Narrative therapy is a collaborative and empowering form of psychotherapy that helps individuals reshape how they view their personal stories. By identifying problems as external rather than internal, clients begin to see themselves as separate from their struggles. This shift allows them to let go of negative, self-limiting beliefs and instead recognize their own strengths, skills, and resilience. Through this process, individuals redefine their identities and gain confidence in their ability to face life’s challenges. Narrative therapy is especially beneficial for veterans dealing with issues like trauma and substance use. At Aliya Veteran, we incorporate narrative therapy as a key part of our recovery approach, supporting lasting healing and personal growth.
What Is Narrative Therapy?
Narrative therapy is a versatile psychotherapy approach that supports healing from a broad spectrum of challenges, including mental illness and substance abuse. In this process, clients collaborate with a mental health counselor to explore and articulate the story of their lives. They are guided to identify the problems in their narrative—such as trauma or addiction—and learn to see these issues as separate from themselves, challenges to be overcome rather than defining traits.
Developed in the 1980s by Michael White and David Epston, narrative therapy was designed to help clients reframe their life stories, empowering them to create new, more hopeful perspectives.
What Is a Narrator?
A central aspect of narrative therapy is empowering the client to become the expert narrator of their own story. Much like in literature, where a narrator tells the story and can either be part of it or observe it from a distance, narrative therapy encourages clients to see themselves both within and apart from their life experiences. This perspective helps clients recognize that they haven’t always had control over their story. Together, the therapist and client work to reframe and retell the narrative, allowing the client to take ownership and shape a more empowering outcome.
What Is the Goal of Narrative Therapy?
Narrative therapy has several key goals, with the primary aim of helping individuals see their challenges and issues as separate from themselves. By clearly defining these problems and exploring their negative impact, clients gain a deeper understanding of their past experiences. Crucially, narrative therapy teaches individuals to separate their struggles from their core identity and inherent worth. This shift in perspective enables them to focus on their strengths, skills, and abilities, empowering them to actively address and overcome their difficulties.
How Does Narrative Therapy Help Heal Trauma?
Understanding the goals of narrative therapy makes it clear why this approach is especially beneficial for individuals facing significant challenges. Veterans and first responders encounter unique hardships that set them apart from the general population. Due to their exposure to intense and often dangerous situations, many carry deep-seated trauma. Trauma arises from overwhelming, uncontrollable experiences that evoke fear and helplessness. Narrative therapy effectively addresses trauma by helping individuals reframe these experiences within a broader, more meaningful context. While the traumatic events—and symptoms like flashbacks and intrusive thoughts—may have been beyond their control, narrative therapy empowers clients to actively reclaim their lives through purposeful steps and choices toward healing.
How Does Narrative Therapy for Veterans Work?
Narrative psychotherapy is a collaborative process best described as co-authoring one’s life story. The relationship between client and therapist is foundational, built on trust, honesty, and vulnerability as they work together to reshape the individual’s narrative. This partnership fosters mutual growth, allowing both to experience meaningful breakthroughs and deconstruction along the way.
Over the course of multiple sessions, the client and therapist explore the story and identify the problem. The focus then shifts to re-telling the story with the problem positioned as an external force, separate from the client’s identity. Throughout this journey, the therapist guides the client to see their challenges as distinct from themselves. Ultimately, this process leads to greater self-empowerment and confidence as clients recognize their unique strengths and ability to overcome adversity.
Narrative Therapy Techniques
Like any psychotherapy approach, narrative therapy employs specific techniques designed to help you achieve meaningful change. Through these practices, you will begin to see your story from a new and more empowering perspective.
Re-Storying
Narrative therapy not only encourages you to view your life as a story but also involves the powerful process of re-storying. This means looking at your life through a new lens—one that separates you from the problems you face, seeing those challenges as obstacles to overcome rather than defining who you are. Re-storying allows you to tell your story in a way that is both meaningful and hopeful. In this renewed narrative, you recognize the skills and strengths you possess to build a fulfilling life for yourself and your loved ones.
Externalizing
Narrative therapy guides individuals to externalize their most significant challenges. Whether facing substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health issues, or co-occurring conditions, this approach helps you see these struggles as separate from your identity. By creating distance between yourself and your difficulties, you can reframe your thoughts and emotions. Rather than feeling overwhelmed or helpless, externalizing your problems empowers you to take control and make meaningful changes.
