Journal Potuguese Release - February 2024 - Flipbook - Page 4
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Derrida, Vygotsky, Geertz, Bachelard, Barbara Myerhoff, Bruner, among others
(Grandesso, 2011). Defined as a poststructuralist practice, in Brazil, narrative
therapy contributed to the development of therapeutic relationships valuing local
knowledge, respecting cultural values and being attentive and sensitive to all
forms of oppression. Seeing beyond the diagnoses and a psycho-pathologizing
perspective of life, we were able to incorporate a political dimension into the
process and expand it beyond the walls of the therapy room. Abandoning the
ethics of control and embracing the ethics of collaboration, White (2007) always
maintained a respectful, decentered, yet influential partnership stance. And so,
we continued.
Learning From our Masters and From Each Other
Below I present some of the notable presences in Brazilian territory from whom
we were able to learn and create possibilities for our narrative practices. For
clarifying purposes, I insist that this is a personal and, therefore, partial analysis. It
is far from complete. My criteria were the resonances within my own experience
and the openness to new possibilities in the context of narrative therapy, as
requested by Tom Carlson.
At the beginning of years 2000, the Family Center of the Catholic University of São
Paulo (NUFAC) brought Jill Freedman to the city for a workshop on Narrative
Practices in Family Therapy. Among other things, Jill introduced us to the art of
asking questions to develop richer stories from the “sparkling moments”
observed in the answers. With her, we practiced a way of listening to stories from
everyday life that could help us transform our responses into poetry. In 2005,
Silvia Rechulski and Ada Pelegrini Lemos organized Michael White's first workshop
in Brazil, also in São Paulo. On that occasion, we were able to witness a session
conducted by Michael with a Brazilian family. What we saw was a therapeutic
relationship that respected our cultural values and an artisanal way in which he,
through his questions born from attentive listening to traces in the stories,
opened up possibilities for the family to visit non-historicized territories of their
life. Michael allowed us to follow a creative dance between his decentered, yet
influential, positioning and a family being reborn into new ways of living together.
For the first time, we were able to participate as external witnesses. As a
genuinely interested and creative partner, Michael helped the family revisit their
experiences and build new and richer stories, opening the doors to new
existential possibilities. Without a doubt, this workshop was a watershed
Editors’ Note
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, February 2024 Release
www.journalnft.com