Narrative Therapy: What’s The Story?
It may seem like a simple premise but how we speak to ourselves is often reflected in how we feel about our lives. If you’ve ever said things to yourself like, “I’ll never get past this” or “I’m broken” or “Of course it’s happening to me”, it has an insidious way of manifesting as a reality for us. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be.
When pain, grief, or trauma becomes part of your story, it can feel like the whole book of your life has been rewritten. Narrative Therapy offers a different way of seeing things, helping you to take a step back and see that you are much more than the problem you’re facing. I strongly believe in the power of the Intinnua concept of a new mind, a new spirit, and a new way of being. Narrative Therapy is one of the tools I use to people uncover this, by exploring the resilience, meaning, and hope that are already part of your life story.
Narrative Therapy is based on a simple but liberating idea. Instead of seeing anxiety, grief, or trauma as defining who you are, Narrative Therapy treats them as experiences, things that have happened to you, not things that make up your identity. In therapy, we work together to look at the stories you’ve been told (by yourself, others, or even society) and ask questions like, Do these stories really reflect who I am? Are they helpful? What other stories could be told about me, stories of my strengths, values, and hopes? Doing this helps to shift the story’s focus, open space for change, and scope for a new way of seeing yourself and your future.
In Narrative Therapy, you are the author of your own story, and therapy is a safe place to explore the chapters that matter most. Here’s how that might look:
Externalising the problem: Instead of saying “I am anxious,” we might explore “How is anxiety trying to influence me?” This creates space between you and the problem, so it doesn’t define you.
Exploring the impact: Together, we map how the problem affects your life, relationships, and your self‑beliefs.
Discovering hidden strengths: We look for times when the problem hasn’t had as much power over you, moments of courage, resilience, or quiet success that deserve to be noticed.
Re‑writing your story: We build a new narrative that reflects who you really are and what matters most to you, your values, your hopes, your spirit.
Strengthening your new story: Sometimes this involves creative exercises, writing letters, or sharing your story with trusted people who can witness and support your growth.
It’s not about erasing your past. It’s about finding a way to carry it differently, in a way that gives you dignity, hope, and purpose. Narrative Therapy can help if you’re:
Struggling with grief, loss, or trauma.
Feeling stuck in anxiety, depression, or self‑criticism.
Living with a story that feels shaped by shame, guilt, or failure.
Facing life transitions, retirement, migration, relationship changes, that leave you unsure who you are now.
Wanting to rediscover meaning and direction.
When life feels heavy, it can be hard to imagine a different future. But Narrative Therapy gently helps you uncover the stories of strength, survival, and possibility that are already there. I believe that healing begins with a new way of seeing yourself, a new mind to re‑imagine, a new spirit to bring hope, and a new way of being to live more fully.
You don’t have to stay trapped in an old story. If you’re ready, together, we can help you write the next chapter.
Mind yourself.
Alan.