Family Therapy Agency from Stavanger, Norway visits Cape Town (5 day workshop)

Workshop Theme: Narrative therapy within in the South African Context

Day 1: Monday 22 September

The narrative of a therapist’s rite of passage: From “Innocence” to Awareness and Accountability in SA

Part of our context is, of course, our history and the challenges of living in and participating in the healing of a post-apartheid, post-TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) community. I have a very powerful personal story to tell regarding this challenge and the transformation of my own life and practice as white Afrikaner, middle-class women. Narrative therapy has become the vehicle to my living and doing accountable practice in this country where my people, the Afrikaner, is responsible for much of the injustices and oppression. As a white South African I have benefited much from these injustices which have now been named crimes against humanity. The morning will be spent on me telling the story of my life in South Africa and how narrative practices enabled me to reach out to a Muslim community and become involved in therapeutic work a few years ago. The ripples of this work is still continuing and I have many stories to tell about the practices of re-membering, witnessing, therapeutic documents, taking-it-back practices, communities of concern, celebrations and an ethic of risk and collaboration as it formed part of this collaboration. Part of the context of the lives of the Strand Muslim community is the forced removals that happened in the mid 60’s. In the afternoon we will pay a visit to the District Six museum which will highlight further the context of the forced removals and the effect of these events in the Apartheid time on the lives of communities. The story of District Six will be told by a person (guide) who has first hand experience of the forced removals in District Six.

Day 2: Tuesday 23 September

I have three colleagues, all past narrative therapy students of mine who still consult with me about their work from time to time. They each work in three different school communities that reflect the South African context in interesting ways. We will split the group into three smaller groups for that morning and each group will visit with one of these therapists to learn from them and to witness their work and working contexts.

Linda van Duuren works at St George’s Grammar School in Cape Town. This is a private school that is known for its efforts to promote diversity and facilitate the education of young people from very diverse cultural, religious and social backgrounds. Linda also runs, along with a colleague Helene Schoeman, a course on narrative practices for teachers.

Therese Hulme works in two schools in a very poor urban area, Kraaifontein. Her work involves a lot of the effects of poverty and neglect – like family violence, sexual abuse and educational deprivation. Therese is currently completing her doctoral studies in the practices which support therapeutic work and healing in communities of extreme poverty.

Estelle Raymond works at a school in an extremely poor rural farming community outside Paarl. She became involved with this community while doing a counselling course where I was her teacher. She is a lawyer by profession and was approached by the courts to do therapeutic work with a group of boys who gang-raped and tried to burn a nine year old girl. Estelle’s work in that community has rippled out as a result of her contextual awareness in her therapeutic practice and many people are involved in various aspects of the empowerment of the community.

After lunch we could get back to the conference facility to do reflections in the presence of the Linda, Therese and Estelle. I will interview each small group about their experiences, learning and the transport that they experience. This would give the group the opportunity to catch up with the experiences of the others and to give back to Linda, Therese and Estelle the effect of their work on the visiting therapists’ lives.

Day 3: Wednesday 24 September

Narrative ways of working with victims and offenders in the context of violence and abuse

Since this is a public holiday (Heritage Day) we will work in the morning only. I have worked with many “victims” of violence – often domestic violence and sexual abuse that happened in the context of families. I will share some of my work with victims and also with offenders. Much of my understanding of the work of forgiveness, healing, accountability and restitution that I practice in the wider South African context has been informed by my work in the context of violence, especially family violence. I will do a theoretical discussion with case illustrations and give time for questions and discussions.

In preparation for the visit to Drakenstein Hospice the next day will do a briefing about witnessing and how one can be respectful and compassionate witnesses in a context of illness (HIV and AIDS) and poverty.

Day 4: Thursday 25 September

Narrative practices at work in the context of HIV and AIDS

We will visit the Drakenstein Hospice as a group. This visit will give the group the opportunity to witness the effect of poverty and AIDS on the lives of many people in South Africa. Elizabeth Scrimgeour, the CEO of Drakenstein Hospice, and Fran Tong were narrative therapy students of mine. Justine Goliath, also a social worker, has done narrative therapy courses with me and I have a long history (since its foundation in the 90’s) of teaching and consulting to staff and volunteers of this hospice. Elizabeth will explain the background of the AIDS pandemic, the work of the Hospice and also about the work of Butterfly House, the Day Care facility that is currently being built. Fran will do a short talk on narrative therapy and its application with bereavement and grief. Afterwards the group will have the opportunity to go out in small groups with staff members to visit patients at their homes.

We will share lunch with the staff and have a feedback/reflection session at the hospice in the afternoon.

Day 5: 26 September

Narrative therapy and trauma

On our last day together we will use our experiences of the week to do exercises that will illustrate some of the ideas that inform my work with trauma in South Africa. We will be able to explore ideas such as hope, compassionate witnessing, the therapeutic relationship and also the effect of witnessing trauma on us as therapists. I will illustrate the use of narrative practices in other work in communities and especially in the contexts of trauma. Therapeutic documents as used by narrative therapists have been very helpful in this regard.

We will spend some time on saying good bye and reflection. We will start looking ahead to how each visitor could take their experiences home to stay with them as support to their lives and work in Stavanger.