| When helping professionals are tasked with documenting an interaction with a person who is consulting us, what often gets included in our “case notes” focuses on problems, which very often get located inside of people. What are the implications of what tends to get included and what tends to be left out of our documentation practices? What are the effects of these decisions on the people with whom we consult? Who gets to decide?
This workshop will focus on how narrative documentation practices can help us bring social justice into our work with people. It will explore the role that letter writing, “counter documents,” and “consulting your consultant” can play in helping people to reclaim their lives from totalizing identity conclusions and experience more personal agency. We will discuss how such practices stand against discourses that privatize people’s suffering and position therapists as the experts of other people’s lives. As narrative therapists, we recognize that language is central in shaping identities. When we are able to capture those “little gems” that someone utters in a session (perhaps about a time when they managed to side step a problem, or what they were standing for in their efforts to do so) and include them in some sort of document, this can assist us in “thickening” or bolstering the subordinated stories of people’s lives.
This workshop is for people who are familiar with the Narrative Worldview (e.g., have taken NTI’s “What Is Narrative Therapy?” workshop or an equivalent training.) This one-day workshop will cover:
- The theory and ethics behind narrative documentation practices
- The uses of narrative documentation practices
- Narrative letter writing, collective narrative practices, counter documents, and letter-writing campaigns, with practice examples
- Participants will be invited to reflect on these practices to explore how they fit and/or don’t fit with their own ethics, values, and principles.
- Participants will be invited to share ways they have managed to “smuggle in” their values and ethics when they are tasked with documenting an interaction with a person (when working in contexts in which their ethics do not align with the priorities of the systems within which they practice).
- A live interview will take place with one participant; the rest of the participants will have an opportunity to practice writing a narrative letter of response to the participant interviewee.
- Some of these letters will be read aloud to the interviewee, and the interviewee will have a chance to share their responses to (and perhaps impacts of) the letters.
This training will be a live, interactive event using the Zoom web conferencing platform. This training may be recorded for NTI archives. By registering, you agree to be a participant in a livestreaming event that may be recorded for archive purposes only. No segments of this training will be made available via video or audio. If NTI utilizes this recording in the future, all participant activity will be deleted and/or explicit permission will be obtained before any such segments are released.
Registration Fees:
- Early Bird Registration Rate, available until 1/15/25 — $130.00
- Regular Registration Rate, after 1/15/25 — $140.00
- Student/Senior Registration Rate — $75.00
Additional Information:
- Group Rate: We offer discounts for groups of four or more people from a single agency or organization; to register a group, email narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com.
- CEUs: We are applying for 5.5 CEUs for LMFTs with NEAFAST and LICSWs/LCSWs with NASW-MA. Please note it is the participant's responsibility to check with your 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 an LMFT or LCSW/LICSW and will need a CE certificate, please order one in the registration form. CE Certificates are $25.00.
- Cancellation Policy: Refunds will be given up to 14 days prior to the training minus a $25 cancellation fee. Within 14 days of the training, no refunds will be provided.
- Questions? Email NTI at narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com.
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