JCNT - May 2025 Release - Full Release - Flipbook - Page 48
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one thousand friends.
As the summer approached, it was becoming clear to me that Shadow would soon
be ready to graduate from therapy. Now that he was more connected to his
special talents and abilities, he seemed more than capable of continuing to make
changes to his life on his own, to go out and live the life he wanted to lead. But I
also knew this readiness might be somewhat more apparent to me than it was to
Shadow and others in his life.
I started to come up with an idea for a special therapeutic document to highlight
the ways Shadow had chosen to live his life and to share those changes with those
connected to him. In order to make this document, I would need to gather
testimony from some eyewitnesses to Shadow9s changes. Witnessing interviews is
a powerful practice in narrative therapy (Marsten et al., 2016; White, 2007; White
& Epston, 1990) and can serve many functions, including strengthening and
connecting people to preferred stories. I decided to start with an interview with
Shadow and his parents that would serve as a follow-up to our wonderfulness
interview. This time, we would focus on changes Shadow had made since our
previous interview, about his stronger and deeper connection with The Boy Who
Acted Out of Heart. I prepped some questions and ideas in advance, and invited
Shadow and his parents for a special session.
The interview
When Shadow and his parents had all settled in for our interview, I told them that
I would reread the poem, The Boy Who Acted Out of Heart, and gave them the
following instructions:
Katie: I thought we could kind of go through it [the poem] a little bit and think
about some times that we've seen The Boy Who Acted Out of Heart
recently. I think we've been seeing a lot more of him lately.
Shadow: Oh wait I went to Knott's Berry Farm9!
[I didn’t realize it until later in the session, but Shadow was already answering my
9
This is an amusement park a few hours from San Diego with many large roller coasters.
The Boy Who Acted Out of Heart
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, May2025 Release, p. 29-62.
www.journalnft.com
