Tuning the Ear: Listening in Narrative Therapy

Abstract

In this article the authors adopt "tuning the ear" as a metaphor for listening within narrative work. The distinction between listening as an intentional event, influenced by personal, theoretical, and political intentions is discussed. A central idea involves distinguishing between "listening to" and "listening for," which suggests that therapists select events to be heard or not heard. The authors suggest that intentional listening can lead to therapeutic conversations that bring forward aspects of the lives of both clients and the therapists that would not have been predicted by the problem story. A map around intentional listening is presented, the Tuning the Ear Map, which includes four levels: tuning in, intentions, consequences, and action. The map is illustrated with excerpts from a conversation within a live supervision group. 1 The most elementary aesthetic act is the selection of a fact. Gregory Bateson Listening is understood in different ways by different approaches to therapy, depending on the basic assumptions prevalent within each theoretical tradition. In narrative therapy, the therapist adopts a position of intentional listening to select ideas or events to bring forward that might otherwise have been missed. This intentionality includes an openness to hearing the 51

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