Letter writing:

Possibilities and practice

Susan Stevens

Susan Stevens is an occupational therapist currently working as a counsellor on a family

therapy team. She may be contacted c/- Lifeline Darling Downs and South West Qld Ltd,
PO Box 2119, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia, 4350 or sstevens@westnet.com.au

This article revisits the use of therapeutic letter writing in narrative therapy
contexts. The purposes, types, and content of letters are explored, with
examples given of various letters written in different therapeutic contexts.
The article discusses how letters can support the various maps of narrative
practice, as well as workplace and professional development considerations,
such as time pressures and funding considerations, as well as how letter-
writing can support learning various aspects of narrative practice.

Keywords: narrative therapy, letter writing, therapeutic documents, re-authoring conversations,

re-membering conversations, outsider witnesses, decentred practice

The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
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INTRODUCTION
I have come to appreciate the significance of
supportive letter writing from my dear Aunty Marj
who wrote letters of support to people in difficult
times. I remember a particularly difficult time in
my life when I received a letter from Aunty Marj.
I clearly recall that it meant so much that she was
thinking of me that I held onto the letter during the
most difficult part of this experience. I realised the
impact of this during a narrative training program
exercise on re-membering1. As it happened, I had
sent a letter of support to a friend that morning in
the tradition inspired by my Aunty Marj. Following
this exercise, I wrote to Aunty Marj about the
contribution she had made to my life and career.
She wrote back to me recalling the qualities she
noticed in me in support of others, going back to
childhood, and reinforced the important practice
of supportive letter writing. This inspired me to
make letter writing part of my work in a new
counselling role.
The purposes of letter writing
The use of letters as part of the therapy process
has a long history. In the narrative tradition, letters
have been used in a variety of ways, primarily with
the purpose of double-story development – providing
acknowledgement of the problem and a richer
description of the alternative story of a person’s life
(White & Epston, 1990). This was my original
intention in writing letters following counselling
sessions. As I have become more familiar with the
maps of narrative practice, I have more clearly
pursued these lines of enquiry, recording people’s
responses from the session and adding my own
wonderings or asking specific questions in the
letter. The experience of receiving a letter has
created so many more possibilities for people than
a face-to-face meeting alone. In this process the
reflections and feedback from people receiving the
letters has inspired and influenced our work
together.
These letters have also become people’s
progress notes that are kept by the organisation as
required by our funding bodies. This practice of
saving the letter as the record of the session has
many benefits. It ensures respectful, collaborative,
accountable, and transparent ways of working and
also has flow-on effects for other workers who
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engage with the people who receive letters and have
the letters as their counselling record.
Use of narrative practices
Writing letters to people with diabetes, Rob
Whittaker described ‘hoping to strike a balance
between acknowledging and honouring the problem,
and highlighting the initiatives the person has taken
in their efforts to free themselves from the effects
of the problem’ (Whittaker, 2009, p. 53), with the
aim of contributing to more hopeful stories about
the person. In the following examples of letters,
I will demonstrate the use of various narrative
practices to achieve this aim. Initially, I will present
some background to the conversation that preceded
the letter and reflect on what I was hoping to
achieve by following the session with a letter.
Following the letters are comments from the people
receiving them, regarding their experience of
receiving letters, and reflections on what this made
possible for them at that time. I hope this will
illustrate the different stories of identity that people
were able to create in responding to problems in
their life.
Examples of letters
Liam
Liam2, a seven-year-old, disappeared from home
and was later found walking along a main rural
highway by police. This was so out of character for
him it was at first feared that he had been
abducted. However, when he went missing a second
time, he left a note and was later discovered some
ten kilometres away.
