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My Story: The Use of Narrative Therapy

in Individual and Group Counseling
a a a a
Lacey Ricks , Sarah Kitchens , Tonia Goodrich & Elizabeth Hancock
a
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
Published online: 19 Mar 2014.

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The Use of Narrative Therapy in Individual and Group Counseling, Journal of Creativity in Mental
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 Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 9:99–110, 2014
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ISSN: 1540-1383 print/1540-1391 online
DOI: 10.1080/15401383.2013.870947

My Story: The Use of Narrative Therapy

in Individual and Group Counseling

LACEY RICKS, SARAH KITCHENS, TONIA GOODRICH,

and ELIZABETH HANCOCK
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
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Clients reach an impasse in therapy sessions when they experi-

ence difficulty expressing their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
Counselors using narrative therapy assist clients in finding an
alternate solution by externalizing oppressive experiences. This
facilitates a revised narration of their maladaptive perspective,
which they have internalized. Using narrative therapy, a counselor
works with clients to externalize their oppressive experiences and
help them rewrite their life story removed from their problem-satu-
rated perspective. Clients’ exploration of their life story in individual
and group therapy can be enhanced using narrative therapy tech-
niques in conjunction with creative art and writing techniques.
Several techniques described in this article give examples of how to
use narrative therapy in conjunction with creative techniques to
increase clients’ exploration.

KEYWORDS narrative therapy, group counseling, creativity in

counseling, storytelling

People often seek counseling when a problem arises in their life that they
cannot manage on their own (Wolter, DiLollo, & Apel, 2006). The decision
to seek counseling can be anxiety-provoking, but making the decision to
pursue counseling is not the end of challenges. Clients may face challenges
in telling their personal story for fear of sharing their personal thoughts,
feelings, and experiences with their counselor. Using narrative therapy, a
counselor works with clients to frame their fear as a normal part of the

Address correspondence to Lacey Ricks, Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation,

and Counseling, Auburn University, 2084 Haley Center, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.E-mail:
lar0019@auburn.edu

99
 100 L. Ricks et al.

counseling process (Gold, 2008). Exploring the client’s fear helps build rap-
port and explore the client’s narrative of receiving help (Gold, 2008). Clients’
personal narratives are explored in therapy to understand how the clients
define who they are based on their memories of their history, their present
life, their roles in various social and personal settings, and their relation-
ships (Payne, 2006). In this manuscript, the use of creative art and writing
techniques is discussed using narrative therapy foundations to facilitate
exploration and discussion of a person’s personal narrative in the therapeutic
setting.

NARRATIVE THERAPY OVERVIEW

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Narrative therapists theorize that people make meaning in their lives based
on the stories they live (White & Epston, 1990). A person’s story is a first-
person narrative in which the person defines himself or herself based on
memories of his or her past life, present life, roles in social and personal
settings, and relationships with important others (Payne, 2006). Moreover,
narrative therapy focuses on the ideology that problems in people’s lives are
derived from social, cultural, and political contexts (Payne, 2006). The origins
from which stories manifest are the result of influences from a person’s family
of origin, peers, other interpersonal relationships, and sociocultural directives
(Cobb & Negash, 2010).
White and Epston (1990) asserted that narrative therapy works to sep-
arate the problem from clients; and after this is accomplished, clients can
work on their relationship with the problem. By externalizing the presenting
concern in this manner, clients can use their resources to change their rela-
tionship with the problem. In narrative therapy, clients’ existing problems are
related to their personal narrative, and changing a client’s personal narrative
will also change the problem (Cobb & Negash, 2010).
White and Epston (1990) theorized that people seek therapy when:

(a) the narratives in which they are storying their experience and/or in
which they are having their experiences storied by others do not suffi-
ciently represent their lived experience, and (b) in these circumstances,
there will be significant and vital aspects of their lived experience that
contradict these dominant narratives. (p. 40)

Using narrative therapy techniques, a counselor assists clients in separat-

ing from their problem-saturated stories to find the hidden story of the way
people wish to live their lives (White & Epston, 1990). The counselor works
to externalize clients from the problem. White and Epston (1990) stated that
“externalizing is an approach to therapy that encourages persons to objectify
and, at times, to personify the problems that they experience as oppressive”
 Narrative Therapy 101

(p. 38). Creative techniques in narrative therapy, including photos, movies,

artwork, writing, and music, can act as tools for helping clients rewrite their
relationship with their problems.

