Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapeutic Approach Narrative therapy is an approach to counseling that centers people as the experts in their own lives. This therapy intends to view problems as separate entities to people, assuming that the individual’s set of skills, experience and mindset will assist them which reduce the influence of problems throughout life. This therapeutic approach intends to place the individual in both the leading role and author roles, switching the view from a narrow perspective to a systemic and more flexible stance. The aim is to help clients realize what forces are influencing their lives and to focus on the positive aspects of the ‘play’. In many events of our lives, we tend to focus on particular things and ignore others. Analyzing our lives as a play, or a system, helps us understand the different forces and roles that are influencing our behavior. This in turn gives us flexibility to invoke the necessary changes for improvement. It is a highly respectful, effective, non-blaming approach. It theorizes that people organize their lives into stories, and that individual are not the “problem” the problem is the problem. It views people as having many skills, beliefs, and abilities that will help them reduce the influence of problems in their lives. The focus is not on the ‘experts’ solving problems, it is the individual discovering through conversations of their hidden possibilities within themselves. The basic concepts of narrative therapy is to enable people to tell their stories in ways that make them stronger and enables people who are experiencing hardship to make a contribution to others who are also experiencing hard times. It encourages individuals, couples, and families to more fully explore other possible ways of making sense of their situations as well as supports to break free of restricting narratives. It also maximizes the existing capabilities and resources the individual may have. The core concept in