It can be argued that the history of the helping professions has been complicit with social injustices carried through cultural norms.  In particular, the widespread practice of locating problems in individual pathologies has not only been complicit with social injustice, but has too often contributed to further suffering for people seeking help.  This program will demonstrate the implications a Narrative Worldview has for how we relate to people’s stories about who they are in relation to the problems they are up against.   Participants will see an example of narrative therapy in practice and learn through small group exercises.

Learning objectives:

1. Discuss how the worldview is centrally about issues of power relations and the politics of problem location
2. Examine the decentered and influential stance in narrative therapy
3. Describe the practice of privileging intentional state understandings over internal state understandings

The Program Agenda

9:00 – 10:30                  The Politics of Problem Construction

10:30 – 10:45                Break

10:45 – 12:00                Internal and Intentional State Understandings

12:00 –1:00                   Lunch

1:00 - 2:30                     Rich Story Development and Preferred Identities

2:30 - 2:45                     Break

2:45 – 3:30                    Small Group Exercise

3:30 – 4:30                    Closing

Program Code: NT16 | 6 CE Credits | Fee: $135

Stephen Gaddis, PhD, teaches and practices post-structural narrative therapies. He earned his doctorate in family therapy from Syracuse University and has taught at numerous universities and colleges throughout the Northeast. He currently teaches narrative therapy at Salem State University and Boston College. Stephen and his family spent a year in New Zealand, where he taught in a master’s level counseling program that is known internationally for its leadership in feminist post-structural theory and narrative therapy. He also spent a year completing a postgraduate training certificate in narrative therapy with Michael White in Adelaide, Australia. He has led trainings around the world on various issues related to narrative therapy, including Norway, South Africa, New Zealand, and Canada. He has published papers in national and international journals. Stephen currently directs the Narrative Therapy Initiative at The Salem Center for Therapy, Training, and Research.