Building a Community of Inquiry Around Narrative Practice

This paper offers a commentary and reflection on papers included in the Narrative Practice Research Network Special Issue of The Qualitative Report. A brief introductory account is offered around the distinctive nature of narrative therapy and community work, in contrast to more widely used models of therapy. Challenges and dilemmas associated with research into counselling and psychotherapy are discussed. It is suggested that the work of the Narrative Practice Research Network represents a promising means of addressing these challenges through a combination of grounding in practice, commitment to an ethics of care, and creative reconceptualization of standard research tools such as qualitative interviews. The paper then moves on to consider possibilities around the further development of the Narrative Practice Research Network as a community of inquiry that supports dialogue among narrative researchers and practitioners, service users, and colleagues from other disciplines. The paper concludes by identifying the task of decolonialization of both therapy practice and research as an essential dimension of this field of work.