In this first letter to Liam I acknowledged the
problem – dealing with hard feelings like anger and
frustration, as well as developing an alternative story
of sharing happiness and the values of care and
trust. I asked Liam to name the problem to
externalise it, so we could talk about it in a way that
fitted with his experience and to separate this
problem from his identity (Morgan, 2000). Liam
called the problem ‘surviving through feelings’ and
explained that he had experienced some significant
changes in his family and felt some important
values had been transgressed. He felt this was a
wider problem at school, in the community, and the
world, and was interested in finding ways of
spreading happiness to people. In order to develop
this preferred identity further, I asked questions of
family and friends, both during the session with his
Mum present and in the following letter. These
re-membering conversations were aimed at joining
with significant others around shared values,
commitments, and preferences (Morgan, 2000).
They also helped to highlight stories from the past
that fitted with Liam’s values of happiness, care,
and trust. I hoped that linking these events across
time according to this theme would thicken this
alternative storyline in the process of re-authoring
(Russell & Carey, 2004).
Letter 1 to Liam
Dear Liam
It was great to meet with you and your Mum
last Friday.
I was concerned to hear about the actions
you have taken in two attempts at running
away from home which you called ‘surviving
through feelings’. You said you couldn’t
hold in the feelings of anger and frustration
any longer and you hoped that running away
would wipe them out.
You said your wish was for your family to be
happy and that care and trust are very
important to you. I loved hearing from your
Mum about the special things you do, like
setting the table and the love game. I
wondered what stories other members of
your family could tell me about the ways
you have shared happiness, care, and trust
with them.
It was lovely to hear about your friends,
Toby and Josh, and the cards containing
happiness messages that you gave to class
mates. I would be interested to hear any
more ideas that the three of you come up
with about dealing with hard feelings and
finding happiness.
I look forward to seeing you again on Friday
11 June.
Warm wishes
Susan
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
When I next saw Liam, the problem of ‘surviving
through feelings’ was renamed by him as ‘losing the
feelings you don’t like’. We explored some ideas for
how to do this based on Liam’s existing abilities. He
even created a special name, ‘risene’ for one of
these abilities. Again, Liam’s Mum contributed to
thickening this alternative identity through the
selection of some strengths cards.3 Rather than
accepting these as ‘inherent to his nature’, I asked
her to expand on the intentions behind these
qualities. In keeping with a poststructuralist
approach, I wanted to explore the meaning given to
these strengths and contribute to a richer
description of Liam’s preferred identity (Russell &
Carey, 2004). If I had the chance, I could have
explored them further by tracing their history and
connection to significant figures in Liam’s life.
I was concerned that Liam thought it was bad to
have some feelings, like anger and frustration. It
may be that running away was an act of protection,
a way of ensuring that his feelings of anger and
frustration didn’t affect others. When he chose the
‘forgiving’ and ‘loving’ cards in response to a
question about the abilities that would help him
most in this situation, I saw this as an opportunity
to encourage him to use these abilities not only with
family and friends, but with himself as well.
Letter 2 to Liam sent by email
Dear Liam
We’ve had some interesting talks lately about
losing the feelings you don’t like. You had
some great ideas about how to do this by:
• putting your thinking cap on
• asking for help from the spirit; praying to
God
• using your ability – called ‘risene’ – which
means getting along and having happy
feelings, and
• writing feelings down or drawing them.
I found a book that you might like, called
‘Captain Grumpy’, about a pirate who wants
to lose his grumpiness, which as you
47

probably know is very much like feeling
cranky. You might like to borrow it to read
while I am away. (Feel free to ask Brad in
the office to get it for you from the
bookshelf in my room.)
I enjoyed hearing about the strengths your
Mum appreciates most about you, which
were:
LOYAL – meaning your love, care, and trust
for your friends
PURPOSEFUL – about the happiness
messages you gave to classmates, and
CURIOUS – because you ask lots of
questions!
I noticed, Liam, that getting things right is
very important to you and that it is bad for
you to have some feelings, like angry/
cranky. We photocopied the FORGIVING
and LOVING cards because you thought
these strengths would help you most at the
moment. I’d like to hear some stories about
how you have been forgiving and loving not
just to others but to yourself as well.
I have set aside 1.30 on Friday 30 July if
you would like to meet again. Even if you
find you have some success with losing the
feelings you don’t like, I would love to hear
about how you have managed to do this.
