Brief Narrative Practices

A brief narrative practice is not a hurried therapy, but rather complete and in harmony with the practices and ethics of longer-term narrative therapy. Practice involves a collaboration that seeks and activates people’s own knowledge to address their concerns as shared through the stories they tell. That ‘know-how’, when brought into ‘stories in the making’, can be developed into real-life proposals for action encompassing counter-actions, counter-thoughts, and problem deconstruction. People experience themselves as knowledged, with the skills and experiences that allow them to begin to address their concern or to more fully step into preferred ways of living.

This workshop will seek to excite the participants about what is possible in brief narrative conversations and bring renewed enthusiasm to practice. The application of theory will be grounded in practical skills that you can use the very next day. Ideas will be explored through didactic presentation, group discussion, skills exercise, and video review of conversations with youth and adults.

Program Objectives

• A road map for brief narrative therapy sessions that bring focus, coherence and completion to the process.
• Specific listening to quickly hear entry points to preferred storylines.
• Practices for co-crafting various 'take-home' documents.
• Ways to co-develop culturally and contextually relevant ‘next steps’ to extend the conversation well past the session into everyday living.

Presenter

Scot Cooper, RP, has been in practice since 1998 and is an international trainer and consultant in brief therapy and narrative community practice. He started the Brief Narrative Practices Project in 2012 as a means to further examine what is possible in time-constrained therapeutic conversations.

His most recent publications include the co-editing of the book, Masters of Narrative and Collaborative Therapies: The voices of Andersen, Anderson, and White (2011 Routledge Publishing), and the articles, Brief narrative practice at the walk-in clinic: The rise of the counterstory (2014) and Quality assurance at the walk-in clinic: Process, outcome and learning (2013) both in the International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work. His high energy and engaging style makes for an interactive, lively learning experience.

Workshop Details

Cost: $240 +HST for OAMHP members ($280 +HST for non-members)

Coffee, refreshments & lunch included

Space is limited (only 50 spots)