Tales and transformations

We are all storytellers; we all possess a multitude of stories. As people share their stories with others, they name and shape the meaning of their unique life experiences and pass on their heritage. When the listeners become new tellers, they reshape the original stories, incorporating their own concerns, issues, and details, and so the same story is never retold as exactly the same story. In this way, stories allow for both continuity and change.

Stories are central to the therapy process, since it is impossible for a client to talk about a problem without telling a story. Tales and Transformations shows how stories can be a powerful tool for helping clients understand themselves and others in their families and communities.

The author explores three mediums of stories: oral stories, which are rich and immediate; written stories, with their symbolic and documentation possibilities; and enacted stories, which offer opportunities for dynamic involvement.

She also describes six styles of stories (intertwined, distinct/separated, minimal/interrupted, silenced/secret, rigid, and evolving) and offers numerous hands-on techniques for accessing and working with them - techniques that can be used with all models of therapy and all ages of clients.

The book goes on to describe methods used to train therapists for working with story modalities. Exercises are provided to enhance listening skills and to shape and elaborate clients' stories, as well as to help agencies and communities tap into the positive power of storying.

Tales and Transformations is filled with stories of individuals, families, and therapists - stories about cultural and gender distinctions, migration, transition, secrets, loss, oppression, and discovery. Most of all, there is an honoring of the many variations of families, and the affirmation that the storying process can result in a healing transformation.