Storytelling Therapy in Counselling, Coaching and Training: in person and via videoconferencing
by Eric Miller, 2019,
Chennai, South India
Our guest blogger, Dr Eric Miller gives training in a form of Storytelling Therapy and also uses this method of therapy in his work as a psychological counsellor -- both in-person and via videoconference. He also conducts workshops in Storytelling and Story Writing:
Eric’s work is primarily with teenagers and adults. In this essay
he shares with us some of his insights.
The Arrival of Story Therapy
The time has come for Storytelling Therapy (also
known as Therapeutic Uses of
Storytelling, Storytelling
and Healing, and Storytelling
for Coaching and Counselling) to take its place alongside Drama
Therapy, Dance-movement Therapy, Music Therapy and Visual Art Therapy as one of
the Arts Therapies (also
known as the Expressive
Therapies, the Creative
Arts Therapies, and the Creative Therapies).
Just as stories and storytelling are
used in many of the arts, they are also used in many of the Arts
Therapies. In the various Arts Therapies, stories and storytelling
have been like Cinderella, fixing their older step-sisters' gowns, but never
being able to go to the ball themselves. Stories and storytelling
are often credited in the literature about Arts Therapies (McNiff, S. 2009). However,
Storytelling Therapy is only now emerging as a field unto itself.
Story can be defined as a
series of events. Storytelling can be defined as relating a
series of events (to one or more people in a social gathering). It
has become popular to refer to any communication of story as storytelling --
for examples, it is sometimes said that a particular novelist or cinema
director is a fine storyteller. Literally, however, storytelling refers to
primarily using voice and body to relate a story to people who are present to
each other, and who can give near-instantaneous feedback to each
other.
Storytelling has the same healing
property that results from any process involving people being together and
cooperatively developing something.
A story can be a model of the past, and
a model for the future.
What Story Is and How Story
Works
A story can be a symbolic object that
one can approach. One can get into it, and one can let it get under
one's skin. A story can do its work on a person. A story
that is embraced and loved by a person moves that person towards specific
cultures, belief-systems, and communities – by its power to enable insight, foster assimilation
and accommodation, and to move emotionally.
Stories
give examples of behavior, and presenters of stories tend to communicate their
feelings about these behaviors, thus urging listeners to also see things the
same way. Thus, telling a story can be an attempt to persuade one's
listeners to understand experience the same way one understands it. In therapy,
story is client-focused and “ … whereas
valid story activity may take place in all three ‘zones’ - movement towards or
being in the green zone in the chart below (where listeners are free to
interpret, gain their own insights) is preferable to movement towards the red
zone (where there is the danger of promoting self-interest, trying to impress
rather than express, seeking to convince, even manipulate)” (Williams, G. & Gargiula,T.L. 2014)
Numerous forms of Storytelling Therapy exist,
including Narrative Therapy, Transformative Narrative
Therapy, Narrative Medicine and Fairytale Therapy
·
Narrative Therapy focuses on assisting the
client to frame and reframe his/her Life Story so as to emphasise one's coping
methods and resiliency, and social-cultural beliefs by which one may be influenced.
(Wikipedia)
·
Transformative Narrative
Therapy also utilises other stories, including stories from history,
folklore, cinema, and literature. (Wikipedia)
·
Narrative Medicine is "a medical approach
that utilises people's narratives in clinical practice, research, and education
as a way to promote healing." (Wikipedia)
·
Fairytale Therapy involves
finding Fairytale-like elements in one's Life Story, and may involve composing
a Fairytale-like version of one's Life Story and creating a healing/guiding
story that has the feel of a Fairytale. (Miller, E. 2018, and Goss, T.2017)
I use Storytelling Therapy as an
umbrella term for all therapeutic approaches that involve Narrative Psychology, Archetypal Psychology,
and Metaphor Therapy.
·
Narrative Psychology is "the study of ways humans construct stories to deal
with experiences." (Wikipedia)
·
Archetypal Psychology "concerns the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, the
patterns that animate human life. Archetypal Psychology likens
itself to a polytheistic mythology in that it attempts to recognize the myriad
fantasies and myths – regarding gods, goddesses, humans and animals – that shape and are shaped by our psychological
lives." (Wikipedia)
·
Metaphor Therapy "uses
metaphor as a tool to help people express their experiences
symbolically. Metaphors can involve spontaneous processes within a
client's mind, having to do with both the client's consciousness and
unconscious."(Wikipedia) Metaphors go deeper than the
conscious / rational / logical level. Metaphors can connect one to
nature, a culture, and a community (Perrow, 2014).
