The stories we tell ourselves can shape our identities, beliefs and emotions – our narratives of strength or fear that we pass on to the next generation. Alice Morgan said “a narrative is like a thread that weaves the events
together, forming a story”.

Narrative therapy understands that the language we use about ourselves and that society gives us, often needs deconstructing and re-evaluating. In narrative therapy, “you are not the problem, the problem is the problem”. Language is used to separate the person from the problem.

In our book, edited by Jim & Cole (2019) James survived a cancerous brain tumour aged 10, developed PTSD and felt suicidal. He believed cancer had destroyed his future and struggled to control his feelings and binge ate for comfort.

In our sessions, moving away from a problem-saturated story and allowing James to re-define his life aside from the “patient identity” and problems, gave him hope. After three months he was walking independently, attending a mainstream school part-time, moderating his food intake and no longer felt depressed or suicidal, or as though the cancer was a punishment. He is the inspiration for our book.