11th January 2010

Extending Narrative Practice: Refreshing the Spirit of the Work

A four-day training event in Vermont, USA with Shona Russell, Peggy Sax and Gaye Stockell.

June 14 - 17, 2010.

Click here for flyer (cover).
Click here for more detailed information.

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20th October 2009

Online Learning

Would you like to join an international group of psychologists, social workers, counselors and other mental health and human service practitioners to actively study developments in narrative practice and collaborative inquiry?

Are you able to set aside a bit of time to review writings and recordings - historic and current - and then share learning's and questions with others through an online forum?

For further information please check
* Narrative Practices Adelaide 2010 Certificate in Narrative Therapy which has an online learning component.
* "Narrative Practice & Collaborative Inquiry Study Group" started by Peggy Sax.

Peggy Sax has started an online "Narrative Practice & Collaborative Inquiry Study Group." which provides an international meeting place where members come together to study articles and recordings according to a schedule, and then share reflections, discoveries, and inquiries with each other. We believe this is an exciting initiative. The outline of readings, recordings and guest authors is ongoing so it is possible to join at anytime. For the first time participants of the NPA 2010 Certificate course  will become part of this online community.


If you are living in a remote area, enjoy on-line interactions, want to join lively and up to date discussions related to narrative practice or actively study narrative practice then check out this flyer.

For further information, see: http://reauthoringteaching.com/home_study.html. Please help us spread the word to the folks you think might be interested.

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SCHEDULE OF TRAINING FOR 2010

Extending Narrative Practice – small group intensive

February 8th - 12th. ===WORKSHOP FULL====

This five day intensive will be limited to 10 participants. The teaching will focus on participants having the opportunity to follow live interviews as a basis for extending their exploration of narrative practice. Suitable for practitioners who have completed introductory training in the narrative approach.

Exploring narrative approaches to counselling men who use violence and abuse - An Introduction.

Februrary 22nd and 23rd. Rob Hall.

In this workshop there will be a focus on:

• The conceptual ideas underpinning the work with men, on challenging explanations and on the politics of power relations.
• The ethical position of the therapist in work with men. How do we not replicate the very practices that need addressing? How do we own the position that we are taking?
• Providing men with an alternative territory of life and identity in which to stand, and from which to strongly critique their own abusive and exploitative actions.
• Scaffolding the development of respect, responsibility and accountability as concepts that are storied in experience and able to be put into action.
• The centrality of the experiences of the people that have been hurt by the man’s use of violence.

Click here for flyer.

Level II Extending Narrative Practice

May 3rd - 7th. Shona Russell.

This 5 day intensive workshop is planned to provide opportunities for participants to extend on ideas and practices of narrative therapy they have gained through previous training. The features of this intensive include prioritizing the particular interests of participants which will actively shape the agenda of the intensive. There will be ongoing exploration of the skills of narrative therapy including

• Putting narrative ideas into practice through collaborative interviewing
• The use of letter writing and documents to support emerging stories
• Scaffolding  the absent but implicit
• Elaborating on specific practices of the narrative approach

 The focus of the intensive will be on the development of skills applicable in work with individuals, families, groups and communities. The teaching methodology will include live interviews, review of therapeutic conversations, sharing stories of work, gaining experience through structured exercises, descriptions of specific maps of narrative practice and group discussion. We hope to create a rigorous and lively learning experience where participants can further develop their ideas and skills in collaboration with others. There will be maximum of 12 participants.

Flyer coming soon.

Responding to the Effects of Trauma and Abuse in Women’s Lives

July 5th and 6th. Shona Russell & Maggie Carey.

Many practitioners through their work with individuals, families and communities come face to face with the ongoing effects of trauma and abuse in the lives of women. In this 2 day workshop we will explore a range of narrative practices that provide opportunities for workers who are responding to trauma.

