Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 23
21
The Virtual Response Team in action.
For clarity purposes, David’s questions will appear in all caps to help distinguish
his proposals from my own questions for Joanna.
Date: Fri, Dec 22, 2000
Jo:
Hi David,
Hope you've enjoyed a well-deserved rest. I am also enjoying this process,
and so is Joanna!! Joanna and I both love writing, so this process is working
for us. She is enjoying being a partner and not a patient.
David: JOANNA, WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN BY THAT- YOUR NOTION OF YOU
TELLING US FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, HOW THIS NARRATIVE THERAPY
PROCESS POSITIONS YOU AS A 'PARTNER' RATHER THAN A 'PATIENT'?
David’s sensitivity to language and recognition of the difference between her
being a patient and a partner underlined our process of co-research and Joanna’s
lifelong struggle to be heard and honoured by the therapists and doctors treating
her. She always felt that her experience wasn’t recognised and honoured in
psychiatry, but that she discovered here, in our therapeutic relationship, she felt
known and accepted.
During my accidental apprenticeship with David, I experienced many exhilarating
moments of narrative therapy in practice. For instance, during the following
exchange between David and us:
Jo:
Joanna says she is managing to struggle against self-harm at present by
using the truth…
David: TRUTH JOANNA, WHEN DID YOU ESTABLISH YOUR OWN TRUTH AND
MOREOVER BELIEVE IN IT????
An Apprenticeship in Extremis
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, December 2025 Release, p. 5-44.
www.journalnft.com
