1. Masters Program in Narrative Therapy and Community Work

When we recently announced that we are in discussions with La Trobe University and The Bouverie Centre in relation to creating a joint clinical Masters Program in Narrative Therapy and Community Work, we didn't anticipate the response we received. Within 24 hours we had received over 100 expressions of interest from a wide range of countries: Canada, Chile, Hong Kong/China, Belgium, UK, Israel, Spain, Denmark, USA, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, Uganda, Italy, India, Romania, and Sweden! We are now more determined than ever to make this a reality. This program would be taught by an international faculty. It would take place in three intensive blocks (of two weeks each) and the rest of the program will take place on-line. So it will be possible for both Australian and international practitioners to participate. Participants will complete 20 sets of readings and written responses, two papers of a publishable standard and submit two tapes of their narrative practice. If it does proceed, graduates of our International Training Programs will be eligible to upgrade to this accredited Masters Degree by completing a bridging program. It would be very helpful to us to get some idea of the numbers of people who may be interested in enrolling in such a Masters Program. If you would consider enrolling in such a program, please contact us via dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au. We will then stay in touch with you as things develop. Thanks.

2. Level One Intensive Jan 30 – Feb 3 2012

We're pleased to announce that the next 5-day Level One Intensive Narrative Therapy workshop will take place at Dulwich Centre from Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2012. These one week intensive trainings provide an immersion in the practices of narrative therapy. Narrative therapy centres people as the experts in their own lives and views problems as separate from people. Narrative approaches assume that people have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments and abilities that will assist them to reduce the influence of problems in their lives. The word ‘narrative’ refers to the emphasis that is placed upon the stories of people’s lives and the differences that can be made through particular tellings and re-tellings of these stories. Narrative therapy involves ways of understanding the stories of people’s lives, and ways of re-authoring these stories in collaboration between the therapist and the people whose lives are being discussed. It is a way of working that is interested in history, the broader context that is affecting people’s lives and the ethics or politics of this work. It is a hopeful approach. When using narrative approaches, it is often possible to address serious problems in playful and respectful ways. To register, please write to us c/o dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

3. 'Friday afternoons at Dulwich': Free videos on-line now!

We're delighted to let you know that Friday Afternoons at Dulwich are now on-line! Click here to view the first six presentations and to join the current forum discussion. The latest video is on Externalizing conversations: Statement of Position Map 1 by Mark Hayward. From 1983 onwards, Dulwich Centre was known for holding free events on Friday afternoons. These ‘Friday Afternoons at Dulwich’ would begin at 4.30pm so that people dropped by on their way home after the working week. They always consisted of a good speaker sharing some aspect of their practice that was currently intriguing and challenging to them and this was then followed by discussion and drinks! We stopped these events because we were getting too many people to fit into the building and also because we were away travellling a lot. Every second Friday afternoon we’ll put up on this website a video, maybe an audio recording, or a link to something very interesting. Of course, you can view this wherever you are in the world at a time that will suit you, and then contribute to the discussion and debate. We hope to start a momentum of online discussion and continue this ‘Friday Afternoons at Dulwich’ tradition. We would welcome your suggestions as to topics that we could cover and if you come across particularly interesting video of audio recordings please let us know c/o dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

4. Subscribe now to International Journal of Narrative Therapy

If you’re interested in working with people in ways that:

• are respectful and non-pathologising
• bring forth people’s own skills and knowledges about their lives
• are inspiring, hopeful, and energising
then The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work is for you! The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work offers hopeful and creative ideas for counsellors, social workers, teachers, nurses, psychologists and community workers. In each issue, practitioners from a range of different countries discuss the ideas and practices that are inspiring them in their work, the dilemmas they are grappling with, and the issues most dear to their hearts. Published four times per year, a subscription to the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work will ensure the latest ideas and practices are delivered to your door! You can purchase on-line, click here

5. ‘Narrative Practice: Continuing the Conversations’ by Michael White – available now!

This book of Michael’s previously unpublished papers is finally available! It consists of eleven previously unpublished chapters by Michael on topics as wide-ranging as subverting the operations of modern power, anorexia, working with men who have perpetrated violence, the significance of personal and community ethics, externalising and responsibility, narrative responses to traumatic experience, engagements with suicide, and couples therapy. The book also includes an editor's note from David Denborough, a preface from Jill Freedman, and an introduction from David Epston. Significantly, its epilogue contains the perspectives of narrative therapists from many different parts of the world in relation to ways in which the legacies of Michael’s ideas and practices are being carried forth. This epilogue has been written by Cheryl White. We’ve worked on this book over the last 12 months and we are delighted it is now available to narrative practitioners. We eagerly await your feedback. Dulwich Centre Publications is now selling this book within Australia and New Zealand.  To order, write to dcp@dulwichcentre.com.au or to order online click here.