Then we could share these ideas with other
children I see, who also have feelings they
want to lose. This could be a very effective
way of spreading happiness to other
children. What do you think?
I hope you enjoy your school holiday!
Warmest wishes
Susan
Liam returned a little later, mainly to support
his sister who wanted to talk about experiences of
bullying. He said he had generally managed to lose
the feelings he didn’t like. He was keen to be an
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outsider witness to support other children facing
similar problems, especially as his last school report
card named him ‘an excellent speaker’.
Elly
Elly is a young woman who was caring for her
husband who lives with mental illness. He had
recently returned home from a hospital admission
facilitated by Elly, which she described as the most
stressful experience of her life. She was also
assuming the responsibility for parenting their five-
year-old son, as well as working full-time.
At our first meeting, Elly spoke with much
emotion for most of the time about the strain of her
current situation. I felt it was important to
acknowledge all that she had shared with me.
I chose to do this according to the four stages of
enquiry from Michael White’s map of outsider-
witness practice (White, 2007; see also Russell &
Carey, 2004, p. 73 for a full description of these
four categories).
Letter 1 to Elly
Dear Elly
Thank you for the privilege of hearing your
story on Tuesday. I was moved by what you
told me. An image came to mind after
I spoke with you that I wanted to share.
This image is attached: a heart with many
hands reaching out to it, with the message,
‘There’s only so much one heart can give’.
You said you were exhausted and emotional
and it’s no wonder with all that you have
been dealing with. You also indicated that
your degree of distress was due to the fact
that you do care deeply and you spoke of
your love for Greg. The other thing that
stood out to me was your pain when you
said ‘I’m sick of being hurt’ and described
many examples of not being accepted due
to the stigma of mental illness/difference.
I have heard similar stories from others
living with mental illness. People frequently
say that dealing with the effects of stigma
is much more difficult than dealing with the
illness itself. Talking to you yesterday
 reminded me of two things that I need to
honour in my work. 1. The incredible role of
carers in supporting people with mental
illness. And 2. My responsibility to work in
ways that are destigmatising of mental
illness.
I hope you have the opportunity for some
relaxing and rejuvenating over your holiday.
I look forward to talking with you again on
18 February.
Warm regards
Susan
Elly said this letter and the accompanying
image meant a lot to her as it validated what she
had been struggling with for some time.
In the next session, I externalised the frustration
that Elly was experiencing and explored the effects
this was having on her home life as well as her work
and social relationships. I wanted to trace the
history of her wish for acceptance that was ‘absent
but implicit’ in her strong sense of frustration with
her situation (White, 2000). I hoped that
exploration of the precious values that had been
violated by this experience of distress would lead
to a richer alternative story of identity.
Letter 2 to Elly
Hi Elly
Once again, I was in awe of all that you are
dealing with in caring for Greg. You strongly
expressed your frustration at the current
situation and the impact it is having on your
family and social life. I was drawn to what
you said about a longing for acceptance
that is behind this frustration. I wondered if
it might be useful to explore this wish for
acceptance a bit further. I have included
some questions that you might like to
consider, if you have the chance, before our
next meeting:
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2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
How have you managed to hold onto this
longing for acceptance for as long as you
have despite what you have been dealing
with?
What experiences have you had so far in
your life where you learned the value of
acceptance?
What possibilities has acceptance brought
to your life so far, and what possibilities
could acceptance bring to your life in the
future?
I look forward to meeting with you again on
23 March.
Warm regards
Susan
At the next appointment time, Elly was so busy
she was unable to attend face-to-face so we spoke
over the phone. Elly had made a decision to leave
her husband. It was important to her that she had
tried her utmost to support her husband and ensure
a happy life for their son, and keep the family
together. I was guided by the re-authoring map
(White, 2007) in questioning Elly according to the
landscapes of action and identity, in the
co-construction of her preferred identity. Often
during the session we explored events and actions
that had occurred (i.e., the landscape of action). I
hoped that the letter that followed would encourage
further reflection on intentional states of identity
(i.e., the landscape of identity). I wanted to
highlight the values, hopes, and dreams that were
behind this decision, to support Elly to proceed in a
direction that fitted with her commitments for life.
