“The person is not the problem. The person is the problem and the person is the person.”
Michael White
Narrative Therapy is an evolution of Systemic Therapies, for some people another part of Systemic Therapy, and for others a step beyond that. It was formed by the team of Michael White, an Australian psychotherapist, and David Epston, a New Zealish psychotherapist. It is a therapy that is part of the constructionist tradition of psychotherapy.
Its practice has the warmth of Rogers’ practice as well as the powerful potential for change that the focus on solutions brings. It is a psychotherapeutic practice that consciously avoids situating the person’s identity into norms and helps the person to connect with their values, abilities, and significant people in their life and history. In this way, it creates the conditions for a re-telling of his current story, past history, and future possibilities, a re-narration that is both therapeutic for the individual but also an alternative way for the person to conversate and act in/with their environment.
Its practice, is also ideal for working with larger groups of people because it emphasizes different ways of talking to people.