NARRATIVE THERAPY WITH INDIVIDUALS

In narrative therapy, counselors work with clients to examine and edit the
stories they tell about themselves to promote social adaptation (Cashin,
2008). Clients develop their personal narrative through interpretation of
their life story, which is shaped by their own childhood experiences at
school, with family, or in their community (Lambie & Milsom, 2010). When
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counselors use narrative therapy with clients, the clients’ arrange their life
stories in sequences across time including a beginning, a middle, and an
end (Phipps & Vorster, 2009). In the beginning, clients examine their his-
tory and what has taken place in their past. Additionally, clients examine
their present life and their future. The overall purpose of narrative therapy is
to help clients tell and retell their story. As they proceed, clients are able to
reauthor, or reframe, their life story. During narrative therapy, clients are able
to take an event and situate the event in a new context, where the meaning
simultaneously changes (Phipps & Vorster, 2009).
Reauthoring or reframing clients’ life stories may be done through the
use of a variety of therapeutic interventions. Interventions include photogra-
phy, movies, artwork, writing, and music. As clients are able to reauthor their
stories and express their stories through the different interventions, meanings
of the events in the stories begin to change (Phipps & Vorster, 2009). The
goal of the counselor in narrative therapy is to help clients develop a new life
story that is representative of their lived experiences (Phipps & Vorster, 2009).

NARRATIVE THERAPY IN GROUPS

In 2010, Hibel and Polanco reported that a key component to success with
the use of narrative therapy is listening to the clients’ stories as opposed to
listening for symptoms and/or information needed to gain insight. In addi-
tion, regardless of the group population, it is suggested that group members
and group facilitators listen for how clients within the group view them-
selves. Focus should be on the clients’ intentions and goals instead of on
causes that have influenced the clients’ behaviors and challenges (Hibel &
Polanco, 2010). Although little research has been completed examining the
effectiveness of narrative therapy in the group context, recent studies are
showing support for this technique (Duba, Kindsvatter, & Priddy, 2010).
The use of narrative therapy has been found to be beneficial in multiple
populations and settings. One study by Duba et al. (2010) examined the
 102 L. Ricks et al.

use of group therapy based on narrative therapy techniques with middle-

aged women facing pressure from a cultural ideal of slimness. Results of
the study concluded that a narrative group-therapy approach to addressing
the issue of body-image expectations was helpful in fostering a group that
can identify and question the influential values and ideals that exist within
the dominant culture. Alternately, narrative therapy has also been shown to
be beneficial when working with men in domestic violence relationships.
In 2002, Augusta-Scott and Dankwort examined the use of narrative ther-
apy in groups with men who abused their partner. They believed the group
process combined with narrative therapy would increase the motivation of
men to examine their abusive behavior and their stories used to justify con-
tinuous abusive behaviors. Benefits for this group included challenging the
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men to participate in a positive manner and decreasing the potential for

oppositional and defiant exchanges between the men. In addition to the two
previously stated populations, the use of narrative therapy in groups with
individuals with substance abuse concerns has been studied. Morgan, Brost,
and Brost (2011) looked at using narrative therapy with aging individuals
presenting with substance abuse concerns. Using a group setting during the
study, the participants were given a safe place to share oppressive elements
of their life and to learn how to overcome difficulties including problems
related to substance abuse. Results from these studies illustrate how narra-
tive therapy in a group setting creates a safe venue for all types of special
populations. These special populations include those, such as the elderly,
facing the challenges of aging and physical and social changes. Narrative
therapy provides a method to support the breakdown in the social model,
which often overlooks substance abuse in older adults (Crimmens, 1998;
Morgan et al., 2011).

