journal_august_2026_release_full_edition - Flipbook - Page 13
12
In many respects, this encounter became the genesis of my lifelong intrigue and
study of two closely associated matters: What is a good question? And what does
a good question do? I remain engaged with these matters to this day.
What follows is Dustin9s story.
Part II: Dustin’s story
I had been collaborating with Dr. James, a pediatric respiratory physician, with a
well-earned reputation both as an international researcher and locally as a
medical healer, to consult to young people and their families from around the
North Island of New Zealand whose medical advisors, despite their best efforts,
feared for their lives. These young people and their families would be
accommodated here in Auckland over the period of a week while every effort was
made to offer the best our public health services had to offer. Dr. James would
seek my assistance when she thought any remedy might have to be found beyond
even the best of conventional medicine. I took leave for the week from my
workplace so I could devote all my available time and thought to Dustin, aged 16,
who was expected to soon perish as a consequence of a rare form of asthma.
Moreover, prior to introducing me to Dustin and his parents, she informed me
that, from her daylong consultation with Dustin the previous day, that in her
opinion he had given up any hope for his survival. Regretfully, she expected him
to perish in the very near future.
Dr. James then introduced me to them with the utmost respect, informing them
that she was turning over his care to me for the rest of their weeklong stay. Still, I
had to wonder what in the world they might be thinking of being transferred after
day one from a high-status professional and esteemed pediatric respiratory
physician to a relatively low-status professional as a social worker? Could they
possibly have regarded this as some kind of demotion, some indication of the
hopelessness of their son9s predicament? Might I be there to speak of palliative
care and what they might have to anticipate? After all, they must have banked on
something life-saving coming from such medical investigations at the largest
What Is a Good Question—and What Does It Do? A Forty-Year Reflection on Inquiry in Narrative Therapy
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, August 2026 Release, p. 9-45.
www.journalcnt.com
