26 What I Know About Addiction

This semester, we’ve had the opportunity to meet Andrea Wilson, who came as a guest speaker in class. She specializes in Narrative Therapy, a field that I have never heard about before, yet was very interested in what she had to say. Narrative Therapy is a compassionate way to approach counseling, it helps understand better the experience a person is living through the stories that they share about themselves and what has happened or is happening to them. It is also a way to help people see their problem as external. It helps them understand that the problem and themselves are different and that the problem is happening TO them. If we take the example of an alcoholic, with this approach, that person gets to be outside their situation and participate in their change without shame and blame. The change though is not guaranteed. Only self determination from the client can lead to that. This was an amazing subject to learn about and it led me to brainstorm about what problem that already exists, isn’t solved, and that is still causing a lot of problems today. It has sparked an interest in seeking potential solutions to such problems, which I view as a valuable avenue for future research.