NARRATIVE THERAPY AND CHILDREN/ADOLESCENTS

Narrative therapy can act as an effective therapy technique to use with chil-
dren and adolescents. Narrative techniques with children and adolescents
can include both nonverbal and verbal approaches. Techniques used specif-
ically with children include puppet work, dollhouse play, sand play, drama,
and art therapy (Bennett, 2008). Working with adolescents is often seen as
especially challenging due to cultural views, norms of behavior, and the per-
ceived need for rule enforcement (Beiver & McKenzie, 1995). Therefore, it
is important to find counseling techniques that align with the counseling
goals for working with children and adolescents. Moreover, it is impor-
tant for counselors to align narrative therapy techniques with each child’s
developmental abilities and interests (DeSocio, 2005).
Narrative therapy allows the focus of counseling to be taken off of the
child or adolescent and concentrates on his or her strengths to overcome
 Narrative Therapy 103

and deal with the problem (Bennett, 2008). Using this type of therapy may
decrease child or adolescent resistance and may increase his or her partici-
pation in and ownership of the counseling process. By becoming invested in
the therapeutic process, children and adolescents can begin to examine the
distortions of their life view. The child or adolescent’s presenting problem
can be viewed as only having a relationship with him or her, which makes
discovering solutions more attainable (White & Epston, 1990). Additionally,
narrative therapy can facilitate therapeutic goal achievement by assisting chil-
dren and adolescents in constructing positive life stories that impact their
identity formation (DeSocio, 2005).

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
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Multiple narrative techniques may be utilized when working with multi-

ple populations in multiple settings during individual or group counseling.
In narrative therapy, counselors work with clients to objectify and personify
oppressive experiences, a process known as externalizing (White & Epston,
1990). By externalizing the problem, clients can separate themselves from
the problem and begin to develop a new life story removed from their
problem-saturated perspective.
Although traditional forms of therapy, like talk therapy, can be suc-
cessful in facilitating achievement of these goals, traditional techniques are
not always successful and therefore increase the need for creative tech-
niques (Shallcross, 2011). Moreover, creative techniques used in therapy can
assist clients in reframing ideas, shifting perspectives, externalizing emo-
tions, and deepening their understanding of an experience or an issue
(Bradley, Whiting, Hendricks, Parr, & Jones, 2008). Keeling and Nielson
(2005) discussed two creative narrative techniques:

Both art and writing have been used in narrative and other therapeutic
approaches as expressive avenues, to address limitations of spoken lan-
guage, elicit multiple learning styles, permit reflection, provide a referent
as a basis for further exploration of meaning and emotions, and bolster
client’s sense of agency, foster insight, and invite possibilities for change
(p. 437).

Art and writing can be used in a variety of differing contexts during

therapy to help clients reauthor their life stories.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS

Art is an intervention that counselors can use during narrative therapy to

help clients reauthor their life stories. Art can be used as a tool to help
express declarative and nondeclarative memories, which may not be acces-
sible through verbal therapies (Kozlowska & Hanney, 2001). Additionally,
 104 L. Ricks et al.

art helps clients with self-expression and brings out any hidden aspects of
the self, as well as helps capture self-portraits (Carlson, 1997). Clients can
use any form of artwork as a means to express themselves, from drawing
and painting to woodworking. Art can be helpful in facilitating expression
and shifting feelings from negative to positive (Kozlowska & Hanney, 2001).
Additionally, art is a tangible way to help clients process memories and
experiences (Kozlowska & Hanney, 2001).

Phototherapy
Phototherapy is an expressive tool in narrative therapy that provides clients
and clinicians with an opportunity for self-directed self-exploration (Krauss
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& Fryrear, 1983; Ramsay & Sweet, 2009). When clients bring in photographs
or photograph aspects of their life, they are given the opportunity to share
their world from their perspective and to describe what they see and how
they feel. Photographs used in counseling may be used to help tell a story,
awaken a memory, or provide a glimpse into clients’ lives (Blackbeard &
Lindegger, 2007; Krauss & Fryrear, 1983). Additionally, clients may find the
opportunity to explore their thoughts and feelings related to a specific indi-
vidual, where they come from, a time in their life, or a significant event via
photographs as an enlightening opportunity with much less anxiety. The abil-
ity to look at and discuss photographs may provide clients with the chance to
confront their thoughts and feelings in a less anxious-provoking manner, thus
encouraging them to tell or reframe their personal or career story (Ramsay
& Sweet, 2009). Using narrative therapy with photography, the counselor
works with clients to explore their stories and begin the reframing process.
By viewing an event in a new context, clients are able to change the meaning
of the event (Phipps & Vorster, 2009). Ramsay and Sweet (2009) cautioned
that it is important to remember that photographs may carry a lot of mean-
ing and encouraged therapists to learn how to use them properly in session.
Counselors are encouraged to participate in training that would assist them in
developing the appropriate skills to work with clients in using photography
in session. Photography is not the only picture-type tool that can be used
in therapeutic sessions. There is a small movement of counselors utilizing
movies in counseling sessions to facilitate clients’ self-discovery.

