A Narrative of Narrative Therapy…
Let’s imagine, you and I are cartographers (map makers), and we are setting off on a great voyage together. While I may be an experienced traveller, but I haven’t been to the particular region you are taking me to. You know the terrain well, these lands are the lands that you grew up on, where you spend every day. I’ll ask for you to bring a general map with you, so I can get a lay of the land before we go out on our journey together. This map represents all of your life and experiences that have brought you to this moment.
You arrive and knock at my door. I welcome you in and you lay out your map onto my table. Together we will stand back and look at what is out in front of us. Maybe there are some places on the map that are well known, you’ve travelled them often, you’ve already mapped out a lot of these lands. Maybe some of these places are scary and you avoid them all together. Maybe you’ve never brought anyone else to some of the places before. Maybe there are places on the map that you go to, to rest. ALL of these places are important and you get to decide where you want to go.
When we’ve spent the time looking over the map, we can start off on our journey. I’ll bring my backpack (full of tools and things), and you bring the map and off we will go together. We might start off on one trail, and then head down another. I’ll ask you to describe to me what you see. I’ll often ask at the beginning if there was somewhere particular that you want to visit (however, I do often forget, and might stop half-way through to see if it feels helpful to go down that path, and if not, we can always turn around)…. Every-time we meet, and we are expanding the detail of the map.
Why is this valuable?
Maybe it makes the scary sections less scary. Maybe it highlights unknown areas that you might want to come back to later. Maybe there is a direct route that can be made between two locations that will cut the time in half. Maybe you will want to share this map with others who are close to you. You get to decide if or why this valuable.
Looking for more information on Narrative Therapy? - I recommend Alice Millers Book: “What is Narrative Therapy?”
