How can we empower clients to tell their story?

There are many keys to effective therapy. One of the most basic is the need for an individual to use language. By encouraging individuals to route difficult or abstract challenges through the language center in various ways (individual dialogue, the empty chair, journaling, writing letters (to be delivered or destroyed), and similar activities are common to most all theories of psychotherapy. In narrative therapy, we will see how to use multiple aspects of imagination and language to reach therapeutic goals. Hopefully we have all felt how validating it can be simply to tell our story. Narrative Therapy not only allows that personal validation, but goes further to teach individuals how to use language and dialogue to change their perception of difficult memories, current perceptions, and future fears.

How can we empower clients to tell their story?

Sexuality and Gender Issues in Counseling: Few couples understand intimacy and what it means to the relationship. Discuss how this might be misunderstood and could negatively impact an otherwise healthy relationship (or how it might create disillusionment in a relationship wherein the two have “grown apart”).