The stories we tell ourselves about who we are can shape how we understand our experiences, relationships, and possibilities for change. At Evans Counseling Group, our therapists use Narrative Therapy to help clients explore these stories, recognize patterns that may no longer serve them, and develop new ways of understanding themselves and their lives.
Whether you're navigating anxiety, relationship challenges, identity questions, trauma, major life transitions, or feeling stuck in patterns that seem difficult to change, Narrative Therapy can help you separate yourself from the problem and discover perspectives that better reflect your strengths, values, and goals.
What Is Narrative Therapy?
Narrative Therapy is a collaborative approach to counseling that explores the stories people develop about themselves and their experiences. Over time, difficult events, relationships, expectations, or repeated messages from others can influence how you see yourself and what you believe is possible.
For example, experiences of failure might gradually become a story that says, “I'm not good enough.” Relationship difficulties may contribute to a belief that “I'm impossible to love.” Narrative Therapy helps you examine these conclusions without treating them as permanent truths about who you are.
A central idea in Narrative Therapy is that you are not the problem—the problem is the problem. By separating your identity from the challenges you're experiencing, therapy can create room to recognize strengths, values, experiences, and possibilities that may have been overshadowed by a problem-focused story.
How Does Narrative Therapy Work?
Narrative Therapy begins with curiosity about how you understand your life and the experiences that have shaped that understanding. Rather than assuming there is one correct interpretation of your experiences, your therapist works collaboratively with you to explore the meaning you've given them and whether that meaning still fits who you are today.
One technique is externalization, which separates a person from the problem they're experiencing. Instead of thinking, “I am an anxious person,” you might begin exploring how anxiety affects your decisions, relationships, or daily life. This shift can make it easier to examine the problem without allowing it to define your identity.
Your therapist may also help you identify experiences that don't fit the dominant story you've developed about yourself. These moments can reveal strengths, values, abilities, and choices that have always been present but may have received less attention.
Narrative Therapy isn't about pretending difficult experiences didn't happen or simply replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. It's about developing a fuller and more flexible understanding of your life—one that acknowledges challenges while also recognizing your agency, resilience, relationships, values, and capacity for change.
What Can You Expect During Narrative Therapy?
Narrative Therapy is conversational, collaborative, and centered on your experiences. Your therapist will spend time understanding what brought you to therapy, how you currently make sense of the problem, and how it has affected different parts of your life.
You may explore questions about when a particular problem first became influential, what strengthens or weakens its influence, and how it affects your relationships, decisions, or sense of self. Your therapist may also invite you to consider experiences that challenge the conclusions you've developed about yourself.
As therapy progresses, you can begin identifying values, strengths, relationships, and experiences that support a more complete understanding of who you are. For some people, this means reconsidering beliefs they've carried for years. For others, it means finding language for an identity or direction that has been difficult to articulate.
There is no predetermined story you're expected to arrive at. The process is designed to help you develop perspectives that feel authentic to your experiences and better aligned with the life you want to create.
Why Do People Choose Narrative Therapy?
People often come to therapy feeling defined by a problem. Anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties, shame, or past experiences can begin to feel less like something you're experiencing and more like something that says who you are.
Narrative Therapy offers another way of looking at these challenges. By examining how particular stories developed and how strongly they influence your life today, you can begin distinguishing between the problem and your identity.
This approach can be particularly meaningful when experiences, relationships, family expectations, or cultural messages have shaped the way you understand yourself.
People may explore Narrative Therapy for concerns such as:
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Anxiety and persistent self-doubt
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Depression and negative beliefs about yourself
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Trauma and difficult past experiences
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Major life transitions
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Relationship and family challenges
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Grief and loss
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Identity exploration
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Self-esteem and confidence
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Shame or feelings of inadequacy
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Family or cultural expectations
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Feeling stuck in recurring patterns
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Difficulty determining what you want next in life
Narrative Therapy can help you understand how these experiences have influenced your story without allowing them to become the entirety of it. Over time, you can develop a richer understanding of yourself that makes room for both what you've experienced and where you want to go next.
Find the Right Narrative Therapist in Denver
At Evans Counseling Group, our therapists use Narrative Therapy to help clients explore identity, relationships, difficult experiences, life transitions, and patterns that may be keeping them stuck. We offer in-person therapy at our Cherry Creek and Denver Highlands offices, as well as secure telehealth appointments throughout Colorado.
Finding the right therapist is an important part of the process. Every clinician brings their own experience, personality, and therapeutic approach, and Narrative Therapy may be used on its own or integrated with other approaches based on your individual needs and goals.
Whether you're hoping to better understand your past, change your relationship with a current problem, or develop a clearer sense of who you want to become, we're here to help you find a therapist who fits your needs.
Meet Our Narrative Therapy Specialists
The therapists featured below incorporate Narrative Therapy into their work with clients using a collaborative, individualized approach. Explore their profiles to learn more about their specialties, therapeutic approaches, and find the clinician who feels like the best fit for you.
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Why Choose Evans Counseling Group for Narrative Therapy?
Finding a therapist who understands both the challenges you're experiencing and the way you make sense of those experiences can be an important part of therapy. At Evans Counseling Group, our therapists provide personalized, collaborative care rather than assuming the same approach will work for everyone.
Narrative Therapy allows you and your therapist to explore how experiences, relationships, expectations, and beliefs have shaped the stories you carry about yourself. Instead of reducing you to a diagnosis or problem, the approach recognizes that your identity is complex and that many different experiences contribute to who you are.
Our therapists can also integrate Narrative Therapy with other therapeutic approaches when appropriate for your needs. This allows treatment to remain flexible and responsive to your goals rather than forcing your experience into a single model of therapy.
Whether you're looking for in-person Narrative Therapy at our Cherry Creek or Denver Highlands offices, or secure online therapy anywhere in Colorado, we're here to help you find a therapist who fits your needs.
Common Questions About Narrative Therapy
What is the main idea behind Narrative Therapy?
Narrative Therapy explores the stories people develop about themselves and their experiences. It helps separate the person from the problem and creates space to examine other experiences, strengths, values, and perspectives that may not fit the problem-focused story.
What can Narrative Therapy help with?
Narrative Therapy may be used with people navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties, grief, identity concerns, life transitions, self-esteem, shame, and other challenges. Your therapist can help determine whether Narrative Therapy fits your individual needs and goals.
Is Narrative Therapy only about talking about the past?
No. Your past experiences may be explored when they're relevant, but Narrative Therapy also looks at how the stories you carry affect your present life and future possibilities. Therapy can help you identify the values and experiences you want to give greater influence moving forward.
Do you offer online Narrative Therapy?
Yes. Evans Counseling Group offers secure telehealth sessions for clients throughout Colorado, as well as in-person therapy at our Denver offices.
Serving Clients Throughout Denver
Evans Counseling Group provides Narrative Therapy from our Cherry Creek and Denver Highlands offices, as well as secure telehealth sessions throughout Colorado. Many of our clients come from Cherry Creek, Washington Park, Capitol Hill, Highlands, Sloan's Lake, Park Hill, and surrounding Denver communities.
Whether you're navigating anxiety, relationships, identity, trauma, a major life transition, or patterns that have left you feeling stuck, Narrative Therapy can help you explore your experiences from new perspectives and develop a fuller understanding of yourself and the direction you want your life to take.