Curating Stories in Teaching Family Therapy

Abstract

In this article I explore the use of Pearce and Pearce's (1998) notion of ‘curating stories’ and ‘transcendent story‐telling’ for teaching about models in family therapy. Taking a position of curator; the discussion invites students into inclusive and pluralist thinking about the many models in family therapy's collection. Two story‐making frameworks of Stratigraphy and Australian Aboriginal ‘Dreaming’ are curated in a sequential way allowing a thick description and lived story of pluralism to emerge. Creative use of metaphors invites a context for transforming knowledge and abilities towards pluralism. I outline how family therapy can be taught using these metaphors as a way of freeing students to see its history as both interpretation and lived experience.