Narrative Therapy, Older Adults, and Group Work?: Practice, Research, and Recommendations

Abstract

In this article, the authors report on a qualitative study that explored the use of narrative therapy with a diverse group of older adults dealing with mental health and substance misuse issues. Narrative therapy supports individuals to critically assess their lives and develop alternative and empowering life stories that aim to keep the problem in its place. Although the literature suggests this is a promising intervention for individuals, there is a lack of research on narrative therapy and group work. Aiming to address this gap, the authors developed and researched a narrative therapy group for older adults coping with mental health and substance misuse issues in Toronto, Canada. Taking an ethnographic approach, field notes and interviews provided rich data on how, when, and for whom, such a group could be beneficial. Findings contribute to the literature on group work, older adults, and narrative therapy.

The Importance of Self-Narration in Recovery from Addiction

“…It would be tempting to use narrative therapy as the narrative-focused complement to addiction treatment because it is an established therapeutic system with a body of trained practitioners. However, despite a few suggestive case studies, its efficacy has not been properly investigated (Butt, 2011;Man-kwong, 2004;Poole, Gardner, Flower, & Cooper, 2009;Singer, 2001). We agree with Hutto and Gallagher (2017) that narrative therapy could be improved in several ways, including eschewing a post-structuralist view of the self and being more open to empirical assessment.…”

Counseling Aging Men: Best Practices for Group Counseling

“…Narrative theory is another method considered for application for group work with older adults. Narrative is used to critically assess life, develop empowering stories, and externalize problems (Poole, Gardner, Flower, & Cooper, ). There are similarities between reminiscence and narrative techniques; both embody storytelling as the main technique, but narrative focuses on the main life story and how clients construct meaning in their life (Orbach, ).…”

“…The aim is to have the client reconstruct old narratives that have a problem focus into new narratives in which the problems are outside of his or her identity. Narrative counselors pay close attention to words, themes, phrases, and names in clients’ stories to understand what the clients believe about their problems and their experience (Poole et al, ). This method has proven to be effective in group work with older adults, although evidence and research is still quite limited.…”

San Patrignano: A Narrative Approach to Substance Abuse Treatment

“…Narrative therapy is grounded in the work of French postmodernist Foucault (1988), who pointed out the prevalence of melding clients with addiction and mental health issues with their problems, turning people into "psych patients" or "addicts" and stripping them of their healthy identities. Narrative clinicians have taken this to heart, and narrative therapy stresses the interplay between choice of words, phrases, and labels and the shaping of identity and decision making (Poole, Gardner, Flower, & Cooper, 2009). It acknowledges sociocultural and sociopolitical factors within the problems that people bring to their sessions, and that clients often internalize these factors and perceive them as personal failures (Payne, 2006).…”

“…Therapists must work to "thicken the thread," strengthening both the positive stories their clients tell and the support systems they have (Poole et al, 2009). A tenet of narrative therapy is building a team of supporters, and this makes befriending an expected part of the group therapeutic process.…”