In Narrative Therapy, Letters/Definitional Ceremonies, Reflection, what is the role of encouraging?

• A. The therapist dictates the new narrative to the client.
• B. The client writes a legal decree to change the story.
• C. The community validates the new narrative by listening or writing about their perspective.
• D. The therapist uses punishment to enforce change.

Answer: (C)

In this approach, encouraging is about inviting and involving others to support the new, preferred narrative. The idea behind Letters/Definitional Ceremonies and Reflection is that the community—the listening audience—helps validate the client’s re-authored story. They do this by listening to the client’s updated narrative or by writing notes, letters, or responses that reflect their own perspective and respond to the client’s reformulated sense of self. This social validation is what helps anchor the change beyond the individual, making the new story more durable.

So this aligns with the option that the community validates the new narrative by listening or writing about their perspective. It’s not about the therapist dictating the story, issuing a legal decree, or using punishment—those would run counter to the collaborative, externally oriented stance of narrative therapy.