Movies
Movies in therapy have the potential to provide a unique opportunity in
the counseling process. Movies deliver messages to people in a variety of
ways, and clients take away different meanings from them (Solomon, 1995).
Counselors may ask clients to watch a particular movie and later discuss
the movie. They can discuss and analyze the characters, including their
emotions, feelings about self and others, and experiences, and can discuss
 Narrative Therapy 105

how clients can relate (Solomon, 1995; Ulus, 2003). Clients may use this
experience as a beginning in telling their story and how the movie could be
remade. In narrative therapy, counselors work with clients to examine their
life story (Phipps & Vorster, 2009). Using narrative therapy with movies, the
counselor can allow clients to act as directors in their own life movie and
can help clients tell and retell their life stories. Using this technique, clients
are able to reframe their life stories. Counselors should remember that this
is a technique with limited research and should encourage their clients to
continue to seek counseling services as needed.

Music
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Music is also an expressive technique that has been and is currently being
used in therapy to help clients research their therapeutic goals. In fact, the
American Music Therapy Association (2011) advocates the use of music ther-
apy interventions to promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, express
feelings, enhance memory, improve communication, and promote physi-
cal rehabilitation. Some additional ways music has been found effective
in therapy is in expressing emotions, building rapport, providing memory
sensory cues, creating emotional reactions, providing coping strategies, pro-
moting identity development, and connecting with others (Byrne, Wood,
& Fallon, 2010). Using music in narrative therapy, clients can be asked
to find song lyrics that mirror their experiences and then can use discus-
sion of these lyrics to help facilitate the reauthoring process (Semmler &
Williams, 2000). By helping them reauthor their life story, the narrative ther-
apist can help clients discuss their life stories and begin the pathway to
change (Saltzburg, 2007). Using music in narrative therapy may be espe-
cially beneficial when clients are struggling to express themselves. Choosing
a song can act as a catalyst for beginning the discussion of clients’ life sto-
ries. Furthermore, clients may be able to portray painful life stories through
music lyrics more effectively than they have been able to verbalize them
in counseling sessions. Although narrative therapy is traditionally an oral or
literary form, music can help clients in therapy express personal meaning
(Eyre, 2007).

EXPRESSIVE WRITING

Writing can be used in narrative therapy as a tool for increasing clients’

awareness of their oppressive experiences. Writing facilitates story making,
the ability to make meaningful stories of events from one’s life (Graybeal,
Sexton, & Pennebaker, 2002). In therapy, many writing techniques can
be used to facilitate this process. Keeling and Bermudez (2006) described
 106 L. Ricks et al.

writing as a way to “record and explore problem stories, to develop emerging

preferred narratives, to facilitate change, to create archives of success stories,
and to cultivate possibilities for future change in self and others” (p. 407).

Memoirs
Creating memoirs is one technique used in therapy that can help clients
explore their personal stories. Memoirs, according to Young (2009), can be
used to illustrate mental illness in clients, which can enhance the therapeutic
process. For example, Young explained how memoirs can be used to react
against cultural stigmas commonly associated with mental illness symptoms
and how often these stigmas are internalized as personal weakness. Through
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use of narrative therapy and writing personal memoirs, clients are able to
reauthor their story and manage the chaos associated with mental illness, and
in doing so, they can indicate signs of strength (Young, 2009). In keeping
with the philosophy of narrative therapy, the focus is not necessarily on the
cause or the symptomatology of mental health disorders, but rather the goals
and interest of clients.

