1. Approaching Knowledge Exchange Narratively
The Theology and Therapy Project
Dr Alette Willis and Prof Liz Bondi
Schools of Divinity and Health in Social Science
University of Edinburgh

2. Outline of Presentation
Overview of Theology and Therapy Project
Aims
Contrast to dominant stories
Narrative Inquiry in Social Sciences
Importance of narrative
Particular relevance to counselling and divinity
Narrative KE
How fits theoretically
Reader Theatre

3. Project Aims
to understand the ways psychotherapy, Christianity, and a new language of “spirituality” intertwined post 1945 focusing on Scotland, but connecting to the UK
how did psychotherapy in post-war Scotland borrow and adapt Christian ideas and practices?
how did Christianity in post-war Scotland adopt and translate psychotherapeutic ideas and practices?
how was the Scottish fusion of psychotherapy and Christianity exported to England? 3

4. Oral Histories Include:
Bob Brown
Judith Fewell
Hamish Montgomery
Colin Kirkwood
Ken Lawson
Francis Macnab
Jean Morrison 4

5. Archival Sources Include
Papers of T. & T. Clark. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
Papers relating to Dr Winifred Rushforth ( ), Centre for Research Collections, Main Library, University of Edinburgh
R.D. Laing Collection. Special Collections Department, Library, University of Glasgow, Glasgow. 5

6. Psychotherapy and Christianity
Framing psychotherapy
increasing medicalisation
recovering alternatives
Remembering the role of religious traditions
expressing vocation, extending ministry
the churches and the development of counselling
Religious values and psychotherapy
psychotherapy as holistic healing
psychotherapy as building community 6

7. Stories Matter Dominant stories delimit policy options
Intelligibility
Medical story versus humanistic/Christian
Identity depends on available stories
Narrative-self stories told by and about
Choices, decisions, behaviours informed by stories
Narrative psychology
Narrative ethics
Social narratives shaped by local tellings
dialogue

8. Narrative and Counselling
concerned with meaning-making
“Talk-therapies”
Local dialogue
Aim to free people from damaging stories and develop more livable ones
Narrative Therapy
Social-constructivist, Foucauldian
Explicitly interested social-change
Michael White:

9. Narrative Inquiry in Social Sciences
Widespread growing interest
Narrative-self balances:
Relationality, discourse, power
Humanistic, individuality and agency
History, genealogy, origin myths
Vocation
Excavate and amplify moral impulses in stories (Frank, 2002)
Amplify and circulate counter-narratives (Riessman)

10. Narrative KE? How amplify stories outside of Academia? Narrative form
More accessible, engaging
Emotions
Reasonably common in policy dissemination and in health education
Knowledge Exchange?
Dialogical nature reading and listening to narrative
Making explicitly dialogical through workshops

11. Readers Theatre Literacy technique employed in schools
Text laid out in script, read not performed
Laramie Project, Moises Kaufman 2001
Medicine
Patients (Cueva 2010)
Healthcare staff (Savitt 2010, Bell et al 2010)
Often used to communicate history
“bring history alive”
Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry
Historical medical narratives play at Scottish Storytelling Centre

12. Moving from transcipt to Readers Theatre Script
Alan: I became very aware that people were coming to courses on TA,
not to learn TA,
but because here was the church offering a space where they would be heard,
and where they could ask questions and not be hit for it,
and explore it using another language alongside the theology.
I recognised in the end […] that people were asking spiritual questions,
they were asking questions about themselves
and their difficulties
and their relationships
and that whole area
but they were also asking theological questions.
But there was this other area which seemed to be about spirituality,
whatever that was,
and I’m not quite sure yet what it is
But it’s a sense that it’s what holds all of these areas together
and for me now

13. Impacts?
Narrative resource for self-narratives of people involved in religion, spirituality and counselling
Stories told within and about Scottish organizations
Stories told about origins of counselling in UK???
Open-up possibilities for being and acting in the world

14. Thank you. Please visit our website: www. theologyandtherapy. div. ed
Thank you. Please visit our website: