits from guilt less intense and less frequent.

With the passage of time, his wonderful character comes to my mind: an unparalleled father who taught his daughter to rise above her contemporaries; a man sensitive to even smallest needs and desires. To the world, he was a sincere, honest, helpful person with highest integrity. But to me and my family, he is larger than life and a true hero who nurtured every life he touched. He was a great orator, and I am proud that I am carrying his genes in me and his soul in my heart. He will always be the best man I ever met and my mentor for life.
For my aunt, she is more than a friend. Our relationship was lucid and pure. A woman with deep values and full of life. I will remember her as my first friend who loved me like a mother. I grew up listening to her lullabies. We shared secrets and discussed life. She was whole as a person: bold, beautiful and talented. Pishi, you will continue to live through me and so will your values.
A dedication from Anwesha

Download the PDF here

Stories of collective resistance in the context of hardship and crisis: An anonymous collective contribution from India during the pandemic crisis

Stories of collective resistance in the context of hardship and crisis: An anonymous collective contribution from India during the pandemic crisis offers a richly described and nuanced overview of a collective care and resistance in response to the Covid-19 context.

The paper includes narrative questions that can be used by readers in their own contexts, such as:

[W]e wondered what would become possible if we could have joint conversations around these issues and richly story instances of collective care and support. We wondered whether thickly storying these aspects might lead to the strengthening of local systems of crisis support. These conversations started with a discussion of friendship rather than the problem story. This was to enable us to approach the issue from a ‘riverbank’ position (Denborough, 2019) from which we could stand aside from the rushing water of the problem and view it from a different angle. Using narrative practices of re-authoring and double listening (White, 2007), we explored how friendship had helped them respond to experiences of violence and hardship. We asked:
• How long have you known each other?
• When did you first meet?
• At what point did you start connecting and become close?
• What enabled you to form this connection and friendship?
• Have there been times when friendship has helped you respond to hardship in your life? Could you give examples?
• Why is this friendship important to you?
• What are some of the things that friendship has made possible for the two of you?
• Where do you want to see this friendship in the future?
• If this friendship persists, what are some things that might be possible in the future?
Through an exploration of these questions a rich description of friendship became possible.
Excerpt from the section ‘Friendship and collective resistance to violence, economic hardship and mental health crisis’

In addition to these questions, the paper describes the responses of some community members to these questions. Interviews with Sulanga and Ahana provide rich descriptions of the histories, skills, and values that inform their actions, and the effects of these actions within their communities.

This is a beautiful paper, and will offer readers invitations to reconnect to their own responses, as well as witnessing the responses of the community described.

Download the paper here

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The Dulwich Centre

‘STEPS Together’ by Amanda Tay

Nurturing a Narrative Milieu by Beck Paterson

Collecting the experiences of young adults caring for a parent with dementia

An invitation for young adults who have cared, or are currently caring, for a parent with dementia

Assessment and narrative practice by Jake Peterson

Collective Narrative practices with women who have experienced Trauma by Lesley Grant

Our Journeys Into Homelessness, and for Some, Back Into Being Re-Housed by Michael Arcuri

Special event for Masters graduates from 2020, 2021 and 2022 in April 2023

Cost: AUD$385 (including 10% GST)

Elevating children’s voices when working in communities that have been impacted by natural disasters by Hailey Trudgeon

The Garden Metaphor by Beata Mukarusanga

Telling, retelling and retelling the story: Survivors telling their stories with purpose and authorship by Erin Costello

In Our Own Ways: Beyond psychological colonisation

Beyond psychological colonisation

Contents:

Just Therapy Team

Reclaiming our stories, Reclaiming our lives – Narrative gatherings: An Aboriginal Australian invention

‘Pang’ono pang’ono ndi mtolo’: Little by little we make a bundle: The work of the CARE counsellors of Malawi & Yvonne Sliep

‘In our Own Ways’ publication

Divining a post-colonial therapy

Seeking to avoid psychological colonisation: Stories from Sri Lanka – responding to the tsunami

Tree of Life and The Imbeleko Approach

Raising heads above the clouds: Caleb Wakhungu in Uganda

Honouring Rwandan healing ways

Decolonization of narrative therapy into Latin America

A Brazilian invention: Community therapy

Further metaphoric practices

First Nations narrative practice

Azima ila Hayati – An invitation in to my life: Narrative conversations about sexual identity

Narrative therapy, Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese medicine

Gender and culture together

Looking forwards, looking back

The story variations: Resistance to cultural gazes by Sophie Shuang Cao

Inviting Dreams to the Conversation by Carla Galaz Souza

Soundtrack of Your Life: A narrative therapy practice intervention by Ian Maund

Bringing a narrative focus to the social work role in palliative care by Lisa Jones

More to me (than the measurement): Creating preferred identity report cards at school by Tarn Kaldor

Narrative responses to police brutality by Nicolás Mosso Tupper

Enabling sparks to emerge: games, activities and narrative practice by Serge Nyirinkwaya

Researching the Michael White Archive by Kelsi (Sassy) Semeschuk

Pandemic projects from India

These two projects from India both richly describe narrative practices developed in response to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Responding to grief and loss in the context of Covid-19

Stories of collective resistance in the context of hardship and crisis: An anonymous collective contribution from India during the pandemic crisis