The stories you carry about yourself matter. They shape how you see your past, how you respond to the present and what you believe is possible for you. Some of those stories were written by you. Others were written for you, by your family, your culture, your experiences or the systems you grew up in. Narrative therapy helps you examine those stories, separate yourself from the ones that are no longer serving you and begin to write new ones.
At Artisan Counseling, our licensed counselors use narrative therapy as part of individual counseling for clients who want to explore the relationship between their identity, their experiences and the meaning they have made from both.
Narrative therapy is a collaborative, non-pathologizing approach to counseling that treats you as the authority on your own life. Developed by Michael White and David Epston in the 1980s, it is based on the idea that people make sense of their lives through stories, and that the stories they tell themselves directly influence how they think, feel and act.
In narrative therapy, problems are not seen as flaws inside of you. They are treated as separate from you. This concept, called externalization, is one of the defining features of the approach. Rather than saying “I am anxious,” narrative therapy encourages you to explore your relationship with anxiety. Rather than identifying as broken, you are invited to examine the story that told you that you were.
This distinction may seem small, but it changes the entire framework of therapy. When the problem is external to you, you are no longer defined by it. You have the space to look at it, question it and decide how much influence it gets to have in your life going forward.
Narrative therapy is not about denying your experiences or rewriting history. It is about recognizing that the version of your story you have been living by is one of many possible versions, and that you have the ability to choose which stories guide your life.
Narrative therapy uses specific practices to help you examine and reshape the stories that influence your life. The work is conversational and reflective, and your counselor acts as a collaborator, not an interpreter.
Everyone carries dominant narratives about who they are. These are the stories that show up most often and feel most true, even when they may not be accurate or complete. A dominant narrative might sound like “I always fail,” “I am not good enough” or “Nothing works out for me.”
Your counselor will help you identify these narratives by listening closely to the language you use and the patterns in how you describe yourself and your life. The goal is not to argue with the narrative but to make it visible so you can examine it.
Externalization is central to narrative therapy. Your counselor will use language that places the problem outside of you. Instead of “Tell me about your depression,” your counselor might ask “When did depression start showing up in your life?” or “How does anxiety get in the way of what matters to you?”
This shift in language creates distance between you and the problem. From that distance, you can begin to see how the problem operates, what conditions allow it to grow and what conditions weaken it.
Once the dominant narrative is identified and externalized, your counselor will help you look for moments that do not fit that narrative. These are called “exceptions” or “sparkling moments.” They are the times when you acted in a way that contradicts the dominant story, even if you did not notice or give those moments weight.
For example, if your dominant narrative is that you are weak, your counselor might help you recall a time when you set a boundary, made a difficult decision or showed up for yourself despite fear. These moments become the foundation for a new narrative, one that is more accurate, more complete and more aligned with who you want to be.
Narrative therapy does not focus on what is wrong with you. It looks at what you know, what you value, what you have survived and what those experiences say about your character. This is not false positivity. It is a deliberate practice of honoring the full picture of who you are rather than allowing a single story to define you.
Narrative therapy is used to address a range of concerns. It may be helpful if you are dealing with:
Low self-esteem. When the stories you carry about yourself are dominated by criticism, shame or inadequacy, narrative therapy helps you examine where those stories came from and begin to construct a more accurate account of who you are.
Trauma. Trauma often leaves people with narratives that center on helplessness, blame or identity loss. Narrative therapy supports you in reclaiming authorship over your story without minimizing what happened.
Life transitions. Moving through a major change, such as divorce, career shifts, parenthood or retirement, can disrupt your sense of self. Narrative therapy helps you integrate these changes into a coherent sense of identity.
Identity development. If you are questioning who you are, what you believe or how you want to live, narrative therapy provides a framework for that exploration. It is particularly useful for clients working through cultural, gender or sexual identity questions.
Relationship patterns. The stories you tell yourself about relationships, such as “I always get hurt” or “People always leave,” directly affect how you show up in them. Narrative therapy helps you examine and revise those patterns.
Grief. Losing someone changes the story of your life. Narrative therapy helps you hold that loss while also finding space for continued meaning and connection.
Feelings of being stuck. If you feel trapped in a version of yourself or your life that no longer fits, narrative therapy offers a way to step back, examine the forces that created that version and begin to move toward something different.
Narrative therapy sessions are conversational and reflective. Your counselor will ask questions, listen carefully and guide you through a process of exploration, but the direction comes from you.
Pacing. Sessions move at your pace. There is no pressure to arrive at an insight or produce a breakthrough. Your counselor will create space for you to think, reflect and sit with what comes up.
Questions. Narrative counselors ask a lot of questions, but they are not interrogative. They are curious, open-ended and designed to help you see your story from a different angle. You may be asked things like “What does that belief say about what you value?” or “If someone who cared about you were watching that moment, what might they notice about you?”
Collaboration. Your counselor does not interpret your story for you. They do not tell you what your experiences mean. Instead, they help you examine the meanings you have already made and decide if those meanings still serve you.
Written & creative elements. Some narrative counselors use letters, documents or timelines as part of the work. Your counselor may write you a letter summarizing what they observed in a session, or you may be invited to create a timeline of key moments that have influenced your sense of self.
No pressure. You are never forced to accept a new narrative or reject an old one. The work is about expanding your options, not replacing one fixed story with another.
Narrative therapy may be a good fit if you:
Narrative therapy can be used as a standalone approach or alongside other modalities. Your counselor at Artisan Counseling will work with you to determine the right fit. If narrative therapy is not the best match for your needs, your counselor will recommend an alternative approach.
Yes. Narrative therapy is supported by research across several populations and settings. Studies have shown its effectiveness for trauma, depression, grief, family conflict and identity-related concerns. It is recognized as an established therapeutic approach in the mental health field.
This depends on your goals. Some clients find that a short course of narrative therapy is enough to shift how they see themselves and their situation. Others continue longer, especially when working through layered experiences or deeply held narratives.
Yes. Narrative therapy is well-suited for trauma because it allows you to process your experiences without being defined by them. The externalization process can reduce shame and self-blame, and the re-authoring work helps you reclaim a sense of agency.
Yes. Many counselors integrate narrative therapy with other modalities such as CBT, EMDR, art therapy or somatic approaches. Your counselor will determine the combination that best supports your goals.
No. Narrative therapy does not require you to tell your story in a polished or organized way. Your counselor will help you identify and explore the narratives that are influencing your life, regardless of how clearly you are able to articulate them at the start.
Narrative therapy is provided within the context of licensed counseling and is billed as a standard therapy session. Most insurance plans cover it. Contact our office at 757.503.2819 to verify your benefits.
Yes. Narrative therapy is conversation-based and adapts well to telehealth. Several of our counselors offer this approach through virtual sessions for clients located in Virginia.