The agenda will include:

• Review of key ideas of the narrative approach when working with the effects of trauma
• locating practices of violence and abuse in social and historical contexts
• identifying responses to trauma
• intentional understandings of identity
• the absent but implicit as a gateway to rich story development
• skills in creating an audience for women’s stories

A focus of the workshop is on skills development through a range of structured exercises and discussion. Stories of work from a range of settings will be shared and participants will be encouraged to review the use of narrative ideas and practices in their particular contexts.

Flyer coming soon.

Extending narrative approaches to counselling men who use violence and abuse

July 7th - 9th. Rob Hall.

Click here for flyer.

Level 1 intensive – Introducing a Narrative Approach

August 9th - 13th. Shona Russell & Maggie Carey.

The focus of this intensive training is to provide an opportunity for practitioners from a range of fields including social work, psychology, and community work to explore narrative therapy approaches to their work. The Level 1 workshop will provide a sound base for those who are new to narrative practice as well as an opportunity to build on skills and understandings for people who have previous knowledge. The course will include explorations of:

• Key ideas of narrative therapy
• Locating narrative therapy in a context
• The narrative metaphor and how stories shape us
• A review of the micro maps of narrative therapy
• The role of externalising conversations with individuals, families and groups
• Re- Authoring conversations through rich story development
• Intentional understandings of identity
• Creating an audience for preferred story development
• The narrative approach in work with individuals, families, groups and communities

This intensive workshop will offer participants a thorough immersion in the application of the micro maps of narrative practice as described by Michael White. Maggie and Shona will use illustrations from their own work along with structured exercises and group discussion as a way of supporting participants to engage with narrative practice. The emphasis will be on developing skills in using the narrative approach and how this might apply in a variety of settings.
These intensives will have a maximum of 12 participants as we aim to foster a spirit of collaborative exploration in our teaching and to maximize opportunity for questions and discussion.

Flyer coming soon.

Supervision

September 8th - 10th. Shona Russell.

This workshop is for people in a supervisory role who are interested in using narrative practices to support the work of the people that they supervise. A range of roles and responsibilities related to supervision will be explored as well as ideas and practices that can enliven supervision. The workshop programme will include;

• Narrative approaches to supervision – options and possibilities.
• “Practices that reinvigorate our work”
• Intentional state inquiries – an exploration
• Exploring the “absent but implicit”
• The position we take as supervisors
•  Supervision as a negotiated relationship.
• Re- storying professional identity through  rich story development
• Creating audiences for re-storying professional identity

Click here for flyer.

SCHEDULE OF TRAINING FOR 2011

Level 1 intensive – Introducing a Narrative Approach

February 7th - 11th 2011. Maggie Carey & Shona Russell.

Flyer coming soon.

Level 2 intensive - Extending Narrative Practice

February 14th - 18th 2011. Maggie Carey & Shona Russell.

Flyer coming soon.

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11th March 2009

Special announcement: International Training Programme in Narrative Therapy

Narrative Practices Adelaide announces a year long international programme in collaboration with:

The Narrative Teaching Partnership/Centre for Narrative Practice, UK;

Art Fisher, Canada & Allan Holmgren, DISPUK, Denmark

3 blocks of  2 weeks of intensive training in therapeutic practice based on narrative and post-structuralist ideas.

Click here for details.

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6th Feb 2009

Shine A Light Narrative Therapy Research Fund - Launch

The SHINE A LIGHT NARRATIVE THERAPY RESEARCH FUND and accompanying Website are now "live".

Click here for more information.

The website URL is: http://www.shinealightntresearchfund.org/
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1st December 2008

Training Programme 2009

Narrative Practices Adelaide announces a programme of training dates for 2009.

Click here for details.

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1st December 2008

European Conference of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

July 9th - 10th 2009 Brighton, United Kingdom.

The Centre for Narrative Practice is excited to announce the first European Conference of Narrative Therapy and Community Work.

A wide range of European countries are involved in working together to make this a special event. Countries involved include: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. And we hope there may be more to come. We are expecting that most of these countries will provide workshops, making this a truly European event.

