Where
This is an online event.Contact
Narrative Therapy InitiativeNarrative Therapy Initiative
617-821-9996
narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com
What Is Narrative Therapy?
Date: Friday May 12, 2023; 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern
Location: Online via Zoom
Instructor: Amy Druker, MSW
Narrative therapy is viewed as a collaborative and non-pathologizing approach to counselling and community work that centers people as the experts of their own lives. Narrative therapy is based on the belief that people make meaning of their lives through stories. The stories people live by are not a mirror of a person’s life but are actually shaping of people’s lives and identities. Narrative therapy suggests that stories are not neutral; and are understood to be influenced by a broader context – particularly in the various dimensions of class, race, gender, sexual orientation and ability.
This workshop is for people who are new(er) to narrative therapy and interested in learning (or learning more) about its collaborative, respectful and socially just ways of understanding people and problems. By refusing to locate problems inside of people, and by always seeing problems in the broader cultural context in which these problems were produced, narrative therapy stands against the individualizing and pathologizing of people’s suffering. The intention of this workshop is to offer participants a taste of the politics and ethics that guide narrative therapy practices, and to consider how and in what ways these values and ethics fit and/or don’t fit with their own values, ethics and preferred ways of being in this work.
The workshop will cover:
- The theoretical framework that underpins narrative therapy.
- The ways stories shape our lives.
- Deconstructing ‘discourses’ or common cultural understandings which may be linked to ‘totalizing’ identity conclusions.
- The narrative practices of Externalizing and Double Listening.
- The Statement of Position Map (SOPM) and its use in externalizing a problem and exploring a person’s preferred relationship with a problem.
- Re-authoring Conversations.
- A live interview with a participant volunteer.
This training will be a live, interactive event using the Zoom web conferencing platform. This training will be live streamed and recorded for NTI archives. By registering, you agree to be a participant in a live-streaming event that will be recorded for archive purposes only. No segments of this training will be made available via video or audio. If NTI utilizes this recording in the future, all participant activity will be deleted and/or explicit permission will be obtained before any such segments are released.
Registration Fees:
- Early Bird Regular Registration Rate available until 3/24/23 -- $115.00
- Regular Registration Rate after 3/24/23 -- $130.00
- Student/Senior Registration Rate -- $75.00
Additional Information:
- Group Rate: We offer discounts for groups of four or more people from a single agency or organization; to register a group, email narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com.
- CEUs: We are approved for 5.5 CEUs for LMFTs with NEAFAST and LICSWs/LCSWs with NASW-MA. Please note it is the participant's responsibility to check with the respective licensing board to determine if these approvals meet the requirements for licensure renewal. If you need LMHC or Psychologist CEUs, we will assist you with the application process by providing you documentation of attendance and workshop information at no charge. If you are a LMFT or LCSW/LICSW and will need a CE certificate, please order one in the registration form and let us know your professional license number. CE Certificates are $25.00.
- Cancellation Policy: Refunds will be given up to 14 days prior to the training minus a $25 cancellation fee. Within 14 days of the training, no refunds will be provided.
- Questions? Email NTI at narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com.
Presenter bio: Narrative ideas came to Amy when she was seeking a way of working that did not insist on the de-politicizing of people’s suffering. She was particularly drawn to the idea of shining a light on the narratives that had been rendered invisible by dominant or "official" narratives told (and often circulated) about the people she worked alongside by people in positions of authority. Amy was very concerned about the harms caused by the ways the people she worked alongside were being storied in ways that left out so much about who they were and what they stood for and resisted. Amy’s practice (and life) are guided by a commitment to social justice and to the questioning of taken-for-granted ways of thinking about things (including the "doing" of therapy, and the imposition of expert knowledge). Amy had the good fortune of working in a public narrative youth mental health agency for over seven years, where she learned and unlearned many of the practices she had learned in school. Amy currently works with individuals and couples in her independent practice, and offers clinical "supervision" and consultation at a harm reduction agency in downtown Toronto and other not-for-profit public agencies who work with marginalized communities. Amy has taught on various narrative therapy topics for the Narrative Therapy Centre of Toronto, University of Toronto, and University of Guelph. To connect with Amy, or for more information about her approach to therapy and/or clinical "supervision" (co/learning), please email her at therapy@amydruker.com or visit her website: www.amydruker.