narrative practice

The term Narrative, here, describes the moments of stories over a plot across time. Our lived experience is full of stories; some of them we perceive to be joyous, some of them talk about our distresses, some stories are obscure with time, some reminds us of our hopes, dreams and preferences, some can be hidden, some can be preferred but subjugated and some can be not preferred. Stories play an important role in this practice. Stories are born in context, and we are born in stories. We carry stories with us. The situations where I interact as an individual is born from my associations from the broader world; historical, social, cultural, political and many more. There are hidden stories in our experience which very often speak of our resistance against oppressed norms of the structures of the society.

As mental health professional, when people come to us with their distress stories, narrative practice helps us to get involved in a collaborative journey to explore the person’s lived experience; situations; external circumstances which have subtle or overt effect on that person’s life; shiny moments of their lives otherwise veiled by time & oppressive norms; hidden knowledge residing in their lived experience of their skills, abilities and identities which go unnoticed in the mainstream.

Imagination and creativity often go unobserved too which reside in the lived experience of people as hidden tools to cope with adversity; to travel deep into the territory of comfort. Exploring creativity in stories of everyday life and use of metaphors are very important in narrative practices. By exploring numerous stories from past, near past and present, unfolding goes on and these conversations connect the person with their dreams, hopes, values and commitments and help them to witness new possibilities, to figure out their preferred pathway of life in future as they are the experts of their own lives. 
This approach was developed during the 1970s and 1980s, largely by Australian social worker Michael White (29 December 1948 – 4 April 2008) and New Zealander therapist David Epston (born 30 August 1944). We believe that this approach towards life can make this world a better place.