SOCW2009 Chap.5 Narrative Practice and Externalising
Narrative Practice and Externalising
Change the relationship to the problem
Narrative practice investigates how stories shape identity and possibility. A problem-saturated account can make a difficulty appear to be the person's essential nature.
Externalising shifts an identity claim into a relationship with a problem, creating room to examine its influence, history and effects.
Ask how the problem affects choices, relationships and self-image, then ask how the person responds to it. The externalised name must fit the client's language and should be revised if it mocks experience or blocks useful inquiry.
Narrative work can also investigate social messages and institutional standards that support the problem story.
Develop neglected evidence
Unique outcomes are events that do not fit the dominant account. Explore what happened, how the person contributed, what the action meant and which value it expressed. Thickening links the event to other occasions, supportive witnesses and a preferred identity.
Future questions consider where that direction might lead, while historical questions locate how long the valued commitment has existed.
Re-authoring is not positive reframing. A preferred account becomes credible through actions, relationships, meaning and history. Externalising also does not erase accountability for harm.
The worker can separate person from problem while asking them to evaluate effects, hear others' experience and choose responsible action.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Problem-saturated stories
- 02
Externalising language
- 03
Problem influence
- 04
Unique outcomes
- 05
Thickening
- 06
Preferred identity
- 07
Accountability and context
Worked example · free
Interview a fixed identity label
- 1Invite a client-fitting name for the voice that converts two events into a total identity verdict.
- 1Map the problem's influence on action, relationships and the client's view of themselves.
- 1Locate an event that does not fit and explore the client's contribution and its meaning.
- 1Connect the preferred account to history, witnesses and one accountable next action.
Key terms
- Externalising
- A practice of separating a person's identity from the influence of a problem through collaborative language and questions.
- Unique outcome
- An event that does not fit a dominant problem story and can support a different account.
- Thickening
- Developing a preferred story through detail, meaning, history, relationships and future direction.
- Problem influence
- The effects a problem has on choices, relationships, self-understanding and daily life.
Narrative Practice and Externalising FAQ
What does externalising do?
It changes an identity conclusion into a relationship that can be examined. Instead of treating a person as the problem, the interview explores how the problem influences life and how the person has responded. The language must fit the client's experience rather than being imposed as a clever label.
What is a unique outcome?
It is an event that does not fit the dominant problem story. The worker asks what happened, how the person contributed and what the action expresses about values or commitments. The event becomes useful when it is connected to meaning and other evidence.
How is re-authoring different from reassurance?
Reassurance may simply deny the problem account or substitute a positive label. Re-authoring builds an alternative account from lived actions, relationships, history and preferred direction. It can acknowledge difficulty and unfinished work while making neglected evidence available.
Does externalising remove responsibility?
No. Separating person from problem can support accountable reflection because the person can evaluate the problem's effects and choose a different response. Where harm occurred, the worker should preserve attention to consequence, power and others' experience rather than using language to excuse it.
Assessment move
Practise a five-stage narrative sequence: map influence, test an externalised name, locate a unique outcome, thicken its meaning and extend the preferred direction. Use original everyday situations and keep your questions in the client's likely language. Compare each sequence with empty reassurance and identify why evidence is stronger than a positive label.
Add one contextual question about where the problem story came from and one accountability question about its effects. When revising, draw two columns for dominant and preferred stories, but populate both with events and relationships rather than adjectives. For every unique outcome, add four annotations: the action, the person’s contribution, the value expressed and a witness who might recognise its history.
Next, test whether the externalised name increases choice or merely sounds clever; replace it if it minimises harm or does not fit the person’s words. Write one question that locates a social message supporting the dominant story and another that invites accountable action. Finish by tracing how a preferred account could influence one future relationship without promising a complete transformation.
