A case study using narrative therapy to “rewrite” the non-conforming reputation of a high school student

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief description of research stating that adolescents in schools generally pursue reputations that are either nonconforming or conforming. This is usually achieved through the development of goals specific to each type of reputation. Essential to the maintenance of a reputation is the recruitment of an audience. It is also proposed by researchers that intervention by school personnel becomes crucial when trying to counteract the negative effects of a nonconforming Using a case study, this paper investigates the use of Narrative Therapy with a 15-year-old male student in a high school who had developed a nonconforming reputation. A three-year-old nonconforming reputation is put through a Narrative framework that challenges “its” goals and reason for being. As the sessions progress, there is a sense that this young person is beginning to move towards a more preferred sense of self that is potentially different from the one set-up by the nonconforming reputation. This is achieved by using a Narrative style dialogical approach that shows how language censures and as well as its ability to promote (liberate) chosen behaviour. Apart from the development of a more preferred sense of self, an interesting outcome from using this approach has also been the unique way restraint works within the school.