Counselling Style

As a counsellor I am interested in an interactive conversation
with people about their lives and the problem(s) which have
brought them to counselling. I bring committment and energy
to sessions, to assist people to escape from problems which
may be dominating their lives. I respect the things people
have already tried to make their lives work better.

I believe that people bring expertise about themselves and
their lives, which I combine with my experience of how
others may have faced a similar problem, and together we
work as a team against the problem.

Narrative Therapy

My preferred way of working with people is a style of therapy
called Narrative Therapy.

What Is Narrative Therapy?

Narrative Therapy is an approach to therapy that places the
experiences of the person coming to therapy in a central
position of importance. A counsellor may be an 'expert'
in therapy, but you are the expert in your life!
Narrative Therapy is a therapy approach that builds on
the idea that people live their lives according to stories they
construct about who they are, and what their lives are,
(and can be) like. These stories can act like a lens, filtering
out new and different stories which don't fit the main story.
People present for counselling when the lens gets stuck on a
problem story and the person becomes stuck too.

Narrative Therapy uses the stories people bring about
themselves and their lives, to re-shape new lenses, new
stories, new experiences and new futures.

My Approach to Narrative Therapy

My way of working narratively, uses language to separate
out the problem parts of someone's life, from the person's
preferred identity. I use language to move problems from
within the person ("I am anxious") to a new place which is in
relationship to the person ("Anxiety is stopping me from
getting on with my life").
While this may just appear to be playing with words,
it has big effects in giving people room to move in relation to
the problem.

For instance if the person has a connection with anxiety, this
connection can be modified, changed and made smaller. If we
make the connection with anxiety smaller, then anxiety would
be less of a problem in that person's life.
Narrative Therapy looks at how people can and do sometimes
shift their connections with the problems
(even though it seems that the problem is constantly present).