Wednesday 3 July 2019
Jim Duvall
Innovations in Narrative Therapy
Connecting practice training and research
Narrative therapy proposes the idea that our lives are made up of multiple events that can be strung together in many possible stories. These stories can be developed to find richer (or “thicker”) narratives, and thus release the hold of negative (“thin”) narratives on people’s lives. Expanding from Evidence-Based Practices to Practice-Based Evidence this presentation will offer innovative directions that were developed through an advanced narrative therapy training program, which was integrated with a qualitative research project and counselling services for children, youth and families.
Interweaving clinical experiences, training, and rigorous qualitative research, this presentation will show not only how practices were expanded from the pioneering work of White and Epston, but will also include concepts from other critical thinkers. Proposals for taking these ideas into a range of contexts such as community work and working with organizations will be discussed. Ideas will also be presented about viewing your practice as co-research infusing critically reflective practices into the therapeutic experience, therefore contributing to the ongoing adjustment and shaping of practice. This co-research represents a collaborative partnership with people that result in a person-centered, culturally accountable and ethically based therapeutic practice.
Jim Duvall is the Co-Director of JST Institute LLC and the Editor of Journal of Systemic Therapies. He is an educator, trainer, consultant, author and editor. Jim is recognized for his extensive practice and research involvement in brief and narrative practices. He consults with organizations throughout Canada, US, Australia and Asia about how to integrate brief and narrative practices with socially just principles in order to create accessible, collaborative, competency-oriented services for people.
Jim served for over 20 years as the Director of Training and Education at Hincks-Dellcrest Institute in Toronto, Ontario and previous Director of Brief Therapy Training Centres-International. He has spent over 300 hours studying and collaborating in training, writing and community projects with Michael White. Jim’s publications include numerous books, book chapters, articles and a policy paper.
When he is not writing, teaching or training he can be found playing music with his friends or boating on the Gulf of Mexico with his partner, children, grandchildren and their dog, Banjo.