Narratives and Counseling, Part 2: From Stories of the past to Stories for the Future

Abstract

After a summary of sources of power contained in narratives as proposed by Kilpatrick (1986), a case history of Christian narrative counseling is presented. Emphasis is on a narrative conclusion to the counseling process that focuses on the client's future. This future is understood as a story constructed by the client in response to God's call: the working out of a vocation. The vocation story, interpreted in the framework of Northrop Frye's (1957) four narrative archetypes, is primarily a comedy or romance, not tragedy or irony. The therapist's role in a narrative ending to therapy is interpreted as similar to that of a coach. Narrative models in psychology are also identified as part of a major paradigm shift to a less positivistic psychology, one that is much more compatible with Christian Scripture than is the traditional scientific paradigm.