Authoring Your Life: A Narrative Writing Program

With Sarah Beth Hughes, BSW, MSc

Dates: Tuesday, April 23, & Wednesday, April 24, 2024; 9am to 5pm ET

Location: NonProfit Center, 89 South Street, Boston, MA

Maximum participants: 15

We are the primary authors of our own lives.

Let’s not forget that. In fact, let’s practice that together with some writing practices shaped by narrative ideas, maps, and ethics. What might it mean to be your own primary author and write about your life on your own terms? And how might that ripple into how you practice your life, your work, and support others in being their own meaning-maker of their own life?

I have developed various prompts and exercises to assist you with thickening your own stories. We will explore practices that I hope are meaningful and healing as well as playful and creative. We will also have chances to share and witness each other in appreciative and supportive ways.

Among other things, I will be inviting you to write about:

Your relationship with writing
Problems that do not support you
What matters to you
Your preferred relationship with your “Self”
Membership for your preferred club of life

I look forward to being with you in person. We will have a one-hour lunch break each day and a morning and afternoon break.

This will be my fourth year offering this course and my fourth time doing it without my writing partner, NTI founder Steve Gaddis. He is still with me in spirit and in how I teach this course, as we developed the initial ideas together. I also share some of his writing and clips of him teaching to keep him supporting us in living and writing from the Narrative Worldview.

The program is limited to 15 participants, and we are reserving two seats for half scholarships. This course has sold out quickly in the past, so if you are interested in signing up, I recommend you do so soon.

Registration Fees:

Regular Registration Rate -- $440
A $100 non-refundable deposit is required at registration to begin a payment plan.

Additional Information:

Scholarships -- We are reserving two places for half scholarships. If you do not have the financial means for this program and would like to be considered for a scholarship, please email Darcey at [email protected]. We will select two folks randomly and notify them by March 4th. Please also contact Darcey if you would like to discuss payment plan options. Note: Applying for a scholarship does not secure a registration slot. All scholarships have been awarded.
CEUs: We are applying for 13 CEUs for LMFTs with NEAFAST and LICSWs/LCSWs with NASW-MA. Please note it is the participant's responsibility to check with the respective licensing board to determine if these approvals meet the requirements for licensure renewal. If you need LMHC or Psychologist CEUs, we will assist you with the application process by providing you documentation of attendance and workshop information at no charge. If you are a LMFT or LCSW/LICSW and will need a CE certificate, please order one in the registration form and let us know your professional license number. CE Certificates are $25.00.
This program will be a live, in-person event and will not be recorded.

Questions? Inquires about registration or payment? Contact Darcey at [email protected]. Sarah Beth ([email protected]) is happy to help with questions pertaining to the course and curriculum.

Instructor Bios:

Sarah Beth Hughes, BSW, MSc

I live and work in a small hippy town nestled in the mountains of British Columbia. My loving relationship with Narrative Therapy began over 25 years ago, as I worked and travelled with Michael White as the bookseller for Dulwich Centre Publications. I may be wrong on this, but I like to think I have attended more Michael White trainings than anyone else in the world. Well, at least in North America. I have offered workshops on narrative practices in Canada and am part of the board and faculty of Re-Authoring Teaching. In 2019, I met Steve Gaddis at Narrative Camp and became his writing partner. I joined the NTI faculty in 2021 and this year became NTI's new Program Director. I am currently writing a book tentatively called Tender Therapy. It is part memoir, part therapy ideas, and part writing prompts. I am also working with Ashley Gaddis on completing a book Steve was working on when he died.

In keeping with the spirit of including Steve, we are keeping his bio here.

Steve Gaddis, LMFT, PhD, was the founder and director of the Narrative Therapy Initiative (NTI) in Salem, Massachusetts. Steve studied, practiced, and taught narrative therapy from 1994 until his death from cancer in 2022. He earned his International Postgraduate Diploma in narrative therapy at the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, Australia, where he studied with Michael White. Steve also spent a year teaching narrative therapy in the graduate school of counseling at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. He published and presented on narrative therapy nationally and internationally. Steve had a full-time narrative therapy and supervision practice in Salem, Mass., and he taught narrative therapy at Boston College as well as independently through the NTI. Steve received his doctorate in marriage and family therapy from Syracuse University. Steve always said that after his love for his wife and two children, his greatest love affair was with the Narrative Worldview.