Dulwich Centre

'Narrative Therapy

Year Founded: 1983

Model of Therapy: Narrative Therapy

Available training types: Intensive Workshops, Online Training, Continuous Training, Requested Training Events

Narrative Therapy offers a non-blaming and respectful approach to counselling and believes that each individual person is the expert of their own life. It assumes people have a variety of beliefs, abilities, and commitments that will help them to reduce and minimize the influence of problems and difficulties in their lives. Narrative Therapy views problems as separate entities rather than part of the person. The very word ‘narrative’ points to the ways in which our identities are shaped by the stories we tell about our lives. Narrative approaches include opportunities to understand these stories of identity and offer ways to re-author them collaboratively between therapist and client. The narrative approach is also vitally interested in how broader social contexts and relations of power affect people's lives. Recently, narrative therapy ideas are being used in work with groups and communities. The Tree of Life and Team of Life methodologies developed by the Dulwich Centre enable children, adolescents, and young adult to cope with traumatic experiences without discussing them directly.

About the Founder(s)

  • 'Michael White and David Epston

    Michael White: (1948–2008), was a co-director of the Dulwich Centre one of the originators of narrative therapy. He made noteworthy contributions to the fields of family therapy and psychotherapy, and authored of Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends and Maps of Narrative Practice. Michael White was an International Fellow with American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, and earned the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice Award from the American Family Therapy Academy in 1999.

    David Epston: Co-founder of Narrative Therapy and current co-director of The Family Therapy Centre, David Epston is also an educator at the School of Community Development at the Unitec Institute of Technology. He has co-authored several books including Biting the Hand that Starves You: Inspiring Resistance to Anorexia/Bulimia, Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, Playful Approaches to Serious Problems as well as a host of other publications. In 2002 Epston was the recipient of the Special Award for Distinguished Contributions to Family Therapy from the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Family and in 2007, he received the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice Award from the American Family Therapy Academy.

  • Founder / Lead Developer: Michael White and David Epston
  • Executive Director: Cheryl White
  • Address: Hutt Street PO Box 7192, Adelaide, SA, 5000
  • Phone: +61-8-8223-3966
  • Website: http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au

Contact Dulwich Centre

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