Uploaded : June 2020

Keywords:
Structuralism, post-structuralism, reflecting team, Definitional Ceremony, outsider-witnesses, narrative therapy, Barbara Myerhoff, Michael White.

Michael White

Australian social worker and family therapist. He is known as the founder of narrative therapy, and for his significant contribution to psychotherapy and family therapy.

Abstract

Michael White is reviewing the Reflecting Team's practices as a Definitional Ceremony. At the beginning he points out the structuralist/post-structuralist distiction. He then focuses on the emphasis that narrative therapy has placed on recognizing and inviting outsider-witnesses. He then refers to some of Barbara Myerhoff's writings that have contributed to a better understanding of the function of the Definitional Ceremony, and maps out some of the Reflecting Team's practices. Finally, he focuses on some issues that Reflecting Teams consistently face at their practice, and sheds light on those aspects of the Reflecting Team's work related to acknowledgement, decentred sharing, catharsis, and members' orientation toward retelling, but also difficulties such as apprehension and normalising judgement in definitional ceremony contexts.