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Narrative Family Therapy Paper

3297 Words14 Pages

Clarieece “Precious” Jones is a 16-year-old African American female who is pregnant with her second child. Precious shared that she has been physically and emotionally abused by her mother. In addition, she admits that her father has emotionally, physically, and sexually abused her since the age three. As a result of the incestuous relationship, Precious gave birth to their daughter Mongo, at the age of twelve. Mongo was born with down syndrome and lives with her maternal grandmother. Due to her second pregnancy, Precious has been sent to an alternative school and her family was required to attend mandatory counseling in order to continue to receive welfare assistance. The family has admitted to the abuse, and thus the primary focus of the …show more content…

Narrative family therapists are interested in how we story our experience and use a deliberate and dynamic dialogue in which new meaning can be created. The basic theory of narrative therapy is that human beings tend to story their experience in order to make sense of their lives (Phipps and Vorster, 2015). People begin to ascribe meaning to their stories and overtime, it becomes easier to gather more events that are consistent with their story line. Thus, this becomes the dominant story for the individual and/or family and they are unable to comprehend events objectively (Phips & Vorster, 2015). Precious and Mary believe that the problems in their life resides within themselves and/or family members, and this perspective is hindering their ability to solve their problems. Mary continues to blame Precious for her problems and fights for power within the family unit. Instead of placing blame or trying to change one another, counselors using narrative therapy use questions and conversations to externalize the problems and unify the family around defeating the common problem. In addition, narrative therapy is a collaborative approach where clients work with the therapist to create new meanings which hold more hope for their future. The Jones’ family has experienced numerous traumas throughout their lives. The narrative approach will highlight their strengths and competencies rather than focus solely on their problems. The main goal of narrative family therapy is to give the family a chance to re-author their story through co-construction of desired narratives (Suddeath, Kerwin, & Duggar,

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Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is future-focused, goal-oriented therapeutic approach to brief therapy developed initially by Steve de Shazaer and Insoo Kim Berg at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee in the early 1980s (Corey p. 371). In this type of therapy, therapists engage clients in talking about the problem, but focus on leading them outside of the problem (Clarke p. 430). The clients’ strengths and resiliencies are emphasized during the session by focusing on exceptions to their problems and their conceptualized solutions (Carey p. 371). The key to this therapy is the therapeutic relationship between the therapist and the client. The therapeutic bond formed between the client and therapist is based on mutual trust and

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A brief comparison between narrative therapy and family therapy will also be given.   Overview of the two theories Narrative Therapy Narrative therapy is best known for being used by Michael White and David Epston. Narrative therapy commonly involves a shift in focus from more theories that can be seen as traditional. A collaborative approach is often encouraged and the therapist is also encouraged to show special interest and listen respectfully to the client’s stories. The therapist should also avoid diagnosing and labelling clients but rather enable the client to often separate themselves from the most dominant story of their life to provide a space where alternative life stories can be created (Corey, 2014).

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Though it has certain boundaries and limitations, a lot of times Marion may expect the therapist to act as the expert, instead of having to conduct the conversation themselves (Winslade & Cotter, 2002). For these reason, Narrative Therapy can be challenging especially if Marion will not be a good talker or not articulate. There are so many factors, but the only way the therapist can work well with Marion is to make her feel with an amazing self-confidence coupled with intellectual capacity and other narratives will be expressed properly. The therapist can also program some agenda for Marion to support a framework to her narrative to make her tell her stories easier. But the most important aspect of Narrative Therapy is to empower the client (Flaskas, 1999).

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