Narrative therapy with children and young people invites adults to come alongside young voices rather than talk about them. It challenges the idea that therapy is something done to a child, and instead creates space for what children and adolescents know, value, and imagine about their lives. On narrative approaches, this kind of work is described as creative, collaborative, and grounded in respectful engagement with each child’s unique story.

Unlike traditional models that focus heavily on diagnosing behavioural problems, narrative therapy helps young people re‑author their relationships with difficulties — seeing problems as external influences rather than fixed parts of their identity.

1. Externalising Problems: The Heart of Child Narrative Therapy

One of the most fundamental techniques in narrative therapy with children is externalising conversations — a way of separating the child from the problem. Instead of saying “Tom is angry,” a narrative therapist might talk about how “Anger shows up in Tom’s days” or even give the problem a playful name.

This distinction creates relief. When a problem is seen as something external, children are free to reflect on it, oppose it, and explore ways of changing their relationship to it — without feeling shamed or judged. Narrative approaches encourage children to take up a reflective stance toward problems, which in turn expands their sense of agency and choice.

Michael White’s example of naming encopresis “Sneaky Poo” demonstrates how externalising can transform a child’s engagement — turning a source of shame into something they can talk about, “play” with, and respond to creatively.

2. Play, Creativity, and Indigenous Language

Children make meaning in different ways than adults. Play, imagination, art, and storytelling are not just add‑ons — they are therapeutic languages children use to express values, fears, hopes, and relationships.

Narrative therapy with young people recognises this by bringing playfulness and creative expression into conversations about problems. Rather than limiting sessions to words alone, therapists might use:

• Drawing, sculpture, or expressive arts
• Play dialogues
• Metaphor and imaginative narratives

This allows children to participate on their own terms, enlivening their sense of competence and their emerging identities.

3. Children as Agents, Not Objects

A core principle of narrative therapy with children is locating children as active contributors to their own lives rather than passive recipients of adult authority or professional expertise.

When therapists listen for children’s knowledge, language, and perspectives — rather than imposing adult explanations — the child’s voice becomes central. This means:

• Valuing what children say about their feelings and choices
• Making room for their humour, creativity, and inventiveness
• Respecting their emerging social and moral competence

Narrative practitioners emphasise that young people are capable of shaping their own stories when adults genuinely attend to what they’re saying and doing.

4. Multi‑Storied Identity and Relational Narrative

Narrative therapy holds that identity is multi‑storied, not fixed or defined by a single problem. For children and adolescents, this is especially important: young people are still developing their sense of self, exploring roles, and trying out possibilities.

Rather than seeing a child as “the anxious one” or “the disruptive kid,” narrative work helps families and therapists uncover preferred stories — times when the child has shown courage, kindness, resilience, or curiosity. Focusing on these alternative stories supports a richer, more hopeful sense of identity that can expand over time.

5. Witnessing and Audience Practices

Another distinctive practice highlighted on narrative approaches is creating space for children and families to witness one another’s stories. This can involve structured activities where parents listen deeply to what their child values or finds meaningful, and then reflect back what they have heard.

Such practices interrupt habitual “back‑and‑forth” responses and invite new forms of listening — where adults hear what’s important to young people and children hear what matters to adults. This co‑construction of narrative fosters empathy, mutual understanding, and new relational possibilities.

6. Ethical Engagement and Child‑Centred Respect

Narrative therapy emphasises ethics of practice — particularly the value of doing no harm and respecting the dignity of the child’s experience. In work with young people, this means holding their perspectives and contributions as essential ingredients in therapy, not something to be shaped or overridden by adult agendas.

Language is a tool of power. Narrative therapy uses language to open spaces of possibility rather than to constrain or define children by diagnostic labels or deficit‑based descriptions.

7. Families, Communities, and Narrative Contexts

Narrative work with children rarely happens in isolation. It engages families, schools, and communities — contexts in which young lives are embedded. Narrative therapists often explore how problems affect and are affected by relationships, cultural narratives, and expectations.

By bringing significant people into the conversation — not as judges or enforcers but as witnesses and collaborators — narrative therapy builds support for the child’s preferred narratives and strengthens relational meaning.

Conclusion: Narrative Therapy as Empowerment for Young Lives

Narrative therapy with children and young people works by shifting the therapeutic focus from fixing behaviour to honouring voices, stories, and agency. It engages externalising conversations, playful expression, relational witnessing, and multi‑storied identity construction — all of which create space for children to see themselves not as problems to be solved, but as authors of their own complex lives.

By listening to what children already know about themselves and what they value, narrative therapy fosters resilience, expands possibilities, and supports young people to live their lives in ways that reflect their own emerging stories — not the problem’s storyline.