Keynote speakers will include Allan Holmgren from DISPUK Denmark, and Maggie Carey and Shona Russell from Narrative Practices Adelaide. DISPUK is Europe’s largest agency that provides services specifically from a narrative perspective, whilst Narrative Practices Adelaide is the successor to Michael White’s centre in Adelaide. It was at Michael’s suggestion that we started to plan this conference and we had looked forward to his participation, so it will be especially good to have him represented in this way.

http://www.narrativepractice.com

For Italian translation click here
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10 November 2008

Announcement of New Projects

We are pleased to spread the word about several new ventures by Peggy Sax. In her book, Re-authoring Teaching: Creating a Collaboratory, and companion website, http://www.reauthoringteaching.com, Peggy shows how teachers, students and practitioners can take advantage of the exciting potential of the online medium to consult with each other, bring multiple voices into teaching, and learn about life experiences from people who seek our services. We highly recommend Re-authoring Teaching: Creating a Collaboratory not only for it's value related to the medium of online learning but also for the skillful articulation and exploration of narrative practice that Peggy Sax provides.

Now, Peggy is embarking on a new project – to bring together a vibrant international community of colleagues to actively study developments in narrative practice and collaborative inquiry, and to reflect on applications in our own work. You can read more about this study group, the “Narrative Practice and Collaborative Inquiry Study Group,” at http://www.reauthoringteaching.com/study_group_info.html.

Peggy is in search of eager, lifelong learners who can set aside time according to their own schedules to continue their studies and (if interested) earn continuing education credits. By participating, members have access to a private discussion board where they can review writings and recordings, and then join others in exchanging ideas and questions. There will also be exercises for practice and opportunities to consult with knowledged people outside the study group including some of the authors whose writings and recordings are among those posted on the private discussion board.

The Narrative Practice and Collaborative Inquiry Study Group has already started meeting online! Peggy welcomes others to join now at no charge. Beginning January 1, 2009, there will be a monthly fee for this service, with an additional charge if you request continuing education credits. Fee reductions by request are readily available for people with limited funds. Anyone can cancel the subscription at any time. For further information, please contact Peggy Sax at sax@reauthoringteaching.com.

Please visit the http://www.reauthoringteaching.com/ website, where you can learn more about these projects, order the book, join the mailing list, and sign the guest book.

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23rd May 2008

Narrative Practices Adelaide has its history based in the ADELAIDE NARRATIVE THERAPY CENTRE (ANTC), the centre that Michael White established in January 2008, a few months before his sad and untimely death in April 2008. From its inception Maggie Carey and Rob Hall joined Michael in the formation and early development of ANTC.

Because of legal difficulties involved with Michael’s will in relation to the ANTC website, it has become necessary for us to establish a totally separate identity - NARRATIVE PRACTICES ADELAIDE (NPA). We are doing this in order to allow the processes of dealing with Michael’s estate to follow their course and so that we can move forward with our work and with some of the plans and intentions that Michael had for a new centre.

Shona Russell, a long term colleague and friend of Michael’s has joined Maggie and Rob as an Associate of Narrative Practices Adelaide.

Narrative Practices Adelaide has a strong desire to continue with Michael’s aims and intentions in a way that would fit with the sentiment of what Michael had proposed. We envision a small, vibrant centre that collaborates with other centres and that acknowledges the rich and varied history of Michael’s work.

Acknowledgments and Future Directions
We would sincerely like to acknowledge the many thoughtful and encouraging responses that we have received from narrative practitioners around the world in relation to the continuation of the Adelaide Narrative Therapy Centre. The interest and support that people have expressed in what might happen with ANTC has been incredibly important to us in this sad time. The encouragement that we have received has helped us to keep looking for ways in which we might be able to continue on with Michael’s intentions and hopes, and the formation of NPA is a response to these messages of support and a step toward the furthering of some of these plans.

It is still early days in all of this, but we have been having many conversations amongst ourselves and with the wider community of teachers and practitioners, particularly those with whom Michael had developed close links over recent years.

It has been very heart warming to hear from the many people with whom Michael had spoken with excitement and anticipation about what ANTC might offer. It has also been more than a little daunting to think about how we might begin (as NPA now) to respond to the sense of responsibility we feel to see some of these plans come to fruition. There is no doubt in our minds that this will only take place through connection with like- minded others and through a sense of a wider network.

