Professional Life

Michael White was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1948. He began his professional career working
with probation and welfare recipients, and he completed his undergraduate degree in social work at the
University of South Australia in 1979.
White began working at Adelaide Childrens Hospital as a psychiatric social worker. White was editor for
the Australian Family Therapy Journal, and in 1983, White established the Dulwich Centre, specializing
in family therapy. White and his colleague and friend, David Epston, developed narrative therapy based on
the view that people are separate from their problems. Narrative therapy contends that people are skilled
and able to improve their lives and that therapy is a collaborative effort between therapist and client.
Drawing from his experience working with trauma victims and with the use of narrative therapy, White
facilitated conflict resolution and the re-unification of groups, such as Australian aborigines, who
were grieving the loss of their land. White also shared his technique throughout the world, and indigenous
communities in Canada were able to compromise after years of land disputes. White founded the Adelaide
Narrative Therapy Center in Ontario, Canada, in 2008, shortly before his sudden death from a heart
attack.

Contribution to Psychology
White and Epston developed narrative therapy in the 1980s. Rather than acting as treatment providers,
narrative therapy practitioners serve as the client's collaborator in creating a coherent narrative of his or
her life. The therapist asks questions designed to elicit more details about emotions, sensations, and
specific events. Practitioners of narrative therapy argue that people's lives are shaped by their experiences
and that people's identities are a product of their own unique stories. Through storytelling, clients are able
to gain a better, objective picture of their own lives and are less likely to see themselves as passive
observers of their own lives.
Narrative therapy is a nonpathologizing therapy that aims to explore the effects that problems have on a
person's life rather than labeling the person as the problem. The therapist helps a client notice and
contextualize particular life themes. For example, if a client has a history of dating dangerous partners, the
therapist might help the client notice the pattern of early warnings that are ignored. Narrative therapy also
serves as a way to help clarify a person's values and feelings. Through telling his or her story, the client
expresses values that help the therapist understand how and what the client thinks and feels.
In some forms of narrative therapy, the therapist invites outsider witnesses to witness the client telling
the story. They may be previous clients, or friends of the current client, and they offer their own
perspectives and insights into the person's narrative, themes, and problems. The therapist interviews the
witnesses after the telling of the client's story, and this interview serves to help the client and therapist
gain more insight about recurring themes within the client's story.
Although narrative therapy remains popular, there have been few empirical studies on the practice, so its
long-term effectiveness and scientific validity are unknown.
References:
1.

Gallant, P. (2008). Michael White: In Memoriam: Therapist, Teacher, Innovator. Journal of Marital

and Family Therapy,34(4), 427-428. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/220978897?accountid=1229
2.

Pearce, J. (2008, April 28). Michael White, 59, dies; used stories as therapy. The New York

Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/28white.html