Understanding anger worksheet
Narrative therapy worksheets can be powerful tools for helping clients rewrite their stories.
This article provides an overview of narrative therapy, including types of narrative therapy worksheets and exercises.
We’ve also included a free downloadable narrative therapy exercises PDF that you can save to your electronic health record (EHR) and use in your practice.
What is narrative therapy?
Narrative therapy is a type of counseling developed by therapists Michael White and David Epston in the 1980s.
The intervention provides a collaborative, non-pathologizing approach that views human beings as separate from their problems. Some research suggests narrative therapy may help with anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders, though the evidence base is still developing and more rigorous studies are needed.
The central theory of narrative therapy is that people's lives are organized by the stories they tell themselves and others, and problems arise when our dominant narrative is reductive or shaped by external influences, such as trauma, oppression, culture, or relationships.
The key goals of using narrative therapy worksheets are to:
Strengthen agency and empower the client
Shift away from a problem-focused lens
Empower the client to challenge oppressive narratives
Help clients reconnect with their values, dreams, and capabilities
Promote healing through collaboration, connection, insight, and storytelling
How does narrative therapy work?
The key concepts of narrative therapy include:
Externalization
In narrative therapy, the person is seen as separate from the problem.
For instance, instead of saying “I’m depressed,” the therapist might reframe the statement to say, “I hear depression has been visiting you lately. How is it impacting your life, and what does it try to make you believe about yourself?”
Deconstruction
Through the use of narrative therapy worksheets, clients can explore underlying beliefs and how they have influenced identities or labels by breaking these narratives into smaller chunks.
For example, someone might say, “I’m a failure because I dropped out of college.” The therapist may ask what failure means, where they first heard that story, and what influenced that perspective.
Unique outcomes
After reflecting on their dominant narrative and outside influences, the therapist asks the client to consider alternative narratives to describe their experiences, allowing them to retell their story.
For example, a client may say, “I always let depression control my life. I am not motivated to do anything.” The therapist may ask if there was a time when depression showed up, and the client still engaged with their plans that day.
Then, they can ask the client to reflect on what that showed them or any insights they may gain from that experience.
Narrative therapy questions
In narrative therapy, the therapist's role is a collaborator who asks the client thoughtful questions, listens carefully, and invites the client to explore richer self-narratives using the narrative therapy exercises PDF.
Prompts clinicians may use in narrative therapy worksheets to help clients gain insights, externalize their problems, and find unique outcomes include:
“What values guided you in your decisions during this event?”
“When did ___ first start showing up for you?”
“What does ___ lead you to believe about yourself?”
“What does ___ keep you from doing?”
“What helps the problem grow stronger?”
“Have there been times when you resisted ___?”
"Who defines what success looks like in your family or community?"
"What other values or goals might be as important as ___?"
"What did you learn from your decision to ___?"
"Were there times when you felt successful even if you weren’t ___?"
“What would you say to the problem if you had the chance?”
“What title would you give to this chapter of your life?”
“If your problem had a name and voice, what would it say to you?”
“Describe a time when the problem didn’t show up or you acted differently.”
These questions are also available in our free editable narrative therapy questions PDF.
Narrative therapy exercises
Included in our narrative therapy exercises PDF are these exercises and additional reflection prompts:
Narrative therapy timeline exercise
The narrative therapy timeline exercise helps clients reconstruct their personal stories. The client creates a horizontal timeline, noting key life stages and identifying key life events, themes, values, strengths, and unique outcomes.
Values identity worksheets
These types of narrative therapy worksheets explore values and beliefs and identify themes that may emerge in personal stories. Clients are prompted to consider what matters to them and how it has shaped their decisions.
Letter to my past self
This letter writing activity involves the client reflecting on their problem by writing a letter to a younger version of themselves. They might consider what they’d say to the problem if they had the opportunity, or words of encouragement they might offer to their past selves.
Life chapters or life story maps
These exercises in the narrative therapy exercises PDF help clients structure their stories by writing or drawing chapters highlighting key lessons, turning points, and challenges they overcame.
How to use the narrative therapy worksheets
You can download and use our narrative therapy exercises PDF in several ways.
For example, print or screen share the narrative therapy worksheet and use it as a psychoeducational prompt during the session.
Give the worksheet to the client to remind them of what you discussed during therapy or use the narrative therapy worksheet as a handout during supervision.
You can also ask the client to reflect on the narrative therapy workbook PDF between sessions, answer the prompts and complete some of the exercises in the narrative therapy exercises PDF, and report their insights at their next therapy appointment.
Sources
American Psychological Association. (2018). Narrative Therapy.
Gale, D. D., Mitchell, A. M., Garand, L., & Wesner, S. (2003). Client narratives: a theoretical perspective. Issues in mental health nursing.
Madigan, S. (2011). Narrative therapy. American Psychological Association.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Seagal, J. D. (1999). Forming a story: the health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Shakeri, J. , Ahmadi, S. M. , Maleki, F. , Hesami, M. R. , Parsa Moghadam, A. , et al. (2020). Effectiveness of Group Narrative Therapy on Depression, Quality of Life, and Anxiety in People with Amphetamine Addiction: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences.
How SimplePractice streamlines running your practice
SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.
If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to run a fully paperless practice—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.
Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.
