Join Travis Heath, PhD over two sessions with Ian, who is of Indian and Trinidadian descent, and who spent his formative years in Britain under the colonizing values of White society and overt messages and experiences of racism. As a result, he often felt like an outsider in both groups, marginalized — that is, until he found commradery, acceptance, and a sense of pride through rugby. On an early trajectory to becoming a professional athlete, he sustained a severe injury and subsequent illness which robbed him of his dreams. While he used rugby as a way of feeling connected to others and finally gaining a foothold in his struggle against systemic racism, he became depressed when his athletic career was derailed, began thinking of himself as a failure, and entertaining self-destructive thoughts.
Heath helps Ian trace his journey that begins with despair and dejection and leads to one of growth and success. Even though Ian was forced to leave behind his career and identity as an athlete, he wove the lessons of the game into a narrative of post-traumatic growth, that centered around his identity as husband, parent, teacher, and consultant. By focusing on the strength of Ian’s character, the courage he inherited from his mother, and creative questions, Heath helps Ian re-story his journey as one of perseverance, resilience, and service.
In this volume, Heath will show you how to:
- Consider departing from traditional or scripted clinical questions in favor of trusting yourself to ask questions based on the unfolding conversation
- Balance the use of directive and open-ended questions with clients to better understand their experiences through their eyes
- Tap into the client’s history and ancestral lineage for wisdom and guidance in addressing and overcoming their challenges, and redefining what is possible for them
- Appreciate autoethnography as a tool through which the therapist is invited to co-create a narrative that expands rather than constricts the way the client makes sense of their experiences and lives their life
- Privilege the client’s own language and stories rather than impose a limiting clinical narrative on them
- Provide clients with the opportunity to have a conversation with the younger version of themselves so they can witness what they’ve learned over the years about living fuller lives
In this deep dive into Travis Heath’s contemporary narrative methods, viewers will have the opportunity to explore innovative narrative therapy concepts and techniques that will enhance their clinical practice.
Length of video: 02:55:54
English subtitles available
Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-725-7
Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-725-4
Travis Heath, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and has been in community practice for nearly two decades. His scholarship has included looking at shifting from a multicultural approach to counseling to one of cultural democracy that invites people to heal in mediums that are culturally near. Other writings have focused on the use of rap music in narrative therapy, working with persons entangled in the criminal injustice system in ways that maintain their dignity, narrative practice stories as pedagogy, and a co-created questioning practice called reunion questions. He is co-author, with David Epston and Tom Carlson, of the first book on Contemporary Narrative Therapy released in June 2022 entitled, “Reimagining Narrative Therapy Through Practice Stories and Autoethnography.” He has presented his work in 10 countries to date.
CE credits: 3
Learning Objectives:
- Explain why traditional multicultural practices can fall short in creating an inclusive space for diverse clients
- Apply culturally democratic methods in clinical settings to allow clients to speak on behalf of their own healing
- Utilize narrative questions that privilege client language and stories
- Use elements of the clients narrative in your clinical work to deconstruct problem-saturated stories
- Identify themes of resilience, hope and other client strengths and craft questions that consolidate these internal resources
Bibliography available upon request
This course is offered for ASWB ACE credit for social workers. See complete list of CE approvals here
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