~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DULWICH
CENTRE EMAIL NEWS
June 2008
Issue #33
www.dulwichcentre.com.au
newsandconnections@dulwichcentre.com.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
G'day,
It’s winter now here in
Adelaide and many of us are
already looking forward to summer. There is,
however, a lot of news to share and also
appreciations to offer in relation to
people's responses to Michael's death.
CONTENTS
1.
E-Journal of Narrative Practice : A call for
papers, stories, reviews
2.
International Journal of Narrative Therapy
and Community Work: A special issue
3. An
appreciation of people's patience as
Michael White’s Estate
is being processed
4. Free
workshops: The Tree of Life - responding to
vulnerable children
5. Narrativetherapylibrary.com - recently
updated
6.
International Training Program: Narrative
approaches to therapy and community work
7.
Workshops in the Northern Territory
8.
Michael White Archive
9. 9th
International Narrative Therapy and
Community Work Conference... an update
10.
Narrative Therapy One Week Trainings at
Dulwich Centre
11. Thank
you and farewell to Karen Beck-Treloar
12. Subscriptions to this FREE Dulwich
Centre Email News
1. E-Journal of Narrative Practice: A call
for papers, stories, reviews
We announced some months ago that Dulwich
Centre Publications is looking forward to
launching a free e-journal of narrative
practice. There is considerable energy and
excitement about this new venture. There are
still a few things to sort through, but
progress is being made! We have already been
in touch with a wide range of narrative
therapy training centres and universities
who have expressed their interest in being
involved. John Winslade, from California
State University San Bernardino and the
University of Waikato in New Zealand,
and Sekneh Beckett, from Dulwich Centre
Faculty and
Macquarie
University, will be playing
key roles.
We are hoping that this
e-journal will provide a forum for students
and practitioners to share hopeful examples
of narrative therapy and community work to a
wide international audience. We're also
hoping that this new project will provide a
context for a number of younger
practitioners from different cultural
backgrounds to develop editorial,
interviewing and publishing skills. At the
same time, an international advisory group
of experienced practitioners will ensure
that this e-journal is professionally
peer-reviewed. Now, we would like to invite
your participation! We are seeking papers,
interviews, book reviews for the first
issues of the e-journal. We are also
seeking: outlines of possible papers, short
stories of practice & creative examples of
narrative documentation. If you think you
may have an idea that may be of interest to
other practitioners, please contact us.
What's more, these representations of
practice do not have to be 'perfect',
'seamless' or fully formed. There may even
have been stories of mistakes you have made,
dilemmas you have faced as you've been
trying to put narrative ideas into practice,
that may be of value to other readers. In
coming months, we will release more formal
guidelines for prospective authors, but for
now, we just wanted to let you know that
there is soon to be a new free forum for the
sharing of narrative ideas and we hope that
you might consider being involved. If you
have ideas, suggestions or writings that you
are interested in sharing, please send them
to us c/o
dulwich@senet.com.au
2.
International Journal of Narrative Therapy
and Community Work: A special issue
The second
issue of the International Journal of
Narrative Therapy and Community Work for
2008 is now at the printers. We have held up
the printing of this special issue so that
we could include within it a piece of
writing by John
Winslade
and Lorraine
Hedtke. John and
Lorraine were present at Michael White’s final workshop in San Diego. They were with
Michael when he suffered a heart attack at a
restaurant in the evening after this
workshop, and they played significant roles
in caring for friends and family from this
moment until Michael died in a San Diego hospital a few days later. Their
actions of care made a real difference to
many people during this time. The first
paper in this special issue respectfully
shares reflections in relation to Michael's
last days. It is introduced by David
Epston. This special edition is a little
larger than usual. To compensate for its
delay, we have tried to ensure that it
includes a very rich diversity of
thoughtful, practice-based papers. The first
of these, by
Yishai Shalif and
Rachel Paran, describes
work they conducted in bomb shelters in
Northern Israel during military conflict. It
particularly focuses on creative responses
to children living in traumatic
circumstances. The next section of the
journal features two articles focusing on a
complex area of work – responding to young
men who have engaged in sexually abusive
actions. Jackie Bateman and Nigel White from
the UK, and Kate Hannan from Australia, describe the ways in which
they use narrative practices in this
context. In the final section of the
journal, Deidre Ikin conveys stories of her
work with people wishing to make changes to
drug and alcohol use. This paper includes a
document created by a mother whose child had
been removed from her care. This document,
entitled, ‘The
Rainbow
document’ is
an ‘insider’s’ guide for mothers
and child protection workers to use to spark
conversations in determining when conditions
are right for children to return home. The
last paper is by Katherine Reid. Drawing on
notions of ‘family as a verb’ her paper
documents the work of a Queer Families
project, which sought to co-explore and
richly-describe diverse meanings of
‘family’. This is a poignant journal issue
to be publishing. We hope readers will
find it helpful and relevant to their
work. As always, we will very much welcome
any responses you may have.
