One of our key hopes for this journal is to enable practitioners in different contexts to learn about each other's explorations and to be inspired by them. Each issue consists of a range of practice-based papers detailing hopeful and creative applications of narrative ideas. This particular journal issue is no exception. It contains papers by authors from Zimbabwe, Australia, Hong Kong, the UK, USA and New Zealand. We are delighted to include here a lead paper by Ncazelo Ncube (Zimbabwe/South Africa) about creative and inspiring work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa. How can the lives of children who have experienced significant losses be responded to in ways that are not re-traumatising and that bring to light children's own skills and knowledge? What sorts of exercises can be used in camps for vulnerable children? How can children be provided with significant experiences that do not separate them from their families, values and cultural norms? This paper describes a creative exercise informed by narrative therapy principles and practices. This is then followed by a range of papers offering practical ideas about ways of working with young people. There are also powerfully moving accounts of the skills and knowledge of young people in dealing with hard times. We trust you will enjoy this collection and we look forward to hearing your feedback
This publication tells the story of a gathering for people with an HIV positive diagnosis and workers from the HIV sector. Within these pages are recorded the stories that were told and the skills and knowledges about living with HIV which were articulated. This document has also been deliberately written in such a way as to convey how the weekend was structured by narrative ideas through the use of prior consultative interviews, a gathering program, and the use of definitional ceremonies and outsider witness practices. A number of reflections... More info
This issue contains papers around a number of themes, first of all ‘Psychiatry and narrative ideas’. We’re pleased to include here the first of a series of papers by psychiatrist SuEllen Hamkins in which she explores the use of narrative practices within her psychiatric practice. This paper follows on from the formation of a group of psychiatrists who are interested in narrative ideas, which occurred in Oaxaca, Mexico at the 6th International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference. The second paper in this issue, also by a psychiatrist, Nacho Maldonaldo,... More info
This edition emerged from a desire to explore new ways of thinking about education and schooling. The articles included raise a variety of challenging questions and provide some practical and exciting possibilities for action. Questions considered include: Given that schooling plays such a large role in the lives of children and their parents, what implications does an understanding of the dynamics of educational practice have for therapists, counsellors and social workers in their work with families? What are the effects of current practices on individual children, on parents, families, and... More info