Letter 3 to Elly
Hi Elly
Thanks for calling me to catch me up on
your decision to separate from Greg.
Some of your words that stood out from the
conversation were ‘I’ve done all that I can’,
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 ‘I need to leave – it’s affecting Kaleb’.
You talked about your hopes of wanting
better for Kaleb, for him to have a healthy
life. You also said that this strong action
might influence Greg to seek treatment and
also have a healthy life and to eventually be
more active as a father to Kaleb. You said
this reflects your values about enjoying life
and how sorry you feel for Greg that he is
not able to make the most of life at this
stage.
Your voice sounded much calmer than I’ve
ever noticed in previous sessions and you
were clear about the next steps in seeking
legal advice. I wonder what your recent
dream about a garden filled with flowers
and fairies might say about the future you
aspire to.
I look forward to meeting with you face-to-
face on 2 June after 4.00 pm.
Warm regards
Susan
Elly was again unable to make it to the
counselling centre but requested a brief talk by
phone. I included her Mum and her son in
re-membering questions to support her connection
with people who were significant to her in the
action she was taking.
Letter 4 to Elly
Hi Elly
This is just a brief note to reflect on your
call yesterday.
You gave a very clear message, ‘I am fully
over it’, regarding your efforts to support
Greg. When you said how hard you are
working I was reminded again of the carer’s
picture with the heart and the words,
‘There’s only so much one heart can give’.
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50 2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
You talked about feeling frustrated and
angry, up and down, and having a sense
that other people do not understand or
support you. This is except for your Mum
who you said is ‘always there’. What do you
think your Mum would admire most about
how you have responded to the challenges
of the last few years? What do you hope
Kaleb will say about the significance of the
actions you are taking now, when he is
older?
I look forward to meeting with you on 17
June after 4.00 pm.
Warm regards
Susan
In the next session, I continued externalising
the frustration and its effects. I wanted to highlight
the skills and knowledge that Elly could draw on for
the actions she was soon to take. I tried to make
these abilities more visible by tracing their history
and connection to significant people from both the
past and present in her life. I also wanted to
recognise that while she had experienced significant
distress and wished to separate from Greg, she had
a deep concern for him and wanted the separation
to occur in the least stressful way for everyone
involved. This fitted with her history of caring for
others from her school days and her volunteer work
as a telephone counsellor. This identity as a
supportive person who is concerned for the welfare
of others was contrary to the questions she
sometimes raised about whether her actions were
selfish and not as supportive as they could be
for Greg.
Letter 5 to Elly
Hi Elly
‘It’s big!’ was the way you described your
decision to leave Greg and this seemed to
be the theme of last week’s conversation.
You said this big decision was about
wanting more for life for yourself and for
Kaleb. You talked again of the frustration
you feel with Greg not taking his medication
or performing other self-care and household
tasks. You said your Mum ‘sees me
breaking’ and it seemed significant that you
recalled your Mum’s struggle and realised
what you have learned from her. What
would you name as the principles you are
standing for with your decision to leave?
You said all the arrangements for leaving
feel like a burden, but that you are pretty
organised and have a plan. I was interested
to hear that your experience supporting
others as a Telephone Counsellor has given
you knowledge about how to deal with this
situation and most importantly knowledge of
‘who you are’. You said that strength comes
from beliefs from your upbringing such as
‘don’t give up trying’, ‘have faith’, and your
devotion to Kaleb.
Knowing how much you value relationships,
I was not surprised to hear the many ways
that people around you have offered to
support you. You have been upfront with
friends and you said, ‘I’m not going to be
frightened to ask for help’. I enjoyed
hearing how you have reconnected with
school friends and how you and Nadine are
supporting each other. You said Nadine
would appreciate that you and Kaleb are
doing well and you can feel proud about
this. You said that your group of school
friends would look after each other no
matter what, and they would remember you
as caring and looking after those in need.