3. An appreciation of people's patience as
Michael White’s Estate is
being processed
This is a note
from Cheryl and Penni White: Following the
passing of Michael
White, as well as adjusting
to the grief and loss, his family has also
been having to deal with his Estate. The
legal processes of probate are routinely
drawn out and slow, so his beneficiaries
have greatly appreciated people’s patience.
Progress is being made and we wish to
express our gratitude to how graciously
people have responded to this situation.
We'd like to thank all those who had been
booked into future training events with
Michael. We've really appreciated how
graciously people have responded to this
situation. We'd also like to acknowledge the
wide range of narrative teachers, from many
different countries, who have stepped up to
offer training in Michael's absence. It
seems really significant that so many people
who have worked closely with Michael over
years in different contexts are now trying
to contribute in whatever ways that they
can. Thank you.
4. Free workshops: The Tree of Life -
responding to vulnerable children
The Dulwich Centre Foundation has
received funding from the Collier Charitable
Fund in order to run a series of free
workshops for those working with vulnerable
children. These are open to practitioners
working with children from refugee families,
and those working with children in the child
protection system or at risk of being
involved in the child protection system.
'The Tree of Life' is an approach developed
by Ncazelo Ncube and David Denborough
(Dulwich Centre Foundation). It is a way of
working with vulnerable children that is fun
and easy to use and yet at the same time
enables children to speak about their lives
in ways that make them stronger. This
approach, based on narrative therapy ways of
working, has proved so popular, both within Australia and Southern
Africa, that we have received
many requests for training. The approach is
suitable for use in schools, private
practice, hospitals and community settings -
anywhere in which people are working with
groups of children. It has also been adapted
for use with individual children, adults and
grandparents! These one day workshops will
introduce participants to some of the key
ideas that inform this novel approach and
then enable everyone to walk through the
process so that they are fully equipped to
put it into practice in their own contexts.
Tuesday 5th
August: Open to
those working with children from refugee
families.
Thursday 7th
August: Open to
those working within the child protection or
with children at risk of becoming involved
in child protection system. These workshops
will take place here at Dulwich Centre. To
register your interest please email Virginia
Leake:
dulwich@senet.com.au
5.
Narrativetherapylibrary.com - recently
updated
We have
recently updated
www.narrativetherapylibrary.com
. It is now
possible to purchase Strengthening
Resistance: Narrative ways of working with
genocide survivors via this
site. This publication and DVD document ways
in which narrative ideas can be used in
response to collective trauma. They also
convey the skills and knowledges of trauma
counsellors from Rwanda who are living and working in
the shadow of genocide. These resources for
counsellors and community workers were
developed during a workshop conducted by
Jill Freedman, Cheryl White & David Denborough. This workshop took
place in Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2007, with
workers from Ibuka, the national genocide
survivors' organisation. It's also possible
to subscribe to the International Journal of
Narrative Therapy and Community Work through
www.narrativetherapylibrary.com
6.
International Training Program: Narrative
approaches to therapy and community work
The Dulwich
Centre Faculty has recently returned from
Hong Kong which was the venue
for the second teaching block of the
International
Training Program: Narrative approaches to
therapy and community work.
Over 30 participants from a wide range of
countries came together for two weeks of
intensive training. It was a tender time
because we had all been expecting
Michael White to be
teaching the first week. In response to this
situation, Lorraine Hedtke (from the USA) joined the faculty in order to
speak of re-membering practices, grief,
memory and legacy. Her teaching included
rich re-membering conversations in relation
to Michael. Carolyn Markey, David Newman and
Jodi Aman then focused on narrative
therapy skills development, while
Cheryl White & David
Denborough focused on the use of narrative
practices with groups and communities. The
third teaching block of this training
program is to take place in
Adelaide in November and
is likely to feature David Epston, Jill
Freedman, Gene Combs,
Carolyn Markey, Shona
Russell as well as other Dulwich Centre
Faculty members. The participants by then
will also have completed their final written
projects and will be offering oral
presentations. While we were in
Hong Kong a number of interviews
of took place with local practitioners
who are hoping to attend the next
International Program which will begin in
late 2009. This next International Training
Program will again feature David Epston
(NZ), Jill Freedman (USA), Gene Combs (USA),
Carolyn Markey, David Denborough and other
Dulwich Centre Faculty members. As usual it
will involve a regular reading/writing
program, supervision of tapes, as well as
the three teaching blocks. It will be
co-ordinated by
Cheryl White. If you are
interested in participating in this next
program, please write to Virginia Leake:
dulwich@senet.com.au
7. Workshops
in the Northern
Territory
Over the next
two weeks, the Dulwich Centre Foundation
will be involved in a series of workshops
and community engagements in the
Northern Territory.
