Narrative Therapy in Edmonton

Rewriting the stories that shape our lives

Narrative therapy begins with a foundational truth: we live inside stories. Stories we inherited. Stories we absorbed. Stories we survived. Stories that quietly shape how we see ourselves, what we believe we deserve, and what we imagine is possible.

Some of these stories empower us.
Others confine us.

Narrative therapy invites you to step back and examine these internal storylines with curiosity, creativity, and compassion—then gently reauthor the ones that no longer reflect who you truly are. Rooted in myth, imagination, and the rich tradition of storytelling, this approach honours your lived experience while making space for new possibilities.

What Narrative Therapy Is

Narrative therapy understands that identity is fluid and ever-evolving. You are not the problem—the problem is the problem. Through conversation, reflection, and symbolic exploration, you develop the insight and agency to question old narratives and shape new ones.

Narrative therapy helps you:

• recognize the narratives shaping your identity

• externalize challenges (“anxiety is something I experience,” rather than “I am anxious”)

• uncover how cultural, familial, or traumatic experiences influenced these stories

• trace the origins of limiting beliefs

• explore alternative storylines that reflect your strengths, values, and hopes

• reclaim personal agency in areas where you’ve felt stuck

• choose the next chapters you want to live into

Your story is not fixed—and narrative therapy gives you tools to transform it.

A Creative, Mythic, and Imaginative Lens

Your work with narrative therapy doesn’t have to stay purely conversational. Because you naturally integrate depth, imagination, and creativity into your practice, narrative therapy becomes a rich, symbolic experience.

Sessions may include:

• myth and archetypes that mirror your psychological landscape

• literary allegories to illuminate transformation

• expressive writing and journaling

• letter-writing to parts, problems, or past selves

• metaphor and symbolic language

• storyboards, timelines, or visual mapping

• creative reauthoring exercises

• imaginative “alternate endings” to moments of pain or stuckness

This is a gentle, collaborative, and empowering exploration. You are not forced to “fix” anything—you are invited to understand, expand, and reinterpret your narrative with compassion.

Narrative Therapy & Trauma

Trauma often creates identity stories rooted in shame, fear, powerlessness, or survival-mode adaptations. These stories once kept you safe—but can feel painfully limiting later in life.

Narrative therapy offers a trauma-informed pathway that:

• separates your identity from the trauma story

• explores the protective purpose these narratives once served

• reconnects you with agency and self-trust

• avoids retraumatizing by using externalizing, symbolic language

• integrates beautifully with somatic, attachment, and polyvagal work

Sometimes the nervous system needs image, metaphor, imagination, or myth before it can move toward meaning. Narrative therapy provides that bridge.

Reclaiming Agency and Self-Discovery

Rewriting your story doesn’t mean ignoring hardship. It means acknowledging your courage, strengths, values, and the many selves you’ve been along the way—caretaker, dreamer, advocate, survivor, artist, protector, seeker.

Narrative therapy helps you:

• reconnect with forgotten values

• recognize strengths buried under old narratives

• see your life through multiple, more compassionate lenses

• make meaning from experiences that once felt chaotic

• understand the “plot twists” of your life in empowering ways

As you reclaim agency, your story shifts from something happening to you into something unfolding with you.

Who Narrative Therapy Is For

Narrative therapy may resonate if you:

• feel stuck in old identity stories

• are navigating grief, trauma, or major transitions

• want therapy that integrates imagination, creativity, and symbolism

• are drawn to myth, metaphor, or expressive writing

• seek gentle, non-pathologizing, collaborative work

• want to explore meaning, not just behaviour

It’s especially supportive for highly creative, intuitive, reflective, or spiritually-inclined clients who feel confined by rigid internal narratives.

My Narrative Therapy Approach in Edmonton

My narrative therapy work weaves together:

• storytelling, archetypes, and mythic perspectives

• expressive arts and creative practices

• somatic and polyvagal-informed therapy

• depth psychology and symbolism

• curiosity, collaboration, and meaning-making

Together we trace the narratives that shaped you, honour the chapters that held your survival, and begin to write new ones—ones that reflect your strength, complexity, and unfolding sense of self.

You are not bound by the story you were handed.
You get to write the next chapter.