About Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy invites clients to see themselves and their struggles through a different lens—not as broken people defined by addiction, but as people who have been affected by addiction who are actively writing a different story. At Trust SoCal, our narrative therapists help clients externalize their problems, question dominant problem-saturated stories about themselves, and co-author new narratives of competence, resilience, and recovery.
Addiction often becomes the central narrative of a person's identity: "I am an addict," "I am broken," "I will always struggle." Narrative Therapy separates the person from the problem—addiction becomes something that has happened to you, not something that defines who you are. By exploring unique outcomes, highlighting times when addiction did not control their choices, and imagining preferred futures, clients gradually build alternative stories about themselves as capable, worthy, and actively involved in shaping their recovery.
