Narrative Arts Therapy

What is Narrative Arts Therapy?



Dear Reader


At its heart, NAT engages the emotional structures that shape how individuals interpret, process, and express their stories, creating space for healing and changing. I developed this course during my PhD research, drawing on some decades of practicing the narrative arts and facilitating marginilised people in retelling their stories in empowering ways (Winberg 2021).


Historical Foundations

The origins of narrative arts lie in the ancient practices of human societies, where storytelling and art were central to understanding the world and maintaining communal well-being. The emotional structures of our ancestors – grief, hope, connection – were expressed through visual art, music, and ritual, creating pathways for emotional healing and cultural continuity.


The rock art of the San people in Southern Africa, for instance, served not only as a record of lived experiences but also as a spiritual and symbolic map. Images of hunters, animals, and trance dancers captured the intertwining of physical survival and emotional resilience, representing stories that connected the community to its environment and ancestors. Similarly, songlines in Aboriginal Australian culture are both navigational tools and sacred maps, encoding ancestral stories that sustain connection to the land and community.


In many Indigenous cultures, healing was a communal, creative act. Healers used ritual, dance, and storytelling to guide their communities through transitions and traumas, grounding individuals in a shared sense of meaning. For example, the Navajo healing practice of sand painting merges visual art, ritual and narrative to restore harmony within individuals and their communities. These traditions reflect the universal need to externalise emotions and engage in collective storytelling for healing.


Theoretical Foundations

Narrative arts therapy is built on an transdisciplinary foundation, drawing from philosophy, narrative science, expressive arts therapy, Indigenous storytelling traditions, and Indigenous healing practices. It incorporates modern Western psychological theories while honouring the emotional wisdom embedded in ancient practices.


  1. Narrative Therapy: Although the narrative therapy structure we draw from arose as a subdiscipline of existential philosophy and narrative psychology during the 1900s, we draw from the model developed by Michael White, David Epston, and the Dulwich Centre in association with the Aboriginal people of Australia, and posits that individuals make sense of their lives through stories. Problems arise when these stories become dominant narratives that limit agency or reinforce negative self-perceptions. By externalising the problem – viewing it as separate from the self – and re-authoring their narratives, individuals can construct empowering identities.
  2. Expressive Arts Therapy: Grounded in the belief that creativity is inherently healing, expressive arts therapy emphasises the role of artistic processes in bypassing verbal defences and accessing unconscious material. This modality provides a safe space for emotions to surface, helping clients explore and transform their internal worlds.
  3. Theoretical Foundations of Indigenous Healing: Indigenous healing practices are rooted in the understanding that emotional and physical health is deeply interconnected with community, nature, and spirituality. These traditions emphasize holistic well-being, where the individual is seen as part of a larger system that includes ancestors, the land, and the cosmos.


Ritual and Connection: Many Indigenous cultures use ritual as a form of storytelling and healing. For instance, the San trance dance involves rhythmic movement and chanting to access altered states of consciousness, where the healer connects with ancestral power for the community's well-being. This process reflects an intuitive understanding of the emotional and somatic release required for healing.

Narrative as Medicine: Indigenous healing practices often center around the act of storytelling. In Aboriginal Australian culture, songlines are sung narratives that preserve the stories of the land and its people, creating both spiritual and physical maps for survival and connection. These stories act as healing guides, reminding individuals of their place within a larger, interconnected narrative.

Community Witnessing: Healing is not a solitary endeavour. In Indigenous traditions, emotional release and transformation often happen within a communal setting, where stories are witnessed, validated, and shared. This mirrors the modern therapeutic understanding of the power of validation and social connection in emotional processing.


Cultural and Emotional Frameworks: NAT also honours the collective emotional structures embedded in cultural storytelling traditions. These structures, such as shared symbols, myths, and rituals, connect individuals to a larger human narrative, fostering a sense of belonging and continuity.

By integrating Indigenous healing principles, NAT honours the wisdom of cultures that have long understood the emotional structures underpinning human experience.


Neuroscientific Insights

Modern neuroscience reinforces the effectiveness of Narrative Arts Therapy by shedding light on how creative and narrative processes engage the brain.

These findings align with ancient wisdom, showing that creative expression and storytelling are not only emotionally meaningful but also biologically restorative.

At the core of Narrative Arts Therapy are the emotional structures that guide how we experience and process our lives. These structures are both universal and deeply personal, encompassing:


The problem is the problem. The person is not the problem (White 1999).

NAT embraces this principle, helping individuals separate themselves from trauma or limiting narratives, and step into stories of growth, resilience, and possibility.


Conclusion

Narrative Arts Therapy weaves together the threads of ancient traditions, modern psychology, and neuroscience to offer a holistic, creative path toward healing and transformation. By engaging with the emotional structures beneath our stories, individuals can reconnect with their inner strength, reimagine their identities, and navigate life with clarity and purpose.

At its heart, NAT is a reminder that we are all storytellers beings and that within every story lies the potential for change, connection, and renewal.


Key Texts


• Bolton, G. (2005). Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development. SAGE Publications.

• Caldwell, C., & Johnson, M. (2012). Body Stories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy. Contact Editions.

• Cozolino, L. (2014). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain. W. W. Norton & Company.

• Gone, J. P. (2013). "Redressing First Nations Historical Trauma: Theorizing Mechanisms for Indigenous Culture as Mental Health Treatment." Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(5), 683-706.

• Iseke, J. (2013). "Indigenous Storytelling as Research." International Review of Qualitative Research, 6(4), 559-577.

• Levine, S. K. (2018). The Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

• Magsamen, S., & Ross, I. (2023). Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us. Random House.

• Malchiodi, C. A. (2007). The Art Therapy Sourcebook. McGraw-Hill.

• McNiff, S. (1992). Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination. Shambhala Publications.

• Payne, M. (2006). Narrative Therapy: An Introduction for Counsellors. SAGE Publications.

• Siegel, D. J. (2012). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press.

• White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. W. W. Norton & Company.

  Winberg, Marlene. Stories of War and Restitution: Curating the Narratives of !Xun Storyteller, Kapilolo Mahongo (1954-2018). PhD diss., University of Cape Town, 2021.




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