I wondered what stories your Mum or your
friends might recall about you making, and
acting on, big decisions according to your
beliefs, and what skills and knowledge they
notice you have used to do this.
I was moved to hear your concern for Greg
when you talked about enlisting the support
of his family when you tell him you are
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
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leaving and how it breaks your heart to see
him so unwell. Again, you stated your hope
for a safe, relaxed, and happy life as much
for Greg as for yourself and Kaleb.
Elly, this is big and I wish you well for the
times ahead. You said strength and support
would get you through and I can see these
themes clearly throughout this letter.
Please feel free to contact Bob if you would
like to talk with someone while I am away. I
look forward to catching up with you when I
return on Thursday 29th July.
Warm regards
Susan
Elly said she enjoyed receiving the letters; that
‘it’s special to have something written about you’.
She said it felt like she was being offered ‘extra
care’ at a really difficult time. She said the letters
were instrumental in supporting her to make
changes in her life that fitted with what was
important to her. She said she would read them in
her car and rethink what we discussed. It seems
that the letters provided a form of scaffolding or
foundation for reflection from which to take further
steps. Elly said they allowed her to recollect her
thoughts and realise, ‘Things are bad; I have to
change. I did say that, now what can I do? I’ve
made a decision, I have to follow it through’. I
wonder if this quote reflects the degree to which the
story in which Elly was living and constructing her
identity did not fit with her preferred identity and
her hopes for her life.
When I last saw her, Elly was planning to sell
their house after Greg had left to live with his
family. Although there were some ongoing
difficulties with Greg’s contact with Kaleb, she said
she felt ‘calm, relaxed, and at ease’ with her life.
She said friends and family had rallied to support
her and had noticed the difference in her. Elly said
it was ‘like one book had closed and another was
about to open’.
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Bryn
Bryn is a young man who was distressed by
persistent thoughts of suicide after a relationship
breakup. In this first letter, I wanted to acknowledge
what was behind his distress and the step he took
in attending the appointment in defiance of some
dominant ideas about young men and counselling
which were reinforced by his Dad. I felt it was
important to initially highlight the agency involved
in the initiatives of talking openly with his Mum,
and making a counselling appointment when he had
felt such despair about his life that he thought of
ending it.
After Bryn named the problem ‘overthinking’,
I followed the externalising or statement of position
map number 1 (White, 2007). We explored the
effects of the problem and then I asked Bryn to
evaluate these effects and to justify his evaluation
in order to identify what he values. To develop this
story of ‘approval and acceptance’, Bryn identified
past actions in accordance with these values, and
made links to significant people in his life. Bryn
talked in the session about the support he received
from his sister, Tess. I then followed the
re-membering map (White, 2007) by asking
questions in the letter about Bryn’s contribution to
Tess’s life and the difference this might make to her
identity. I also asked about friends in these
questions to enrich the stories retold by Bryn.
Letter 1 to Bryn
Hi Bryn
First, I wanted to acknowledge what a
significant step it was for you to attend this
appointment. You said that although you
were anxious, there were excited, happy,
and positive feelings as well. You also
talked about an important conversation with
your Mum. I wondered about these actions
that you have taken recently, and what they
might suggest about what you value, or
what is precious in your life right now.
I was interested to hear about the problem
of ‘overthinking’ and how this can have you
feeling self-conscious, like you are being
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judged, and lead to bad temper. You said
that ‘overthinking’ is a good thing at work
because it ensures safety; however, it has
not been good for your relationships.
You said that behind this is a wish for
‘approval and acceptance’ in relationships.
You said how much you value friendship
and family and that thoughts of these
people were prominent during a recent time
of distress.
I was moved to hear you recall stories from
childhood and work about the ways you
extend approval and acceptance to others.
You said you were known as ‘the guy to
offload to’, that you take the effort not to be
selfish, to ask why, and that you can listen
in an understanding way that draws from
your own experience.
