Where
This is an online event.Contact
Narrative Therapy InitiativeNarrative Therapy Initiative
617-821-9996
narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com
Authoring Your Life: A Narrative Writing Program
Date: Every Tuesday, January 23 - February 27, 2024, from 7 to 9 pm EST; and Saturday, March 2, 2024, from 12 to 4 pm EST
Location: Online via Zoom
Instructor: Sarah Beth Hughes
Maximum participants: 8
We are the primary authors of our own lives.
Let’s not forget that. In fact, let’s practice that together with some writing practices shaped by narrative ideas, maps, and ethics. What might it mean to be your own primary author and write about your life on your own terms? And how might that ripple into how you practice your life, your work, and support others in being their own meaning-maker of their own life?
I have developed various prompts and exercises to assist you with thickening your own stories. We will explore practices that I hope are meaningful and healing as well as playful and creative. We will also have chances to share and witness each other in appreciative, intimate, and supportive ways.
Among other things, I will be inviting you to write about:
- Your relationship with writing
- Problems that do not support you
- What matters to you
- Your preferred relationship with your “Self”
- Membership for your preferred club of life
Starting January 23, we will meet every Tuesday night for six weeks from 7 to 9 pm Eastern time. We will have a final gathering and co-witnessing on Saturday, March 2, from 12 pm to 4 pm Eastern time.
This will be my fourth year offering this course and my third time doing it without my writing partner, NTI founder Steve Gaddis. He is still with me in spirit and in how I teach this course as we developed the initial ideas together. I also share some of his writing and clips of him teaching to keep him supporting us in living and writing from the Narrative Worldview.
The program is limited to 8 participants, and we are reserving two seats for half scholarships. This course has sold out quickly in the past, so if you are interested in signing up, I recommend you do so soon.
This program will be a live, interactive event using the Zoom web conferencing platform. The program 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 program 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:
- Regular Registration Rate -- $650; a 10% discount is available if paid in full upon registration ($585).
- A $100 non-refundable deposit is required at registration to begin a payment plan.
- Scholarships: We are reserving two places for half-tuition scholarships. If you do not have the financial means for this program and would like to be considered for a scholarship, please email Darcey at narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com by January 1st. We will select two folks randomly and notify them by January 4th. Please also contact Darcey if you would like to discuss payment plan options. Note: Applying for a scholarship does not secure a registration slot.
- CEUs: We are applying for 12 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.
Additional Information:
Presenter Bios:
Sarah Beth Hughes: I live and work in a small hippy town nestled in the mountains of British Columbia. My loving relationship with Narrative Therapy began over 25 years ago, as I worked and travelled with Michael White as the bookseller for Dulwich Centre Publications. I may be wrong on this, but I like to think I have attended more Michael White trainings than anyone else in the world. Well, at least in North America. I have offered workshops on narrative practices in Canada and am part of the board and faculty of Re-Authoring Teaching. In 2019, I met Steve Gaddis at Narrative Camp and became his writing partner. I joined the NTI faculty in 2021 and this year became NTI's new Program Director. I am currently writing a book tentatively called Tender Therapy. It is part memoir, part therapy ideas, and part writing prompts. I am also working with Ashley Gaddis on completing a book Steve was working on when he died.
In keeping with the spirit of including Steve, we are keeping his bio here.
Steve Gaddis, LMFT, PhD, was the founder and director of the Narrative Therapy Initiative (NTI) in Salem, Massachusetts. Steve studied, practiced, and taught narrative therapy from 1994 until his death from cancer in 2022. He earned his International Postgraduate Diploma in narrative therapy at the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, Australia, where he studied with Michael White. Steve also spent a year teaching narrative therapy in the graduate school of counseling at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. He published and presented on narrative therapy nationally and internationally. Steve had a full-time narrative therapy and supervision practice in Salem, Mass., and he taught narrative therapy at Boston College as well as independently through the NTI. Steve received his doctorate in marriage and family therapy from Syracuse University. Steve always said that after his love for his wife and two children, his greatest love affair was with the Narrative Worldview.