There is also the field of Narrative Coaching, which
is "an experiential and holistic approach that helps people shift their
stories about themselves, others, and life itself to create new possibilities
and new results." (Moment Institute)
The form of Storytelling Therapy I am helping to
develop is based on the 3 steps of Carl Jung's therapeutic method (Adams,
M.V.):
1) Explication. (Analysis
of the client's Life Story, and of episodes within the Life Story)
2) Amplification. (Association
of other stories with a client's Life Story)
3) C3)
Creative Imagination. (Role-playing, that is, speaking to and as
characters in the above-mentioned stories, and in imaginary stories.)
The 7 Steps in Storytelling
Therapy
The 7 steps of the form of Storytelling Therapy I
am helping to develop are (Miller, E. 2017):
1) The client tells his/her Life Story (the Story
of his/her Life) -- as well as why he/she has come for counselling.
2) The client identifies outstanding themes,
turning points, and archetypal objects, relationships, and situations in
his/her Life Story (with assistance from the facilitator if needed).
(Jung's Step 1.)
3) The client gathers stories that are similar to
his/her Life Story, and to episodes within this story (with assistance from the
facilitator if needed).
(Jung's Step 2.)
4) The client plays with (changes, adds to) any of
the above-mentioned stories.
5) The client role-plays (speaks to and as)
characters in any of the above-mentioned stories (with assistance from the
facilitator if needed).
(Jung's Step 3.)
6) The client develops metaphors relating to the
above-mentioned stories (with assistance from the facilitator if needed).
7) The client develops a healing/guiding story for
him/herself (with assistance from the facilitator if needed).
Therapy components of the
Healing/ Guiding Story
A healing/guiding story may be directly and
immediately therapeutic, or it may be designed to assist the client to enter
the next stage in his/her healthy development.
The healing/guiding story may involve integrating various aspects of the
client's personality and experience (Jung called this maturation process,
"individuation").
Helping a client to compose a healing/guiding story for him/herself may
involve teaching ways of composing stories -- which I also do in my
Storytelling and Story Writing Workshops. In the process of
composing this healing/guiding story, the client may use one or more of the 14
Story Composition activities I use in my Creative Writing workshops, including
describing and discussing: dreams, daydreams, one's personality traits and
emotions, social and environmental issues, something interesting that occurred
in the past 24 hours, etc. (Miller, E. 2019)
An integral and vital part of the process is
listening. The storyteller/ therapist is also a story listener, applying
attentive, unfiltered, non-judgemental listening with unconditional positive
regard, so that the client feels listened to, accepted, heard, embraced and
valued.
The general creative method I train
people in is: start with your own experiences, and then develop fantasies
around them. In this regard, an acronym that may be useful is, ROQI
-- Remember, Observe, Question, Imagine.
A key aspect of this version of
Storytelling Therapy is that ideally,
1) The client comes up with metaphors
and a healing/guiding story for him/herself -- with the
therapist/coach/facilitator assisting, if needed.
2) Then the client tells this story to
other people in his/her life, and leads conversations about this story with
these listeners.
In these ways, the healing/guiding story comes from
within the client, and the client truly owns the healing/guiding story --
emotionally, intellectually, and otherwise. In the process the healing is
reinforced, embodied.
Two wonderful examples of healing/guiding stories (contained within case
studies) are:
Involving
nature, the universe, and the client's memory of her mother. This
healing/guiding story was composed by the client.
·
"The Small Wonder" (Verma,M. 2017).
This healing/guiding story was composed by the
facilitator.
Published
in 1845, Hans Christian Andersen’s healing/ guiding story, the Ugly Duckling, is referred
to by Clarissa Pinkola Estés as “a
psychological and spiritual root story ... one that contains a truth so
fundamental to human development that without integration of this fact, further
progression is shaky ...”
She illuminates, “… when
an individual’s particular kind of soulfulness, which is both instinctual and a
spiritual identity, is surrounded by psychic acknowledgement and acceptance,
that person feels life and power as never before. Ascertaining one’s own
psychic family brings a person vitality and belongingness”. (Estés, C.P. 2008)
The "in-performance transference
process" (IPTP) occurs when a storyteller speaks as a character who is
addressing another character. When this occurs, one's listeners are
put in the position of the character being addressed.
This relates to Step 5 of the
Storytelling Therapy process: "Role-play, speak to and as characters in
any of the above-mentioned stories" (from one's memory and imagination).
The IPTP is different from the type of
transference that is more popularly referred to in the field of Psychology:
namely, that in the relationship between a client and a therapist, the client
may come to see and treat the therapist as the client's father and/or mother.