Deconstructing
Reframing your thinking through narrative therapy begins with deconstructing long-held beliefs. Often, you may carry deep-seated negative ideas about yourself and your life—sometimes without even realizing the impact they have on your self-worth, confidence, and overall well-being. Accepting these negative beliefs can lead to a life that feels limiting and unfulfilling. However, by consciously breaking down these harmful narratives, you create the space needed to rebuild your story from a more positive and empowering perspective.
Identifying Outcomes
Goal-setting plays a central role in narrative therapy. Working closely with your therapist, you’ll identify your hopes and aspirations, then actively work toward achieving them. Your counselor may encourage you to imagine what your life would be like without the burdensome problems you face. Reflecting on times before these challenges emerged helps you recognize your strengths and capabilities when the problem is not in control. This future-focused approach empowers you to envision a healed, fulfilling life and builds confidence in your ability to create that reality.
Existentialism
Existentialism, which emphasizes human free will and the responsibility to live authentically, is a key element of narrative therapy. In fact, a combined approach known as narrative and existential-focused therapy delves deeper into these existential principles. At its core, existentialism encourages individuals to find meaningful purpose in the goals they set and the future they envision. This approach helps you connect with your true motivations and discover authentic reasons for pursuing healing and growth.
Narrative Therapy Exercises
As mentioned, narrative therapy is a collaborative process where client and therapist work together to craft a meaningful story. To make this narrative feel personal and authentic, therapists use a variety of narrative therapy interventions. Clients are often encouraged to engage in practices such as journaling, art, and visualization—either during sessions or on their own—to deepen their connection to the story they are creating.
Journaling
Journaling is a natural and valuable exercise in narrative therapy that supports the storytelling process. Your therapist might suggest writing prompts as “homework” between sessions—not to be judged or graded, but simply to help you begin deconstructing negative beliefs and envisioning a more positive future. Beyond therapy, journaling is a healthy mental practice that allows you to express your thoughts, process complex emotions, and gain clarity through putting your experiences onto paper.
Art
Art therapy is a holistic approach that can be seamlessly integrated into traditional psychotherapies such as narrative therapy. It involves creating art to serve a variety of therapeutic purposes. Within the narrative framework, art can help unlock hidden emotions, express profound truths, reduce stress, and deepen self-awareness. Additionally, it serves as a powerful visual tool, enabling you to vividly imagine and explore your future goals. Art therapy encompasses a wide range of creative expressions, including painting, drawing, photography, songwriting, and collaging.
Visualization
Visualization is undeniably a powerful tool in storytelling within narrative therapy. This approach uses visualization exercises to explore your past, present, and future. Your therapist might guide you through techniques such as meditation, narrative exposure therapy, future self-visualization, and artistic expression. Be sure to take note of any vivid or meaningful visualizations you experience outside of sessions, as these can provide valuable insights to discuss with your therapist.
Narrative Therapy: The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is a powerful visual exercise used in narrative therapy to help individuals map out the different aspects of their lives. By drawing a tree and labeling its parts—roots, trunk, branches, leaves, fruits, and flowers—you identify elements such as what has shaped your past, your skills, your choices, and your dreams. There’s even space to acknowledge the things you choose to let go of.
This exercise serves as a reminder of the many parts of yourself that may have been overshadowed by difficult experiences. It encourages reflection on your positive qualities and strengths, helping you embrace them as you move forward. In this way, the Tree of Life not only offers a visual representation of your past but also acts as a tool for setting meaningful goals for the future. You can complete this exercise either individually or in a group setting.
What Does Narrative Therapy Treat?
Narrative therapy is a highly effective approach for veterans and first responders, particularly in addressing substance abuse and mental health disorders. At Aliya Veteran, we incorporate narrative therapy as a key component of our trauma-focused care, supporting individuals as they navigate and heal from co-occurring challenges.
Narrative Therapy for Substance Abuse
Narrative therapy is beneficial for treating individuals with substance abuse because it helps them face both the problem of addiction and connected issues. To elaborate, mood disorders like anxiety and depression often accompany substance abuse, which narrative therapy is proven to improve.
Narrative Therapy for PTSD and Trauma
One of narrative therapy’s purposes is to treat trauma-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder. Re-storying one’s traumatic experiences allows them to begin healing through speaking about it. Additionally, it allows people to view their trauma as external from their identity.
Narrative Therapy for Co-Occurring Disorders
Just as narrative therapy can help individuals recover from singular issues, it does the same for co-occurring disorders. These are issues that exists at the same time in one person. Usually, they overlap in symptoms and worsen each other. It is common for veterans to have the dual diagnoses of substance use disorder (SUD) and PTSD.
