Statement of Position:

My Approach to Working with Individuals and Couples

In my work as a Therapeutic Support Practitioner, I am guided by the philosophy and practices of narrative therapy, as developed by Michael White and David Epston. Central to this approach is the belief that people are not problems—problems are problems—and that our identities are shaped through the stories we tell and are told about ourselves. I see therapy as a conversational space where individuals and couples are supported in externalizing problems, deconstructing limiting stories, and authoring new narratives that are more aligned with their values, intentions, and hopes.

I strive to hold a position that is collaborative, curious, and respectful. I do not see myself as an expert on someone’s life. Rather, I aim to create space for clients to explore the meanings they’ve made, the social and cultural forces that have influenced their stories, and the voices that may have been marginalized within them. Whether working with individuals facing grief, anxiety, or disconnection from self, or with couples navigating conflict or change, I anchor my work in the idea that identities are multi-storied, relational, and always evolving.

While my core framework is narrative therapy, I also thoughtfully draw on a range of therapeutic tools from other modalities, not to replace narrative practice, but to enhance and extend it. These can be seen to be used ‘in service of narrative principles’—particularly the client’s agency, voice, and authorship of meaning.

From Person-Centered Therapy, I integrate reflective listening, empathic presence, and congruence, which deepen connection and allow clients to feel safe enough to explore alternative stories. From CBT and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, I occasionally use scaling questions, Socratic curiosity, or exception-finding—not to correct thinking, but to track the influence of the problem and highlight moments of resistance or hope. Tools from Motivational Interviewing, such as affirmations, values clarification, and eliciting change talk, support clients in strengthening preferred identities and commitments already present in their narrative.

Additionally, I have found that tools from creative and embodied modalities—when adapted with care—can significantly enrich narrative work. From Art Therapy and Drama Therapy, I see value in practices like storyboarding, visual journaling, and role-play to help clients externalize problems, visualize preferred futures, or reconstruct meaningful moments. Somatic Therapy offers body-based techniques that help clients notice where problems “live” in the body—providing another path for externalizing and deconstructing experience. When clients express internal conflicts or competing desires, I draw on Internal Family Systems (IFS) concepts such as “parts” dialogue to explore different aspects of the self in a way that mirrors narrative therapy’s relational, non-unitary view of identity.

Tools from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—especially values work, metaphor, and defusion—align well with narrative principles by helping clients separate themselves from dominant thoughts and reconnect with their chosen intentions. And from Feminist Therapy, I draw on practices that help clients identify and challenge oppressive cultural discourses, further supporting narrative therapy’s hope for an awareness of social justice, deconstruction, and resisting totalizing narratives.

These integrations are not applied prescriptively. I do not “borrow techniques” in a modular or blended way. Rather, I use these tools selectively, always grounded in the narrative therapy stance: non-pathologizing, collaborative, respectful of language and meaning, and oriented toward thickening stories of dignity, connection, and choice.

My goal in every therapeutic relationship is to support individuals and couples in reclaiming authorship of their lives, to help them hear and speak stories that feel true and empowering, and to witness the identities they are choosing to live into—often in spite of hardship, trauma, or constraint. Narrative therapy offers a rich scaffold for this work, and these complementary tools help bring greater depth, creativity, and accessibility to the process.

A Note on Narrative Integrity

Using tools from other modalities doesn’t mean abandoning narrative therapy—as long as those tools are adapted to support narrative purposes. A reflective listener isn’t just tracking feelings—they’re helping clients hear their own words, identify contradictions, and uncover overlooked intentions. A scaling question isn’t about symptom tracking—it’s about understanding how much influence a story is exerting, and how agency and identity may be shifting.