Narrative therapy with men who have sexually abused children

Abstract

A narrative approach to working with men who have sexually abused children is described in this paper. The approach has grown out of clinical experience with people who have survived sexual abuse and people who have perpetrated sexual abuse. It draws on ideas of practitioners from the social-constructionist tradition. Chief among these are Michael White’S Narrative approach to therapy, Alan Jenkins’ Invitational approach to working with sexual offenders, and the Fifth Province model developed by NoIlaig Byme and Imelda McCarthy In Ireland. Individual, group and family treatment formats are employed in this approach in a carefully sequenced way to maximize the opportunities for men who have abused children to re-author their lives in ways that allow them to privilege the safety of children and separate from abusive power practices.