You said the people who would most
appreciate these listening skills are your
friends and Tess. What would they notice
most about the way you have contributed to
their life? What difference do you think you
have made to the way they feel and think
about themselves? What do you think might
be possible for you through remembering
these connections with your friends and
Tess?
I look forward to meeting with you again on
11th June.
Warm regards
Susan
Bryn said that the letter was valuable in
reminding him of the things we talked about. He
said, ‘When you are talking about difficulties, you
don’t necessarily recall all the things you said’. He
said he ‘read the letter over and over’ and he was
able to ‘put his thoughts in order and put things
into perspective’. Recognising that language is
central in shaping identity, David Newman (2008)
explains how ‘rescuing the said from the saying of
it’ through documentation is crucial practice.
Perhaps for Bryn, rereading over his words and
initiatives reinforced the significance and meaning
behind the accounts of his life that he had shared,
supporting an alternative identity and thus providing
a foundation for further action.
Bryn focused particularly on the re-membering
questions and made an effort to talk with his Mum
and his sister, Tess, as well as reconnecting with old
school friends. As a result of this, he discovered
that a mate, Riley, was in hospital dealing with a
life-threatening illness and a lower limb amputation.
He was very thoughtful as he described the way he
had supported this man and what their
conversations had meant to both of them.
In the next letter, I wanted to make visible all
the actions Bryn was taking in this project that he
had named ‘finding my way to happiness’. I also
wanted to build on his ideas about the problem of
‘overthinking’, particularly in relation to dominant
cultural beliefs and the conversations he had shared
with both Riley and Tess around gender,
appearance, and self-consciousness. Deconstructing
these dominant ideas during the session had led to
Bryn identifying times of resisting the pressure to
‘change myself to fit in’, and I wanted to highlight
these unique outcomes and encourage him to
investigate them further.
Letter 2 to Bryn
Hi Bryn
The thing that really stood out from our last
meeting was the effort you have made in
your project to ‘find my way to happiness’ –
the effort to attend counselling, to connect
with others, and make other changes such
as buying a laptop.
I was impressed by your ideas about how to
combat 'overthinking' and it was exciting to
hear you laugh and say, ‘I think I’ve just
answered my own question’. I noticed how
important it has been to become aware of
the negative thoughts you can have through
'overthinking', but was interested to hear
you say that 'overthinking' was overall
definitely positive in your life.
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It was great to hear about the way you have
reconnected with friends. I especially liked
hearing about the way you have supported
Riley through a serious and life-changing
illness. You have certainly shared some
significant conversations with him about
what is really important to you – real,
genuine friendship and accepting people for
who they are rather than how they look.
This reminded me of the power of some
ideas in our culture about how people
should be in the world and how this can
have you trying to live up to expectations of
what is considered ‘normal’. These ideas
are particularly strong regarding gender, and
you talked of your concern for Tess with the
self-consciousness that she experiences as
a young woman. You said that even at
school you were ‘not the sort to change
myself to fit in with a group’. I wondered
how you have been able to resist these
pressures to fit in and if this might be
important to consider for the future as part
of your happiness project?
I look forward to exploring this with you
further on 30th July.
Warm regards
Susan
Bryn returned, saying he had ‘made great strides
towards finding happiness’. He had his own strategy
for positive thinking, was widening his social
network and had adopted a gym program, healthy
eating, and was training for a community fun run.
He had even inspired other family members with
these healthy habits. He talked about self-
consciousness and its relationship to ‘overthinking’
and how he had resisted this through training in
positive thinking, similar to his gym training. He
said that the letter reinforced what we talked about
and was like a checklist that he would read through
every few weeks to ‘reconnect with what he was
aiming to do in his life’. At this stage we arranged a
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definitional ceremony meeting to celebrate these
achievements with his Mum and mate Riley as
witnesses.