6. Life-saving tips from young Muslim Australians

Over the last year, Dulwich Centre Foundation has been involved in a project to create a film, website, and publication in relation to the skills and knowledges of young Australians of Muslim heritage which are now being shared with young people around the county. This project has been successfully launched in both Sydney and Adelaide. You can read these life-saving tips from young Australian Muslims, view video clips, and send us your responses via our website! This project was proudly supported by the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship through the Diversity and Social Cohesion program, and was run in partnership with BYDS (www.byds.org.au) We would be delighted to receive your feedback. Please have a look at: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/life-saving-tips.html

7. Advanced International One Year Training Program in Narrative Practice to take place in Hong Kong

We are delighted to announce that the Centre for Youth Research and Practice at Hong Kong Baptist University & Dulwich Centre are collaborating on an advanced one year training program in narrative practice. This training program is to take place in Hong Kong from September 2011 – September 2012 and will be taught by both local Hong Kong practitioners/teachers and members of the Dulwich Centre International Faculty. Tuition will take place in both Chinese and English. This is the first long-term cross-cultural, multi-language program of its type and we are very much looking forward to it! It will consist of workshops from international faculty members, lectures and tutorials with local practitioners, small group practice opportunities, and individual supervision. Participants will also complete a reading and writing program and a written project in which they apply narrative ideas in their own context. For more information, contact Angela Tsun on-Kee: cyrp@hkbu.edu.hk

8. Narrative Practice and Reclaiming Lives – International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

The second issue of the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work for 2011 is now available and what a diverse range of articles this issue provides! We are delighted to include here the first narrative therapy papers we have ever published from Greece and from Pakistan. The issue begins with a paper by Angela Tsun on-Kee from Hong Kong. ‘Overeating as a serious problem and foods as real good friends: Revising the relationship with food and self in narrative conversations’ is the first published narrative therapy approach to working with the issue of overeating. It is followed by an interview with Elsa Almaas and Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, from Norway, which explores ways of reclaiming sexual lives after experiences of sexual trauma. Two further practice papers are then included: ‘The green bubble: Narrative, time away in the bush, and restoring personal agency after hard times’ by Andy Umbers, and ‘That’s the question: Using questions to help parents to get to know their children and allay anxiety and anger’ by Darylle Levenbach. The second section of this issue focuses on narrative approaches to working with those trying to revise their relationship with drug and alcohol use. Daniil Danilopoulos, from Greece, provides the paper ‘Rooftop dreams: Steps during a rite of passage from a life dominated by the effects of drugs and abuse to a “safe and full of care” life’. And Muhammad Mussaffa Butt offers the first published example of narrative therapy from Pakistan in ‘Using narrative therapy to respond to addiction: An experience of practice in Pakistan’. Both these papers break new ground. They also demonstrate the ways in which practitioners in diverse contexts are originating narrative practice. Finally, this issue includes stories from Hazara and Iraqi communities within Brisbane, Australia. These were gathered and shared as part of a collective narrative practice project facilitated by a team from the Romero Centre which works with those seeking refuge in Australia. The paper ‘Unforgettable Voices: Australia We Are Here!’ was edited by Jason MacLeod with Jeniece Olsen, Hassan Ghulam and Sabah Al Ansari. With papers from Australia, Greece, Pakistan, Israel and Norway, we hope this issue of the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work will provide useful ideas and inspiration for your practice. Subscribe here

9. Online courses in narrative therapy – available soon

We’re not too far away now …  as you know we have been working away at creating a number of online courses in narrative therapy. We have received many requests for these over the years. The courses will be available in the next few months and will consist of video recordings (of teaching and therapy consultations), readings, exercises, quizzes, online forums, and much more. Footage from the Michael White Archive will be included. There will also be a public discussion board for you to discuss narrative ideas with other practitioners, and a glossary of narrative terms to contribute to! Stay tuned … we look forward to launching the courses soon!

10. Responding to lateral violence within Aboriginal organisations and communities

Since the publication last year of Barbara Wingard’s paper ‘A conversation with Lateral Violence’, we have received considerable interest about ways of responding to lateral violence within Aboriginal organisations and communities. Dulwich Centre Foundation is now in discussion with the Australian Human Rights Commission about the possibility of holding a workshop on this topic in the next few months (in either Sydney or Adelaide). If you are interested in this topic, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email us at dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

11. International Graduate Diploma in Narrative Therapy and Community Work 2011–2012

Our current International Graduate Diploma in Narrative Therapy and Community Work started in September 2011. This is the most rigorous practice-based training program available in narrative therapy and community work practice. This course consists of six one-week intensive training workshops (three blocks of two weeks); consultation of audiotapes and/or videotapes of participants’ work to assist in engaging with the micro-maps of narrative practice; regular structured online reading and writing program; online forums to stay in touch with participants; personal contact with faculty at regular times throughout the year; a context to create a written project on an area of one's work of a standard suitable to publish in an international journal; and a context to create an oral presentation on an aspect of one's work of a standard suitable to present at an international conference!  Previous participants have come from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, New Zealand, Israel, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, UK, Hong Kong, Iceland, Finland, Ireland, and Australia. The current program is being taught by an international Dulwich Centre Faculty including Jill Freedman, David Epston, Lorraine Hedtke, Carolyn Markey, Ruth Pluznick, Sekneh Beckett, David Denborough, David Newman, Cheryl White, Jane Hutton, Sue Mitchell, Angel Yuen, and Chris Dolman. Guest teachers are sometimes also invited to give short workshops. Cheryl White is the coordinator of this program. For more information, see: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/international-training-program.html

12. International narrative training events – 2011/2012

Dulwich Centre is to be involved in a range of international training in 2011/2012. Workshops are soon to take place in Hong Kong, Norway, Palestine and Iraq. And in 2012 there are already events planned in the USA, Canada, Austria, Chile, Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere! For more information about these events, click here.

13. Dulwich Centre narrative therapy intensives – dates for 2012

If you are interested in knowing more about narrative therapy practices and applying these in your work, one of the best places to start is with a five-day intensive in narrative therapy. Some dates for Level One intensives for 2012 are now available and more will be announced soon. For more information about training at Dulwich Centre, please see our training calendar.

14. Subscriptions to this FREE Dulwich Centre Email News

If you would like to subscribe to Dulwich Centre Email News, please do so via this link. If you know of others who would like to subscribe, please simply direct them to: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/email-news.html Thank you!