Michael White (psychotherapist)
Encyclopedia
Michael White was an Australian social work
er and family therapist.
He is known as the founder of narrative therapy
, and for his significant contribution to psychotherapy
and family therapy
, which have been a source of techniques adopted by other approaches.
in 1979 and worked as a psychiatric social worker at the Adelaide Children's Hospital
. He founded the Dulwich Centre in 1983 and began a private practice as a family therapist. He continued to be associated with Dulwich Centre until his death.
White was a practicing social work
er and co-director of the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide
, South Australia
, and was author of several books of importance in the field of family therapy and narrative therapy.
In January 2008, White set up the Adelaide Narrative Therapy Centre to provide counselling services and training workshops relevant to work with individuals, couples, families, groups and communities and to provide a context for exploring recent developments relevant to narrative practice."
Michael White was also particularly known for his work with children and Indigenous Aboriginal communities, as well as with schizophrenia, anorexia/bulimia, men's violence, and trauma.
He received the following awards, honours, invitations:
), White's main work drew on a wide range of sources, including literary theory (Jerome Bruner
), cultural anthropology (Clifford Geertz
, Barbara Myerhoff, Victor Turner
), non-structuralist psychology (William James
, Lev Vygotsky
) and French critical / post-structuralist
philosophy (Jacques Derrida
, Gilles Deleuze
and Michel Foucault
).
ideas developed by White include 'externalizing the problem', commonly summarised as 'the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem'; 're-authoring' the dominant stories of people's lives; and the idea of 'double-listening' to accounts of trauma: not only the accounts of trauma itself, but how people have responded to trauma.
Key practices of narrative therapy and 'maps' of narrative practice include:
Michael White's books have also been published in Danish, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Italian, German, Chinese, Finnish and French.
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
er and family therapist.
He is known as the founder of narrative therapy
Narrative therapy
Narrative Therapy is a form of psychotherapy using narrative. It was initially developed during the 1970s and 1980s, largely by Australian Michael White and his friend and colleague, David Epston, of New Zealand....
, and for his significant contribution to psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and family therapy
Family therapy
Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy, family systems therapy, and family counseling, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of...
, which have been a source of techniques adopted by other approaches.
Biography
Michael Kingsley White was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. His first professional job was as a probation and welfare worker. He earned an undergraduate social work degree from the University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia
The University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...
in 1979 and worked as a psychiatric social worker at the Adelaide Children's Hospital
Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide
The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on King William Road in North Adelaide, Australia.It is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flinders University....
. He founded the Dulwich Centre in 1983 and began a private practice as a family therapist. He continued to be associated with Dulwich Centre until his death.
White was a practicing social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
er and co-director of the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, and was author of several books of importance in the field of family therapy and narrative therapy.
In January 2008, White set up the Adelaide Narrative Therapy Centre to provide counselling services and training workshops relevant to work with individuals, couples, families, groups and communities and to provide a context for exploring recent developments relevant to narrative practice."
Michael White was also particularly known for his work with children and Indigenous Aboriginal communities, as well as with schizophrenia, anorexia/bulimia, men's violence, and trauma.
He received the following awards, honours, invitations:
- International Fellow, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
- Masters Interview, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Conference, San Francisco, 1989.
- Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California.
- Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory & Practice Award, American Family Therapy Academy, 1999.
Influences
While early influences included those of systems theory and cybernetics (Gregory BatesonGregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
), White's main work drew on a wide range of sources, including literary theory (Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner
Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist who has contributed to cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education. Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School...
), cultural anthropology (Clifford Geertz
Clifford Geertz
Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until...
, Barbara Myerhoff, Victor Turner
Victor Turner
Victor Witter Turner was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals and rites of passage...
), non-structuralist psychology (William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
, Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.-Biography:...
) and French critical / post-structuralist
Post-structuralism
Post-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...
philosophy (Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
, Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
and Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
).
Theoretical and practice innovations
Key therapeuticTherapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
ideas developed by White include 'externalizing the problem', commonly summarised as 'the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem'; 're-authoring' the dominant stories of people's lives; and the idea of 'double-listening' to accounts of trauma: not only the accounts of trauma itself, but how people have responded to trauma.
Key practices of narrative therapy and 'maps' of narrative practice include:
- The statement of position map / externalising conversations map
- Re-authoring conversations
- Re-membering conversations
- Definitional ceremonies
- Scaffolding conversations
- The absent but implicit
- Responding to personal failure conversations
Publications
- 1989. Literate Means to Therapeutic Ends. With David EpstonDavid EpstonDavid Epston is a New Zealand therapist, co-director of the Family Therapy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, and Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy University...
. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications. - 1990. Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. With David EpstonDavid EpstonDavid Epston is a New Zealand therapist, co-director of the Family Therapy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, and Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy University...
. (WW Norton & Company, New York). - 1995. Re-Authoring Lives: Interviews and Essays. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications. ISBN 0-646-22735-1
- 1995. Narratives of Therapists' Lives. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
- 2000. Reflections on Narrative Practice. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
- 2004. Narrative Practice and Exotic Lives: Resurrecting diversity in everyday life. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
- 1992. Experience, Contradiction, Narrative and Imagination: Selected papers of David Epston & Michael White, 1989-1991. With David EpstonDavid EpstonDavid Epston is a New Zealand therapist, co-director of the Family Therapy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, and Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy University...
. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications. - 2006. Narrative Therapy with Children and their Families. With Alice Morgan. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.
- 2007. Maps of Narrative Practice. (WW Norton & Company, New York)
Michael White's books have also been published in Danish, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Italian, German, Chinese, Finnish and French.
Magazine articles and radio features
- Cowley, G. & K. Springen. (1995). Rewriting life stories. Newsweek, 17 April.
- Wylie, M.S. (1994). Panning for gold. Family Therapy Networker, 18(6), 40-48.
- Special report on narrative therapy, Life Matters, ABC Radio National, broadcast 23 December 1999 (repeated 8 October 2002).
- Writing on the Mind – the power of story telling, All in the Mind, ABC Radio NationalRadio NationalABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
, broadcast 1 October 2005.