International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

Externalising can be useful in addressing conflict in relationships. It can provide space for deconstruction, the consideration of shared values and new meaning-making. It also avoids the labelling and deficit identity conclusions that can accompany internalised accounts. This audio practice note describes an emerging practice for working with couples experiencing conflict: using an artificial int...

In this recording of a favourite paper from the journal’s archives, Mary Heath sets out a personal history of her journey toward becoming a critical thinker. She considers two common barriers to critical thinking: cultural disapproval of critique, and confusing critical thinking with criticism. In response, Mary argues that rigorous thinking offers benefits – and not only risks – to cultures as we...

This audio practice note and the collective document it describes are part of “narrative projects in support of trans lives”, a collection of work being undertaken by Tiffany Sostar, Elliot Trimble, and Nathan Viktor Fawaz. This practice note and collective document were the first to be published in this collection of work.  Not to fix anything, but just to offer a millimetre of relief or breath o...

In this audio recording of a favourite paper from the journal’s archives, a team from Dulwich Centre, coordinated by Leonie Simmons, offers answers to frequently asked questions about poststructuralism and therapy. Narrative therapy is influenced by poststructuralist ideas and yet, for many of us, it can be quite a challenge to understand what poststructuralism is and what it might mean for our pr...

This practice note describes a letter-writing campaign dedicated to sharing insider knowledges of Queer Joy. Letter-writing campaigns seek to create a context to share community knowledges of care in ways that can be accessed by members of the community of concern. This campaign begins with a queer invitation to allow members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in our province to write letters about their...

"Fear busting and monster taming: An approach to the fears of young children" by Michael White was originally published in 1985 in Dulwich Centre Review , a precursor to International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work . In this paper, childhood fears are considered within the interactional context of the family. It is argued that the survival and growth of such fears is dependent upo...

Chelsea Size shares a practice note describing the generation of a collective document of insider knowledges about living with loneliness with older people living in Eldercare residential aged care homes. The document Chelsea discusses can be downloaded here:  https://dulwichcentre.com.au/wisdom-on-living-with-loneliness-chelsea-size/   In Western societies, older people’s skills, knowledges and v...

Yorta Yorta woman Jean McMahon reads this significant paper by Aunty Barbara Wingard from the archives of  I nternational Journal of Narrative   Therapy and Community Work . From Aunty Barb's introduction: With Indigenous communities facing so many losses due to past and present injustice, we have been seeking ways of speaking about our grief that are consistent with our cultural ways of doing thi...

Sara Asfiya Ali shares a practice note about the creation of a collective narrative document called “Resisting erasure: How Muslim women in India are responding to hate and hostility”. The document brings together the voices of Muslim women living across urban India. It centres the voices of Muslim women responding to everyday Islamophobia. Through shared stories of childhood, education, family li...

In honour of the 20th anniversary of the Tree of Life narrative metaphor, we are sharing this reading of a significant paper by Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo from the archives of International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work . It is read by Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo. The paper describes the use of narrative ideas in work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa. How can the lives of children wh...