Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 92
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“awkwardness,” and began co-creating ways to work with it, around it, and
through it. And with that, Quentin gave me permission to engage the
“awkwardness” rather than retreat from it. The rest, as they say, is history.
Inheritance of silence: A moment remembered
Quentin (23) began consulting me for court-ordered therapy following ongoing
struggles with substance use, or in his words, “because I couldn’t keep my ass out
of jail.” At the time of our initial session, he had already been revoked from
probation four times due to new drug-related charges and was staring down the
real possibility of additional jail time.
Quentin looked every bit the all-American jock. He had blonde hair, blue eyes,
and the kind of boyish yet sturdy build that made him seem like the golden kid
from a suburban family with every opportunity laid before him. Sitting outside my
office, he could have been mistaken for someone with an uncomplicated present
and inevitably bright future. However, his eyes implied a more complex story—
curiosity edged with confusion and unease, tempered by a flicker of
determination and hope. That subtle openness, glimpsed behind the surface,
quickly disrupted my own assumptions and drew me into seeing beyond the jock
stereotype, revealing a young man searching for direction and possibility—a story
yet to be written, one in which I was about to play a meaningful role.
Our first conversation was a memorable one. Quentin appeared forthcoming and
communicative, but at the same time, he seemed intent on controlling my
perception of him. I noticed how he would withdraw from the conversation
whenever vulnerability was inevitable. But I also realized I was contending with
my own form of vulnerability avoidance. Quentin was accompanied by his father,
who, fortunately for both of us, did not shy away from emotional expression at
first. Fearing he might lose his son to drugs, he spoke with a raw honesty that set
the tone for what would eventually become possible in Quentin’s and my work
together.
During that first meeting, as his father wept, recounting the anguish of watching
his son slip away, Quentin stared beyond me at the bare, colorless, and
forgettable wall. I figured he withdrew because the moment made him feel
exposed and uneasy—awkward. After some time, Quentin and I came to
In the Company of Awkwardness: Counterstorying Toughness in Therapy
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, December 2025 Release, p. 88 -106.
www.journalnft.com
