What narrative therapy is, and how it can make your life feel more coherent

“Everything we do in this world comes with a story attached to it.” – Hala Alyan

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Hala discuss narrative therapy and identity formation (3:00); making sense of our youth and life’s challenges (18:00); family and relationship mythology (29:00); how narrative theory addresses common life scenarios (36:00); and narrative theory strategies and techniques (45:00).

Hala Alyan (@HalaNAlyan) is an award-winning Palestinian American poet, novelist, and clinical psychologist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Guernica and elsewhere. Her poetry collections have won the Arab American Book Award and the Crab Orchard Series. Her debut novel, Salt Houses was the winner of the Arab American Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Her latest poetry collection, The Twenty-Ninth Year, is out now. For more about Hala, check out https://www.halaalyan.com/.

Notable Links:

• Narrative therapy (form of psychotherapy)
• Palestinian diaspora
• American University of Beirut
• 2006 Lebanon War (34-day military conflict)
• Stranger Things (television show)
• Mating in Captivity, by Ester Perel (book)
• The Ivy Crown, by William Carlos Williams (poem)
• PTSD (mental disorder)
• Birth order (psychological development theory)
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (psycho-social intervention)
• Attachment theory (psychological model)
• Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist
• Narrative Therapy Initiative
• The top 10 mental health apps (article)

This episode of Deviate is brought to you by the Paris Writing Workshop, a month-long creative writing workshop in the artistic heart of Europe. In addition to taking classes and participating in workshops, students will receive one-on-one consultations with professional writers, attend literary panel presentations, and give readings in Parisian venues. Core classes include Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Screenwriting as well as Submissions and Publications, a seminar that will give students information, insight and strategies for getting their portfolio work published.

This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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