Journaling
Client journaling provides another creative-writing avenue for clients in ther-
apy. In 2008, Schneider, Austin, and Arney described the use of writing in
narrative therapy as an open journal format used between the narrative ther-
apist and clients. For example, when used during the course of 1.5 years,
the client was able to express her experience of living with mental illness
and described her years of mental health treatment to find her own path
toward wellness. The theory behind the therapist writing to the patient was
to reinforce points raised in the face-to-face session, but the journal does not
replace face-to-face sessions. Through the written dialogue, the therapist and
the client chose to build on each other’s entries rather than keep an indi-
vidual journal. In this way, their writing paralleled the counseling sessions
because the client and therapist carried on their conversations in writing as
well as during their face-to-face meetings. The therapist processed that the
writing helped to slow him down, and he was able to discern more about
what the client was saying and what he wanted to understand about her.
The client was allowed time to reflect in any manner not readily available
in face-to-face sessions. The client processed that writing helped her trust
others in order to be able to tell her story. The client also stated that writ-
ing helped her understand better why it was initially difficult for her to start
working. Additionally, the writing process through narrative therapy allowed
the client to focus on her successes and accomplishments that she found
otherwise difficult to communicate in person. An interesting aspect of the
 Narrative Therapy 107

case review in this article is that the therapist noted that the client compart-
mentalized her mental illness separate from other parts of her life. Narrative
therapy through writing allowed a venue for both the client and therapist to
integrate and reduce the incongruities between wellness and the individual.
The client indicated through writing that she found the playing field more
leveled and that she had more trust and control over content in the process
of therapy. With more control of the topics, the client stated she was able
to discuss and respond more effectively to the therapist’s questions, which
thereby gave her a voice (Schneider et al., 2008).

Scripts
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Scripts are another writing intervention using narrative therapy to tell a

story. Scripts allow for interaction and combinations of how a system works.
Clarkson and Phillips (2006) used scripts as an intervention for encourag-
ing families to tell their individual family’s story and to communicate how
they interacted. The article calls attention to the case conceptualizations on
how the family originally identified a scapegoat in their script, the identi-
fied patient, as the family’s root of difficulties. By providing a written script,
the focus externalizes the family difficulties and thereby concentrates on
the interactions between individuals rather than the behaviors of the identi-
fied patient. In doing so, the family, through narrative therapy, can identify
maladaptive stories and develop an alternative, healthier script.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The narrative interventions reviewed in this manuscript provide counselors

and clinicians with creative narrative techniques to use during individual,
family, and group settings. Counselors are encouraged to utilize creative
techniques that will assist clients in telling or reframing their story. The use of
narrative therapy in counseling sessions can be a very valuable and insightful
tool. Counselors may use a wide variety of techniques that best fit their
clients’ needs and goals. Allowing clients to tell their story in their own words
can be very empowering and revealing, and it allows clients to potentially
gain a new perspective on who they are and where they have come from
(Ramsay & Sweet, 2009).
Varying populations may benefit from narrative therapy, including chil-
dren, adults, and the elderly. Telling stories is not just for children; adults
regularly are influenced by stories from the news as well as by family
and coworkers talking about their day (Crimmens, 1998). Narrative therapy
has been shown to be effective. With proper training, counselors may use
narrative therapy in their daily practice, thus benefitting clients.
 108 L. Ricks et al.

Although the techniques described in this manuscript can be used with a

variety of populations, counselors should be aware of their clients’ needs and
have an understanding of the clients’ goals in the counseling process when
choosing a therapeutic model. Additional considerations include the coun-
selor’s knowledge of the clients’ physical and learning abilities. For example,
if a client has a significant learning disorder, spelling and grammar may be
a stressor for him or her. Individuals who are struggling with severe self-
esteem issues may not be willing to initially participate in narrative activities
that put his or her story on display for others. This may include performing
a song or acting out his or her own story. Several of the narrative tech-
niques presented in this manuscript take a considerable amount of time.
Thus, the counselor must be cognizant of the amount of time their clients
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will participate in counseling sessions. There is a need for additional research

into creative narrative counseling techniques due to the limited amount of
research on the effectiveness of creative narrative techniques.

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Lacey Ricks, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Special Education,

Rehabilitation, and Counseling at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

Sarah Kitchens, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Special

Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling at Auburn University, Auburn,
Alabama.

Tonia Goodrich, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Special

Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling at Auburn University, Auburn,
Alabama.

Elizabeth Hancock, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Special

Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling at Auburn University, Auburn,
Alabama.