What Are the Benefits of Narrative Therapy?
As we’ve explored, narrative therapy offers numerous benefits. It helps individuals gain deeper self-understanding by examining their life story and identifying the core challenges they face. By externalizing these problems, clients can strengthen their sense of identity and recognize their ability to overcome difficulties. Additionally, narrative therapy fosters the creation of meaningful future goals and the motivation to pursue them. Throughout this journey, individuals build greater confidence, self-awareness, and a trusting relationship with their therapist.
How Effective is Narrative Therapy?
We recommend and provide narrative therapy because it is a proven, evidence-based approach to psychotherapy. While it benefits people from all walks of life, it is especially effective for those who have experienced trauma. We encourage you to experience the healing power of trauma-focused therapy by scheduling an appointment with Aliya Veteran to begin your journey toward recovery.
Can Narrative Therapy Help Me?
Absolutely, narrative therapy can help you regain control over the challenges impacting your life. It may be the approach you’ve been looking for but haven’t yet explored. Whether as an individual journey or a shared family story, narrative therapy offers powerful healing opportunities. At Aliya Veteran, we provide narrative therapy through individual, family, and group sessions. If you’re interested in learning more or ready to begin, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!
Tips for Successful Narrative Therapy
Starting a new therapy program can feel challenging at first, especially when facing something unfamiliar that naturally puts up our defenses. Narrative therapy, however, is built on honesty and openness. Over time, trust between you and your therapist will develop naturally. Even in the early stages, our best advice is to stay open to difficult conversations. By truly reflecting on yourself, your life, and your struggles, you begin the powerful process of reshaping your inner narrative.
Additionally, any personal reflection you do outside of sessions can accelerate and deepen your healing journey. Take time to revisit the insights and images that arise during therapy and bring them back to discuss in your sessions. While it can be tempting to avoid intense emotions, embracing openness is a crucial step toward lasting healing.
Using Narrative Therapeutic Techniques Alongside Other Therapies
Narrative therapy, often used alongside cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, and other behavioral therapy approaches, offers a unique way to explore and reshape personal stories. A skilled narrative therapist guides clients through narrative practice, helping them separate their identities from their problems and view challenges from a new perspective. This approach complements cognitive behavioral therapy by focusing not only on changing thought patterns but also on rewriting the story individuals tell about themselves, fostering deeper healing and personal growth in both lives and relationships.
Why Choose Narrative Therapy for PTSD Treatment?
Narrative therapy for Veterans is a powerful therapeutic approach that focuses on helping individuals reframe their personal stories in a way that promotes healing, resilience, and empowerment. Unlike more traditional cognitive therapies that emphasize thought patterns and behaviors, narrative therapy centers on the belief that people make meaning of their lives through the stories they tell. For Veterans, these narrative ideas can be especially important in processing trauma, grief, or identity shifts that often occur after military service.
This type of therapy encourages Veterans to externalize problems—such as PTSD, substance use, or depression—by viewing them as separate from themselves. This distinction helps protect peoples’ identities from being defined solely by struggle or diagnosis. Instead, therapists work collaboratively with Veterans to uncover unique outcomes—moments where they resisted trauma, showed strength, or maintained values—helping them craft more empowering narratives about who they are and what they’ve overcome.
In both theory and practice, narrative therapy can support emotional stability by fostering a sense of agency and self-worth. It allows Veterans to rewrite the dominant storylines of pain or defeat and replace them with themes of courage, growth, and hope. By integrating this therapeutic approach into broader treatment plans that may also include cognitive therapies or group counseling, providers can offer a holistic and personalized path to recovery and reintegration for those who have served.
Is Narrative Therapy Covered by Insurance?
Most insurance plans provide coverage for counseling services as part of mental health treatment, including therapies like narrative therapy. Coverage details, however, can vary depending on your specific plan. At Aliya Veteran, we offer insurance verification to ensure there are no unexpected out-of-pocket costs. We work with many providers, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, TRICARE, and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
If you’re interested in beginning narrative therapy or exploring trauma-focused treatment options, we’re here to support you. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions today.
- Effectiveness of Group Narrative Therapy on Depression, Quality of Life, and Anxiety in People with Amphetamine Addiction: A Randomized Clinical Trial – PubMed Central
- Integrating Existential and Narrative Therapy: A Theoretical Base for Eclectic Practice – APA PsycNet
- Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) – APA.org
- What Is Narrative Therapy? – Dulwich Centre