Throughout our lives personal experiences become personal stories and we give meaning to these stories that then shape our identities. Narrative therapy is a way of influencing the stories we tell about ourselves and those we care about. We can, with care rewrite or rework storylines of identity to create preferred stories of our lives and those we care about.
In all of our lives there will be moments that we are not proud of or moments that bring heartache.
But there will be events or small moments of beauty, kindness, happiness, escape or defiance. When these events are linked together to tell a story about us, then life becomes easier to live.
The stories we believe about ourselves have often been written by others.
For example, for those who have experienced abuse the perspective of the abuser often remains present in the critical thoughts they continue to have about themselves.
Narrative therapy helps to create storylines of our lives that we can respect and live with.
One of the tools used to help us rewrite our stories is separating a person from their problem. This is called externalising, giving the problem it’s own identity.
It encourages people to recognise and rely on their own skills to minimize problems that exist in their lives.