The letter as a progress note
Initially, I wrote letters to augment therapy
sessions in addition to my progress notes. I quickly
realised from the notes I kept during conversations
that I need not write separate progress notes in
addition to what I had recorded in the letter. With
people’s permission, the letters I write to them now
become the progress note or record of the meeting
that is required to be kept by my workplace. The
client then has the same record of our work together
as the agency. In addition to the intended
therapeutic benefits for the client, these letters
present a very different perspective of the person,
compared with traditional progress notes. Rather
than a problem-saturated account of the person’s
life, the letters acknowledge people’s responses to
the problem; highlight their knowledges, skills, and
preferred ways of being; and celebrate their progress
towards this. I hope this provides, as Sue Mann
(2000, p. 47) writes, ‘the opportunity for others
who read the records to enter into an understanding
of the person as “more than the problem” and to
make more visible their attempts to act against the
problem’. A colleague described her impression of
the letters as progress notes as ‘soulful, honouring,
and validating’ and a ‘humane, rich, and down-to-
earth connection’.
Considerations of power
I am always trying to be mindful of the
operations of power in my relationships with the
people with whom I work. As I mentioned earlier,
using the letter as the progress note has made me
aware of our privilege and responsibility as workers
in representing other people’s lives. As Sue Mann
(2000, p. 47) notes, this is ‘an opportunity to
thicken the description of people’s lives and to take
a stand against practices of degradation’.
I carefully check with people what they think
about receiving a letter and how it might be useful
in our work together. Some people have chosen not
to receive letters because they don’t have enough
privacy in their current living situation. Some people
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
54 2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
collect the letter from the counselling centre office
to ensure privacy. When letter writing is offered,
consideration needs to be given to people’s different
preferences, reading abilities, or if English is a
second language. I worked with a family where the
parents had trouble reading, but still wished to
receive letters, so we developed ways to enable this.
They requested the letter be typed in large font so
the family could read it together and they decided
that their support worker could assist them. This
turned out to be a bonus because I included
specific questions for the support worker, Bob, to
contribute to development of the alternative story as
they read through the letter together, as in the
following excerpt:
I wondered if you could ask Bob what he has
noticed about your family so far, about your
ability to get along well together. Would he
have some stories about how you are already
working towards getting along well together
that we could talk about next time?
When I offered one woman the option of
receiving a letter documenting the session that
would also serve as her progress note, she said ‘But
that’s your record. It’s not mine!’ This reminded me
of the strength of the discourse of therapist as
expert, recording significant information about
people which has the potential to affect their life,
but which they are not likely to ever see themselves.
When I have introduced the option of letters, some
people have asked, with either a sense of
bemusement or suspicion, about what I would write
in such a letter – they are so familiar with negative
representations of their life. So it is important to
prepare people for receiving a letter, and to also
check with them about their experience of receiving
the letter, at the next meeting (Newman, 2008).
It has been important to me that these letters
provide the opportunity to decentre myself as a
worker. Decentred practice involves privileging
people’s own knowledge and consciousness in
therapeutic conversations (White, 1997). Receiving
a letter one to two weeks following the session has
the effect of extending our conversation into the
person’s world beyond the counselling room
(Loveday, 2009). Additional practices that people
have adopted in response to the letter include
answering questions like homework, or journaling.
Children have enjoyed reading them aloud to
significant people in their lives, and have been so
excited to receive something positive, and specially
written about them, that they have brought the
letter to the next session to read back to me! Some
other ways of ensuring that letters contribute to a
decentred position include the use of people’s exact
words and phrases, the inclusion of re-membering
questions, and deliberately highlighting people’s
initiatives by including lists of skills or steps taken
(Mann, 2000; Newman, 2008).
The responsibility to be influential in
determining which direction to take with the
questions raised in a letter involves considerable
thought and often creates dilemmas. It is important
that I do this tentatively and check people’s
experience of this, so I am not making assumptions
about the direction in which to take our future
conversations. This is where feedback from people
has been most valuable in shaping the letter writing
process. Letters are also an opportunity to make the
context of people’s lives more visible and in doing
so to take a stand against thin descriptions that
obscure broader relations of power (Mann, 2000).
