"The person is never the problem. The problem is the problem."
Practitioner Workshop
Introduction to Narrative Therapy
A one-day introductory workshop in the foundations of narrative therapy — its philosophy, its key practices, and its ethics.
Workshop Details
Duration
1 day
Date
To be advised
Topic
Narrative Therapy
Level
Introductory
We sincerely apologise — due to a fully committed 2026 schedule with various service providers, we currently have no workshops planned for the remainder of the year. We would love to hear from you if you'd like to be notified when future dates become available, or if your organisation is interested in a custom training program tailored to your team's needs.
Our Commitment
Reflective, Evidence-Informed Practice
We hold a deep commitment to rigorous, critical, and reflective practice. Clients and those who refer to us can be assured that our practitioners are serious, accountable, and professionally grounded — not only in therapeutic skill but in ongoing engagement with social science research.
In complex legal and family matters, our work draws on both qualitative and quantitative research evidence. This includes cases that are subject to cross-examination, where our observations and reports must be defensible, precise, and ethically sound. We do not approach this work through the lens of competing therapeutic modalities, which we find an unhelpful and reductive frame.
Instead, we engage with the broader body of social science research that illuminates the phenomena at the heart of our work: how families form and fracture, how violence and coercive control operate, how cohesion and disunity unfold across relationships, generations, and societies. We investigate and mark how the carefully chosen ethical values of respect, safety, fairness, accountability, and responsibility are lived and understood across diverse communities.
What is Narrative Therapy?
People Are the Experts of Their Own Lives
Narrative therapy begins with a deceptively simple idea: the stories we tell about ourselves shape who we believe we are — and who we believe we can become.
Developed by Michael White and David Epston in Adelaide and Auckland during the 1980s, narrative therapy is now practised across the world. It takes seriously the social and cultural contexts in which people's lives are embedded, and it refuses to reduce people to their problems, their diagnoses, or the worst moments of their histories.
In narrative therapy, problems are externalised — treated as separate from the person — so that people can examine their relationship to the problem rather than feeling that they are the problem.
Workshop Content
What This Workshop Covers
This introductory workshop provides a grounded foundation in narrative therapy theory and practice. Participants will explore:
• The philosophical foundations of narrative therapy — post-structuralism, social constructionism, and the work of Michel Foucault. • Externalising conversations: how to separate the person from the problem. • Identifying unique outcomes — the moments, values, and actions that contradict the problem story. • Re-authoring conversations: helping people develop richer, more preferred accounts of their lives. • Scaffolding questions: how to ask questions that genuinely open space rather than directing the conversation. • The use of documents, letters, and witnessing practices in narrative work.
The workshop is highly experiential. Participants will have opportunities to practise skills in pairs and small groups throughout the day.
Who Should Attend
Designed For
This workshop is suitable for anyone with an interest in narrative approaches — whether you are new to therapy entirely, an experienced practitioner curious about narrative frameworks, or a community worker, educator, or advocate who works alongside people in difficulty.
No prior training in narrative therapy is required. Participants who complete this introductory workshop are well-placed to continue into Level One and Level Two Narrative Therapy training.
Our Approach
Learning in the Spirit of Narrative Practice
We believe that how we teach is as important as what we teach. This workshop is facilitated in the spirit of narrative practice — that is, collaboratively, with attention to participants' own knowledge and experience, and with a genuine curiosity about what each person brings to the room.
We draw on decades of practice-based experience in narrative therapy, family law, family violence, and community work. The training is grounded, practical, and ethically serious.