Both of these types of transference can
be used in healing ways -- including by helping clients to see situations from
various figures' points of view, and to develop understanding of and empathy
for each figure.
The Video-Conferencing Format for Training
Each medium of communication has its own qualities, and colors what is
communicated and how it is communicated.
Videoconferencing strikes me as epic and heroic. It is such
an accomplishment -- both for humanity in general, and for the individuals
engaged in a videoconference -- to be able to (near-simultaneously) transmit
and receive audio and video. When a videoconference works
(technologically), it is thrilling; when it doesn't, it can be extremely
frustrating and disappointing.
Thus, it seems to me that a sense of triumphant achievement generally
colors the providing of services (such as training and counselling) via
videoconference.
Of course, there are also downsides to
videoconferencing. There is no substitute for the warmth, intimacy,
and directness that is offered by physically-present
communication. It might be best to recognise that physically-present
and videoconference communication are just different. Incidentally:
videoconference communication is most effective when the participants can also
periodically meet via physical presence.
I have a long-term love for the medium of videoconferencing -- I have
been using it, and researching and writing about it, for over 25 years.
(Miller, E. 2017 & 2019) I find that if one can develop the
give-and-take and the back-and-forth of conversation with the other individuals
involved, one can overcome distances of any sort between people.
End- Thoughts
Both my counselling clients, and my storytelling and creative writing
students, start with memories of their experiences and develop these memories
into imaginative fantasies.
The counselees come for wellness and are encouraged to enter the realm
of art. The story students come for art and may increase their
wellness.
Creativity -- exploring, expressing, and sharing oneself, in direct and
symbolic ways -- can in itself be healing and healthy. So can coming
to terms with who one is, and with what one conceives to be one's place in the
universe.
One take-away (for the client) of an 8-session "Storytelling
Therapy" counselling experience is a healing/guiding story.
(A version of the story therapy process may be
applied in a small group setting, where participants experience growth in a
supportive, psychologically safe place where their voice is heard and insights
are shared).
Dr Eric Miller is a native New Yorker, settled in
Chennai (on India's southeast coast). Dr Eric has earned a PhD in
Folklore (University of Pennsylvania), and a MSc in Psychology (University of
Madras). He has also completed in a one-year course in
"Psychological Counselling" offered by the Chennai Counsellors Foundation. He
is the Director of the World Storytelling Institute; and is
the Assistant Director of the East West Center for Counselling and Training, and the Indian Institute of Psychodrama.
Citations
Adams, Michael
Vannoy What is Jungian Analysis?
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola (2008) Woman Who Run with the Wolves: contacting the power of
the wild
woman
Rider
Denton, Trisha
(2017) Healing Story: Budur
and the Moon Rabbit." (A case study of a client of a student in the Fall 2017 edition of Eric
Miller's Storytelling Therapy video conference course.)
Goss, Theodora
(2017) Into the Dark Forest: The
Fairytale Heroine’s Journey (Followed by Sowmya Srinivasan's
notes.) 2017.
McNiff, Shaun
(2009) Integrating the Arts in Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice
Springfield, Illinois:
Charles Thomas Publisher.
Miller, Eric.
(2019) 14 Activities in a Creative Writing Workshop
Miller, Eric (2019) Online Recordings of video conferences
Miller,
Eric (2018) Fairytale Therapy: A Type of
Storytelling Therapy
Miller,
Eric. (2017) Carl Jung's 3-step Therapy
Process
Miller, Eric
(2017) A 7-step Storytelling Therapy
Process
Miller,
Eric (2017) Story and Storytelling in
Storytelling Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy
Miller, Eric
(2017) Ways Storytellers are Using Audio-
and Videoconferencing (A 12-page
section in the Summer 2017 issue
of Storytelling Magazine, a publication of the USA's
National Storytelling
Network.)
Miller, Eric
(2016) Expressive Arts Therapy --
including Storytelling Therapy -- in Cultural
Context.
Moment
Institute Narrative Coaching
Perrow, Susan
(2014) The Mystery and Magic of Metaphor
The Healing Story Alliance
http://healingstory.org/publications/diving-in-the-moon-journal-2014/the-mystery-and-magic-of-metaphor
Verma, Mishti
(2017) The Healing Touch of a Story
Wikipedia:
Williams, G & Gargiulo, Terrence, L.
(2014) Ethical Guidelines for
Story-tellers Newsletter 33: http://www.haloandnoose.com , http://www.makingstories.net
No comments:
Post a Comment