Bringing Stories to Mental Health Care: A Dialogue Between Research and Practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69802/g4cns012Keywords:
narrative, mental healthAbstract
A narrative psychological approach contributes to a person-centered perspective in mental health care that goes beyond mental illness. This article describes a dialogue between research and practice. In several sections, we describe the steps that were taken in the development of “An Empowering Story”, a narrative intervention focusing on personal recovery in persons with personality disorder: our joint starting point involving different kinds of expertise, a needs assessment from different perspectives, a prototype development bringing the expertise together, a design process involving clients and practitioners, a feasibility study, an effectiveness study, a national implementation plan, and final steps toward using the intervention in new contexts. The article ends with a reflection on the dialogue between science and practice. We argue that the process was transdisciplinary, emphasizing joint responsibility and mutual learning rather than the simple application of science to practice.
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