Authoring Your Life: A Narrative Writing Program

With Sarah Beth Hughes, BSW, MSc, and Danielle Heitmann, MSW, LCSW, MA

Dates: Six Tuesdays, January 21 to February 25, 2025, 6 to 8pm ET, and March 1, 12 to 3pm ET

Location: Online via Zoom

Maximum participants: 12

This training is SOLD OUT. To be placed on a waiting list or to apply for a half scholarship for two remaining seats, email narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com.

photo of Sarah Beth Hughes sitting at a table in the woods writing. Her back is to the camera.

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?

We have developed various prompts and exercises to assist you with thickening your own stories. We will explore practices that we 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, we will be inviting you to write about:

Your relationship with writing
Problems that do not support you and you want them to have less influence
What matters to you, and how this could have more influence!
Your preferred relationship with your “Self”
Membership for your preferred club of life

photo of Danielle Heitmann lying in a hammock and reading

This year Danielle Heitmann joins us. She is a long-time practitioner of narrative ideas and a lover of writing using these practices. She brings some added creativity to the process. We both had a relationship with Steve Gaddis, and we bring many of his ideas and passions into the course. We 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 12 participants, and we are reserving two seats for half scholarships. The course meetings will be held online using the Zoom web conferencing platform. The Zoom sessions will not be recorded.

This course has sold out quickly in the past, so if you are interested in signing up, we recommend you do so soon.

Dates and Times:

Six Tuesdays: January 21, January 28, February 4, February 11, February 18, February 25, 2025, 6 to 8pm ET
Saturday, March 1, 12 to 3pm ET

Registration Fees:

Regular Registration Rate -- $700; a 10% discount is available if paid in full upon registration ($630).
A $100 non-refundable deposit is required at registration to begin a payment plan. Contact Darcey at narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com to discuss payment plan options.

What People Are Saying About This Course:

“This writing class has been monumental and profound to my own developing story. I have a newfound appreciation for the person I have been in my life and who I am still becoming. I see myself with more loving and tender eyes. I embrace myself more fully with care and fierceness -—in the words of Sarah Beth —"a peaceful warrior”. I have been touched by the practice of writing and experienced the impact it can have on my own story (life) and that of others. The sharing and witnessing of our lives through writing has been incredibly moving and hopeful.” — Ana H.L.

“The writing workshop was awesome. It kindly guided me towards re-engaging in my relationship with writing — not as a graded, academic, performative skill — but rather as a liberating force in my life, and a source of connection with others. The presenter nurtured such a warm, kind, respectful environment for the group. 10/10 recommend! ” — Toby K.

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 narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com. We will select two folks randomly and notify them by December 1. Please also contact Darcey if you would like to discuss payment plan options. Note: Applying for a scholarship does not secure a registration slot.
CEUs: We are applying for 12 CEUs for LMFTs with NEAFAST and LICSWs/LCSWs with NASW-MA. Please note it is the participant's responsibility to check with their 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. CE Certificates are $25.00.
Cancellation policy: Refunds will be given up to 30 days prior to the beginning of the course, minus the $100 non-refundable deposit. Within 30 days of the first day of the course, no refunds will be provided.

Questions? Inquires about registration or payment? Contact Darcey at narrativetherapyinitiative@gmail.com. Sarah Beth (sarahbeth123@gmail.com) is happy to help with questions pertaining to the course and curriculum.

Instructor Bios:

Danielle Heitmann, MSW, LCSW, MA

Danielle discovered the Narrative Worldview in the summer of 2013, when her graduate advisor introduced her to Michael White’s ideas. This perspective transformed her approach to learning and trauma therapy, emphasizing that people are “more than their problems.” Since then, she has deepened her connection to narrative practices and relationships through NTI and is dedicated to advancing her skills. After taking the Authoring Your Life course twice, Danielle found writing to be a powerful tool for making meaning from her experiences. She aims to create spaces for others to develop their own relationships with writing as a source of creative expression and profound meaning-making.

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 traveled 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 last 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.