Assisting people to question and challenge the
dominant beliefs and ideas of modern culture allows
them to separate further from the problem. This
opens up new possibilities for breaking from the
influence of the problem and connecting with
people’s own preferred ways of living (Morgan,
2000).
The challenge of time
Each letter takes at least an hour to write which
is roughly equivalent to the time allowed for one
counselling session. The demand from funding
bodies to meet targets sets a challenge: to provide
an agreed number of sessions and also sustain the
practice of writing letters to all the clients who
would like them, following each session. The
statistics we keep do not currently reflect the value
of letter writing. People with whom I have met
have estimated the worth of one letter to be
somewhere between two and four face-to-face
sessions. If one letter is worth more than even one
session, this justifies spending the time to craft a
constructive letter.
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au
Effects on my practice
Letter writing has been a wonderful way to
assist my growing understanding of narrative
practices, particularly in learning the various maps.
Crafting a letter has required me to carefully reflect
on conversations in a similar way to reviewing
recorded sessions. I have found it has given me
some space to really examine my practice and
facilitate further learning. I have discovered
opportunities that I have missed that I can then
pursue in the letter, as well as positive moments
that can be developed further.
Letter writing following counselling sessions has
created many more possibilities for working together
than I initially envisaged. It has been a great
privilege to work alongside people as they revise
their relationships with significant problems in their
lives. Hearing how the letters have supported people
to construct preferred storylines of identity and
celebrating their achievements toward this has been
incredibly exciting.
Notes
1. This re-membering conversations exercise was called
‘The other is always significant: Skills to populate
therapeutic conversations’, taught by Carolyn Markey
and David Newman as part of the Dulwich Centre
Publications Graduate Diploma International Training
Program: Narrative Approaches to Therapy and
Community Work, 2009–2010.
2. People’s names have been changed to protect their
privacy.
3. Strength cards are a set of 54 cards featuring images
and words that can be useful in identifying and
exploring people’s skills, values, and hopes. They are
published by St Luke’s Innovative Resources (see
webpage: www.innovativeresources.org).
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Liam,
Elly, and Bryn who generously allowed their letters
to be used in the hope that others may benefit from
this practice; Brian, Chris, Marianne, Natina, and
Shelley for their interest, encouragement, and
suggestions; David Denborough for his support
throughout the project process; and Aunty Marj
for introducing me to the tradition of supportive
letter writing.
55
References White, M. (1997). Decentred practice. In M. White,
Narratives of therapists’ lives (pp. 200–214).
Loveday, H. (2009). From oppression resistance grows. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and
White, M. (2000). Re-engaging with history: The absent
Community Work, (1), 3–13.
but implicit. In M White in Reflections on narrative
Mann, S. (2000). Collaborative representation: Narrative practices: Interviews and essays (pp. 35–58).
ideas in practice. Gecko: A Journal of Deconstruction Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
and Narrative Ideas in Therapeutic Practice, (2),
White, M. (2007) Maps of narrative practice. New York,
39–49.
NY: W. W. Norton.
Morgan, A. (2000). What is narrative therapy?: An easy-
White, M. & Epston, D., (1990). Narrative means to
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therapeutic ends. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.
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Whittaker, R. (2009). Narrative explorations in clinical
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International Journal of Narrative Therapy and
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Russell, S., & Carey, M. (2004). Narrative therapy:
Responding to your questions. Adelaide, Australia:
Dulwich Centre Publications.

10th International Narrative

Therapy and Community
Work Conference
Brazil 13th-15th July 2011
Registrations now open
The 10th International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference is to be held in Salvador,
Brazil 13th-15th July 2011. Over the last ten years, Dulwich Centre has held International Narrative
Therapy and Community Work Conferences in Australia, USA, UK, Mexico, China and Norway. In 2011,
Salvador will host a gathering of narrative therapists and community workers from around the globe!
Many Brazilian practitioners are now engaging with narrative ideas in unique ways and we are so looking
forward to this event.

For more information see: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/conference.html

The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work

56 2010 No. 4 www.dulwichcentre.com.au