Barbara Wingard (the
author, with Jane Lester, of 'Telling our
stories in ways that make us stronger') and
David Denborough will be visiting the
communities of Hermannsburg and Yuendumu and
then Cheryl White will join for a public workshop in
Alice Springs. The team then heads to Darwin to offer two
further public workshops on
Responding to
hardship and trauma: Narrative ways of
working with groups and communities. We are very
much looking forward to meeting with
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community
members and workers and building long-term
partnerships
as this first visit is the
beginning of a longer-term involvement.
8. Michael White
Archive
We'd like to thank all those who have been
in touch with us in relation to the
Michael White Archive. As
we announced in the previous issue of the
Dulwich Centre Email News, we are working
with an international advisory group to
develop an archive of tapes of Michael's
teaching and consultations. A range of
people from vastly different contexts have
been in touch to express their wish to
contribute to this archive. Over coming
months we will continue to keep you informed
of developments. For more information, see
www.dulwichcentre.com.au/MichaelWhiteArchive.htm
9. 9th International Narrative Therapy and
Community Work Conference... an update
We announced
in the last Dulwich Centre Email News that
the draft
program
for the 9th International Narrative Therapy
and Community Work Conference was now
available and that the early-bird date for
registration had been extended. As a result,
we received a rush of emails, faxes and
phone calls! There are already over 100
participants booked into the conference from
a wide range of countries. We are very much
looking to welcoming people from all over
the world to Adelaide in November (26th-28th). To view the
draft conference program, please
click here.
To register, please email:
dulwich@senet.com.au
Those who wish
to register for the intensive training
program that is linked to the conference can
find more information about this by clicking
here:
http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/trainingprogram.pdf
10.
Narrative Therapy One Week Trainings at
Dulwich Centre
This is a
quick reminder about a series of one week
intensive trainings with Carolyn Markey and
other members of Dulwich Centre Faculty that
have been organised to provide an immersion
in the practices of narrative therapy. These
one week workshops have been specifically
designed for those who are relatively new to
narrative ways of working or those who have
had some exposure to the ideas and would now
like the opportunity to more rigorously
engage with narrative practices. This course
will feature a review of key narrative ideas
and practices, including recent
developments:
* Externalising conversations: the person is
not the problem, the problem is the problem
* Re-authoring conversations: telling our
stories in ways that make us stronger
* Outsider-witness practices: linking lives
and the use of audiences
* Re-membering conversations: considering
the memberships of our lives
* Listening for alternative storylines
* Documenting change: The use of letters and
certificates
Workshops are planned for August 4th
-
8th & September 29th
-
October 3rd. For more information
click here
or contact us c/o
dulwich@senet.com.au
11. Thank you and farewell to Karen
Beck-Treloar
We would like to take this opportunity to
farewell and acknowledge Karen Beck-Treloar.
Karen worked as
Michael White's personal
assistant and was located here at Dulwich
Centre. Today is her last day of work. At
the same time as coming to terms with her
personal loss of Michael, Karen has been
assisting Cheryl and others in responding to
Michael's Estate and corresponding with
colleagues. We would like to express our
gratitude for the ways in which she has
risen to the occasion. Thank you Karen. We
wish you the very best.
12. Subscriptions to this FREE Dulwich
Centre Email News
If you would like to subscribe to Dulwich
Centre Email News, please let us know by
emailing us at:
newsandconnections@dulwichcentre.com.au If
you know of others who would like to
subscribe, simply ask them to email us at
the same address and we will put them on the
list.
As we mentioned earlier, if you have
suggestions about particular topics for
papers, presentations, journal issues or
projects, we are always interested to hear
from you. And any feedback on these editions
of Dulwich Centre Email News is most
welcome.
Bye for now
from all of us here at
Dulwich Centre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dulwich Centre
345 Carrington Street
Adelaide, South Australia 5000
www.dulwichcentre.com.au
www.narrativetherapylibrary.com
newsandconnections@dulwichcentre.com.au
