Presenting a compelling evidence base for narrative therapy. Narrative therapy introduces the idea that our lives are made up of multiple events that can be strung together in many possible stories. These stories can be developed to find richer (or "thicker") narratives, and thus release the hold of negative ("thin") narratives upon the client. Replete with case examples from clinical practice, this is the first book to present a compelling evidence base for narrative therapy, interweaving practice tips, training, and research. The book’s rigorous, research-based approach meets the increasing demand on therapists to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach, critically reflecting on both process and outcomes, expanding on the concept of evidence-based practice.

Social Justice and Counseling represents the intersection between therapy, counseling, and social justice. The international roster of contributing researchers and practitioners demonstrate how social justice unfolds, utterance by utterance, in conversations that attend to social inequities, power imbalances, systemic discrimination, and more. Beginning with a critical interrogation of the concept of social justice itself, subsequent sections cover training and supervising from a social justice perspective, accessing local knowledge to privilege client voices, justice and gender, and anti-pathologizing and the politics of practice. Each chapter concludes with reflection questions for readers to engage experientially in what authors have offered. Students and practitioners alike will benefit from the postmodern, multicultural perspectives that underline each chapter.

The Language of the Soul in Narrative Therapy uniquely bridges the gap between narrative therapy and spirituality to describe how the theory and practice of narrative therapy may be expanded and enriched by incorporating the language of the soul. Divided into three parts, the book begins by contextualizing the approach of narrative therapy and spirituality. Chapters then debate the complexity of the ‘soul’ as a term drawing on the work of Christian mystics and philosophers, such as Teresa of Avila, Edith Stein, Merleau-Ponty, and Bakhtin, to show how their theoretical ideas can be incorporated in counseling practice and spiritual direction. The book concludes by discussing how the language of the soul can be integrated and applied in postmodern practice. With case examples from faith belief systems, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Paganism, Wicca, and Yazidism, throughout, this book is essential reading for therapists, clinical social workers, and counsellors in practice and graduate training, as well as spiritual directors and pastoral counselors interested in the ideas and practices of narrative therapy.

Brief Narrative Practice in Single-Session Therapy emphasizes collaboration, meaning making, and relational ethics in single-session conversations. Chapters provide a thorough orientation to the therapy and address the diverse circumstances clinicians face in these conversations. Separating from many long-held traditions in therapy, this book explores a guiding framework and the accompanying micro-skills that therapeutic conversations demand. In these pages, readers will learn how to recalibrate their listening habits and talk differently about problems in ways that help them quickly hear and generate possibilities. All those who provide psychotherapy, counselling, and coaching in time-constrained contexts will find this book useful and engaging, including those working in crisis and call-in settings, walk-in clinics, medical centres, and live-in contexts where change conversations are brief.

Now in a significantly revised sixth edition with 70% new material, this comprehensive handbook has introduced tens of thousands of practitioners and students to the leading forms of couple therapy practiced today. Prominent experts present effective ways to reduce couple distress, improve overall relationship satisfaction, and address specific relational or individual problems. Chapters on major approaches follow a consistent format to help readers easily grasp each model's history, theoretical underpinnings, evidence base, and clinical techniques. Chapters on applications provide practical guidance for working with particular populations (such as stepfamily couples and LGBT couples) and clinical problems (such as intimate partner violence, infidelity, and various psychological disorders). Instructive case examples are woven throughout. New to This Edition *Chapters on additional clinical approaches: acceptance and commitment therapy, mentalization-based therapy, intergenerational therapy, socioculturally attuned therapy, and the therapeutic palette approach. *Chapters on sexuality, older adult couples, and parents of youth with disruptive behavior problems. *Chapters on assessment and common factors in couple therapy. *Chapters on cutting-edge special topics: relationship enhancement, telehealth interventions, and ethical issues in couple therapy.

Unravelling Trauma and Weaving Resilience with Systemic and Narrative Therapy is an innovative book that details how clinicians can engage children, families and their networks in creative and collaborative relationships to elicit change within the context of trauma and violence. Combining systemic, narrative and dialogical theoretical frameworks with clinical examples, this volume focuses on therapeutic conversations that can help children, and those involved with them, deconstruct their experienced difficulties, and create more hopeful stories and alternative ways of relating to one another through a sense of play. Vermeire advocates for serious playfulness as a way of directly addressing trauma and its effects, as well as along ‘trauma-sensitive’ side paths. Puppetry, artwork, interviews and theatre play are used to weave networks of resilience in ever-widening circles and this approach is informed by the awareness that individual problems are always to be seen as relational, social and political. This book is an important read for therapists and social workers who work with traumatised children and their multi-stressed families.

Final thoughts from the now-deceased leader of narrative therapy. Michael White’s untimely death deprived therapists of a leading light. Here, available for the first time in book form, is a collection of the work he left behind—writings on topics dear to the psychotherapeutic world: turning points in therapy, conversations, resistance and therapist responsibility, couples therapy, and narrative responses to trauma.

This book provides a guide to narrative theory and practice; a form of therapy which views people as the experts on their own lives. Rooted in the ideas of Michael White and David Epston from the famous Dulwich Centre, it offers a rich source of thinking and techniques for counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and others working in the people professions. Based on the author's teaching, practice and research experience, this book provides a bridge between theory and the basic principles and methods of narrative therapy. The book assists the reader in implementing the key ideas and techniques into everyday practice contexts, with the support of real-life case studies and conversation maps. Uniquely, it covers important subjects such as ethics and values, supervision and self-care.

Social work is a human profession founded on social justice. It is difficult however to negotiate this in the constantly-changing context of the twenty first century. Now in its' second edition, this book considers the critical tradition of social work and updates it with postmodern thinking. Jan Fook draws on critical reflection to help social workers deliver flexible, responsible and responsive practice and to celebrate the ageless ideals of the profession. Key ideas covered in the text include: - Postmodernism - Critical theories - Critical reflection - Contextuality The author draws on her own experiences, to relate theoretical ideas to real life. Summaries, exercises and further reading are also included in each chapter. The book will be essential reading for all undergraduate students of social work. It will also be a valuable resource for postgraduate students and qualified professionals, who want to revisit the critical tradition of social work.

Arts Therapies in International Practice: Informed by Neuroscience and Research brings together practice and research in the arts therapies and in neuroscience. The authors are all arts therapists who have reviewed their practice through the lens of modern neuroscience. Neuroscience confirms the importance of embodiment, choice, and creativity in therapy with a range of clients. Arts therapies directly provide these. The authors demonstrate how the arts therapies can be adapted creatively to work in different social and ethnic communities, with different ages and with different states of health or ill health. Although there is diversity in their practice and country of practice, they reaffirm key concepts of the arts therapies, such as the importance of the therapeutic relationship, and the key role played by the arts modality with its effects on the brain and nervous system. This book will appeal to a wide readership, including arts therapists, expressive arts therapists, a range of other psychotherapists and counsellors, students and their teachers, and those interested in the neuroscience of human development.