Jaydene du Preez Claimed

Narrative and Collaborative Therapy | Scholastic Assessments | Medico-legal Assessments | Workshops

Therapy is offered from the perspective that stories inform life. Stories are seen to hold us together and keep us apart. We inhabit the great stories of our culture. We live through stories. We are lived by the stories of our race and place (Roberts). Indeed…  We are the stories we tell ourselves (Joan Didion). The focus of therapy is thus to listen for the dominant, problem saturated stories people tell of themselves and that others tell of them and then for these stories to be re-authored. In this way, thicker, more descriptive stories can be told by individuals. Like two sailors on a boat, therapist and client are seen to work together to re-search and re-tell these stories, always valuing the client's wisdom and experiences as the artists of their own painting. The use of art, metaphor and other creative expression is a regular companion on this journey.