It is important to us at this time to acknowledge the long and productive history of Michael’s work as co-director of Dulwich Centre where he was based from 1983- January 2008. Many of us have formed our connections with and been inspired by Michael and his work during this period, and it will always be a significant part of the history of our ongoing relationship with narrative practice.

When Michael announced in January the beginning of a new centre for narrative teaching and practice here in Adelaide, he described his intentions in this way:

15th January 2008
The Adelaide Narrative Therapy Centre has been established for the further development of narrative practice.
This centre will provide counselling services to the community, and training workshops on a range of topics relevant to work with individuals, couples, families, groups and communities.
It will also provide a context for exploring the implications, for counselling practice, of recent developments in the fields of social and human enquiry.
This website will be further developed over the coming months, and will include items of significance to practitioners who are responding to requests for assistance with a wide range of problems and predicaments.

Our response as Narrative Practice Adelaide:

Establishing a network of practitioners.
One of Michael’s clear intentions was to further the links and connections with the many existing centres of Narrative practice.  He had envisaged such a network being a support between centres for the work that was already being done, as well as being inspiration for the further development of narrative practice. We have been actively considering ways of furthering this intention and look forward to hearing from interested people about how this network might take shape. We wish to establish links with other teachers of narrative practice to further support our ongoing work to put narrative ideas into practice.

Provision of therapy and counselling services.
Shona, Rob and Maggie have a long history of providing counselling and therapeutic services in their local community and they will continue this work. Their therapeutic work often links them with government and non-government community services and they value ongoing working relationship with a range of family and community agencies in Adelaide.
Shona and Maggie have recently moved into new consultation rooms in Hurtle Square in Adelaide These rooms  overlook the tree tops of this quiet square of Adelaide that is also known as the Forest of Dreams.
Rob also works from NADA counselling, consulting and training, which is  an independent therapy centre based at Hindmarsh in Adelaide.

Training opportunities.
Maggie and Shona have been involved in the teaching of narrative therapy and community work for many years, both in Australia and internationally. This is an aspect of their work that they value highly and that they look forward to continuing.
Maggie, Shona and Rob have all taught for many years as facilitators for the Diploma of Narrative Approaches for Aboriginal people (counselling, group and community work), a TAFE accredited diploma that is run through the Regional Centre at Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia. One of the last meetings in which Michael participated the day before he left Adelaide for teaching overseas was with the education team at Nunkuwarrin Yunti. At this meeting Michael and Maggie discussed with the team the possibilities of creating a more visible link between ANTC and the teaching that was taking place in this course. NPA will be continuing this link.

Narrative Skills based workshops in Adelaide.
Maggie and Shona will offer skills based workshops in Adelaide. These workshops are a continuation of 5 day intensives which they currently run for other centres and training programmes. Workshops will be available for people new to narrative practice and for practitioners who wish to extend the skills they are already using. The focus of these workshops is in exploring the micro maps of Narrative practice as described by Michael White in his latest book Maps of Narrative Practice. The skills explored in the workshops will be relevant to working with individuals, families, groups and communities. Maggie and Shona have practical experience in each of these settings.

Preliminary notice of Narrative practice training programme 2009

Narrative Supervision
Shona and Maggie have a keen interest in supporting the work of other practitioners through consultation and supervision. Their focus is to assist practitioners to further develop and understand their work. They have experience in working with teams whose work relates to responding to trauma, human service community organisations as well as supporting practitioners who are using narrative therapy approaches in their work.  They will continue this work both locally and internationally through the wonders of Skype!!

Development of the NPA website
Plans are underway for the further evolution of this site to share developments in practice between centres around the world. We will keep you in touch with plans as they unfold.

New Initiatives 
Michael had been looking forward to extending on the ways in which narrative practice might contribute to the work with men who use violence in their relationships.  This has been the focus of Rob’s work for many years and he, Maggie and Shona have begun conversations about ways of progressing this initiative.

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