So You Want to Do Narrative Therapy?

So You Want to Do Narrative Therapy? is an engaging and accessible introduction to contemporary narrative therapy practice. Each of the ten chapters is written in the series of letters personally addressed to a real student who is learning how to do narrative therapy at a narrative therapy agency. Each letter highlights the most useful discoveries during the authors' years of practicing in a narrative therapy agency, both as a therapist and as supervisors. Each letter also contains transcripts from therapy sessions showing the principles and practices in action and ends with a therapeutic poem that was given to the client based on their own words from a therapy session. While written for narrative therapists at any level of experience, this book is especially useful for graduate-level theory courses in therapy training programs in counseling, psychology, social work, and family therapy.

Sanni Paljakka is a registered psychologist and codirector of the Calgary Narrative Collective, where she also serves as the director of clinical training where she supervises practicum students. Tom Stone Carlson, PhD, is a professor at Alliant International University in the Couple and Family Therapy Program.

Letter 1. What's So Narrative About Narrative Therapy?: A Letter About Stories and Story-Work Letter 2. What's Riding Us?: A Letter About the Master's Narratives Letter 3. What's Problematic About Calling It a Problem?: A Letter About Dilemmas Letter 4. When Externalizing Internalizes: A Letter About Narrative Diagnoses Letter 5. Why Are You in Therapy?: A Letter About Up Against Stories Letter 6. Whose Story Is It?: A Letter About the Agentive Turn Letter 7. What Do You Want to Do, Love?: A Letter About Counterstories Letter 8. What if We Aren't Angels?: A Letter About Interesting Protagonists Letter 9. What is Beautiful and What is Ugly?: A Letter About Moral Reading Prompts Letter 10. What Now?: A Letter About Writing as an Antidote to Despair Epilogue: Dear Student