Tailoring your therapy experience using Narrative Therapy Strategies and Accelerated Resolution Therapy
Starting therapy can be a daunting and overwhelming process. Emotions are big, you feel protective of yourself, but hopeful for support with your healing journey. At Maliya, we walk alongside you throughout the healing process and care for you with empathy, reflection and deep validation.
Narrative therapy is focused on elevating your voice as the expert on the problems you experience in your life. There’s a pronounced focus on identifying problems as separate from the client, empowering your voice and perspectives in a non-blaming and strengths based approach.
Accelerated resolution therapy is an alternative to talk therapy which allows you to revisit your painful memories, process the somatic body memories and the narrative cognitive memories related to traumatic experiences. This therapy reduces intense emotional responses to trauma reminders and enhances confidence to move through with fewer trauma related symptoms (i.e. irritability, panic attacks, general anxiety, hypervigilance, and heightened startle responses).
Donna’s unique approach of combining Narrative Therapy with Accelerated Resolution Therapy ensures that you experience a healing journey that meets your individual needs and therapy preferences. This approach is a great fit for both young people (12-17) and adults (18+).
Aurora’s Story: (names and details have been changed)
Aurora is a young person with an extensive trauma history including physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect, and death loss of immediate family members. She had begun to experiment with substances, running away from home, self-injury and experienced a recent suicide attempt.
Aurora began therapy with a slow mindful pace. She completed a Narrative Therapy Tree of Life Project with Donna. The process of completing her Tree of Life provided opportunities to identify traumatic experiences, strong relationships, Aurora’s values, strengths and qualities that had previously been clouded by a trauma laden story of pain and anger. Aurora identified the themes of trauma for herself and developed a treatment plan with Donna to begin ART.
Aurora’s Tree of Life
Bella’s Story (names and details have been changed)
Bella is a mother of three, she works full time and is happy in her marriage. She’s struggled throughout her life with poor self-image and low self-esteem that evolved to body dysmorphia including some disordered eating habits.
Bella values her health and wellness and wants to provide a healthy role model for her children when it comes to eating, caring for her body and loving herself.
Externalization: Narrative therapy uses a method in which the client “externalizes” the problem they are experiencing. In Bella’s case, externalization was critical due to the internalized shame she felt related to body image and disordered eating. Bella developed a character that fit the description of the problem she was experiencing and named it “the horrible awful”. Intentional language in therapy is powerful and relieves the client of the daunting professional jargon used to describe their experiences and symptoms. Externalization positions the client in opposition to the “problem” and ensures a perspective that the client themselves is NOT the problem, the problem is the problem.
Bella is a lover of music and finds meaning and nostalgia in the music she listens to. Bella was supported by Donna to create a music timeline for which she explored her life events and development from childhood through adulthood. This treatment method gave Bella an opportunity to narrate her life story through music and identify the traumatic experiences she has endured. The use of music was grounding and validating, and provided somatic opportunities for Bella to tune into her body responses and prepare for ART sessions to process traumatic memories.
