What is this all about?
Within Narrative practice an “Outsider Witness” is an invited audience to a therapy conversation – they are a third party who is invited to listen and acknowledge the preferred stories and identity claims of the person consulting the therapist.
In online counselling this means being invited to be part of some emails between the Counsellor me and a person consulting us.
This practice might be suggested at the point where we are developing alternative stories about a person’s life and identity in counselling. This is the point where we are moving away from the well known “problem stories” of their life, away from the problems that are troubling them and starting to explore what it might be possible to know about their lives; their preferred stories and the actions they are taking towards this.
If you have had counselling with us we might ask if you would like to go on the register, or you can just register here by submitting the form to us. What we would like to do is to build up a register of people who would be willing to be involved in such a practice. If you register, you may or may not be contacted by us at some stage and invited to join a conversation.
What is an Outsider Witness?
An Outsider Witness might be part of the person’s existing community – family, friends, etc – or they may be invited from outside these networks. They might be a person who has previously had counselling for similar problems or even a health professional, or team of people. This is where you come in!
As people living with diabetes, you all bring your own experiences of this. You can listen and reflect (in response to structured questions from me) on what you hear from a counselling conversation - what stood out to you; what images this brought up for you about the person; how that connects with your own experiences and where it has moved you to in your thoughts and ideas about your own life.
How is this helpful?
Having someone witness therapeutic conversations can be very significant, especially if the Outsider Witness listens and responds in certain ways. Having someone witness the steps a person is taking in their life and having these acknowledged can make a real difference. It can enable people to feel connected to others; reduce their isolation and sense of worry and strengthen the “alternative stories” being developed in counselling conversations. It can enable a link to be made between what is happening in counselling conversations and the rest of a person’s life. These practices challenge the isolating effects of problems and can also be a moving and powerful experience for the Outsider Witness.
What would I need to do?
It is very important that a person agreeing to participate as an Outsider Witness understands that they must take care in what they listen for and what they say. The Counsellor takes total responsibility, through asking specially structured questions, to keep the reflections from the Outsider Witness on track. The person seeking counselling should always be at the centre of the conversation. It is important that it does not become a counselling conversation centred on the Outsider Witness!
It is also important to note that the Outsider Witness is not responsible for producing an “outcome” or resolving the problems AND it is not about giving advice!
It is simply about “listening” (reading the emails) and responding to our questions via email – so no preparation is needed. In this way the person’s preferred stories are strengthened through a “telling” of the story by them; a “re-telling” by the Outsider Witness and a further “re-telling” by the person seeking counselling.
What happens?
In the practice of using Outsider Witnesses there are four parts:
- The Counsellor "interviews" the person seeking counselling while the Outsider Witness listens. In online counselling, this means the Outsider Witness being copied into a couple of emails between the Counsellor and the person seeking counselling, with the person's permission..
- The Outsider Witness is then asked a series of questions about what they heard. In online counselling this means the Counsellor asking the Outsider Witness these questions via email and them responding to us. The person seeking counselling is copied into these emails.
- The Person seeking counselling is then asked the same questions, about what they heard from the Outsider Witness and they respond to the Counsellor. The Outsider Witness is copied into these emails again.
- All of us “come together” to talk about the experience.
It is very important that the Outsider Witness and the person seeking counselling respond directly to the Counsellor when asked questions and that when copied into the emails, they simply read and think about what they have read. Once you are asked questions by us, it is important to respond directly to the Counsellor, not to each other. It is the final step 4 in which we all chat to each other and can even arrange to do this in a locked chat room at a set time so that we are all together at one time.
What questions will I be asked?
Questions will include:
- What stood out to you in what you heard, what struck a chord with you?
- What images or pictures has this created in your mind about the person, their lives and what is important to them?
- Why did this strike a chord with you, what is it about your own life and experiences that means these particular things stood out to you?
- How have you been “moved” on account of hearing these things? Where has this experience taken you to that you would otherwise not have arrived at? In what ways will you go into your future having heard these stories and responded in the way that you have?
Both the Outsider Witness and the person seeking counselling will be asked these questions.
If you would like to participate, please fill out the form below and click submit.
It will be sent to Diabetes Counselling Online and we will add you to the register. We can not say if or when you will be asked to participate, but it is always your choice to say yes or no if we do ask you, there is no pressure.
