Welcome to the Vancouver School For Narrative Therapy
The Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy (VSNT) opened as the first Narrative Therapy Training Institute in the Northern Hemisphere. VSNT is home to the most experienced, most published, and most highly trained Narrative Therapy Teaching Faculty in the world. We invite you to join our international community alongside thousands of other dedicated therapists and students to learn about the beauty, politic, ideology, justice, and creativity of this work.
Training Opportunities 2022~2023
VSNT.live membership offers significant discounts to all training events
5-Day Foundations Certificate Training (30 CEC's)
(Foundations often sells out 3-4 weeks ahead of time)
“I was awe struck by who the faculty are and blown away by how much I was able to learn. This course was not only a turning point in my learning but also in my life!! Sending much gratitude and thanks to all of you. Definitely see you again in the next VSNT course!!”
- Participant, September 2022, NYC
"I want to thank the amazing faculty team at VSNT for the recent Foundations course. I am not exaggerating when I say that it has profoundly affected me, altering my therapeutic practice. In one short week in the office, the energy and focus in my sessions has shifted, and the work has gone to much deeper places than ever before. I have witnessed this in all of my sessions, whether with children, youth or adults... and several of my clients have commented on it. See you for Level Two Foundations in May."
- Participant, February, 2023, Fall River Nova Scotia.
Six world-class narrative therapists teach alongside a revered critical race theorist and one internationally renowned philosopher. Together, they guide participants towards a meaningful skill based and practical understanding of both narrative therapy theory and practice.
VSNT faculty illustrate the complexity and creativity of their interviewing practice through in depth discussion, 'slow showing' session tapes, and conducting live interview demonstrations.
Level Two Foundations: 2-Day Applied Skills of Narrative Practice (12 CEC's)
"The benefits of this workshop far exceeded my expectations. After the course I went back to my therapy practice and experienced a fresh new vitality and confidence in my work. I couldn't ask for anything more - huge thanks!" - Applied Skills Participant, November 2022, London, UK
Level Two Foundations is committed to and focused on dramatically increasing a participants range and skill of asking narrative therapeutic questions inside the therapy room.
Participants learn the craft, historical meanings, tricks, and creative structures of narrative questions. Participants are taught narrative questions and art of therapeutic letter writing through a unique set of live session exercises designed and developed by VSNT faculty.
Faculty include practicing narrative therapists Stephen Madigan and David Nylund and resident philosopher Todd May.
"You should really promote this as an anti-anxiety course because I noticed my confidence growing and the anxiety in the therapy room decreasing! Thank you for everything"
Foundations Level Two Participant, September 2022, Vancouver, BC.
NEW! Fall 2022 & Winter 2023
Advanced Narrative Practice Workshop Series sold out
“Being a narrative therapist for over 15 years, I wondered what was left to learn? Your Advanced Practice course opened SO many new possibilities for new practice. Thanks to ALL of you and your beautiful work and showing me a way into the future!” - Advanced Participant, May 2022, LA, California
The new Advanced Practice course is here by public demand. VSNT faculty bring you three separate workshops to demonstrate their latest breakthroughs in theoretical understandings and relationally creative forms of narrative therapy practice.
Workshops include: 1) Narrative Family Therapy: Working with cisgender + queer youth and families + working families struggling with eating disorders;
2) New narrative therapy informed Couple Therapy, and;
3) Narrative Therapy and the Body.
Individual workshop registration available.
All participants are welcome.
Couple Therapy Training
Teaching alongside the brilliant philosopher Todd May, VSNT couple therapists Helene Grau Kristensen and Stephen Madigan demonstrates a new non-individualist, culturally contextualized, and common-sense approach to the practice of couple therapy.
"The Relational Interviewing couple therapy workshop offers a paradise for any couple therapist, especially those with a narrative therapy soul. Powerful! Brilliant! Bravo!" VSNT!" - Participant,January 2023, Hong Kong
Todd guides participants into the philosophical complexities with theories supporting Relational Interviewing while Helene and Stephen demonstrates the most current relational practices of Relational Interviewing through teaching slides, interactive discussion, transcripts, and a variety of video taped sessions with conflicted couple relationships they work with in Denmark, Canada, Noway, and the USA.
"I could not fail to tell you that your Relational Interviewing course was not only significant in relation to my professional mediation practice. It also made all the difference to my married life. My husband loved the concept of fidelity to the foundational values of the relationship! Thank you so much for that!" - Participant, October 2021, Brazil
Come witness VSNT's relational practice of couple therapy the world of couple therapy is so curious about. All welcome.
VSNT.live
VSNT.live has been described as "Highly addictive", "Otherworldly", and " The Netflix for Narrative Therapists".
An all inclusive, 24/7 access, membership only, online interactive narrative therapy learning platform.
Provides the largest archive of Narrative Therapy including an ever growing list of: over 250 CEC course lessons + over 100 documents (articles/session transcripts/workshop slides + over 100
recorded workshop lectures, Live client therapy sessions, and Live interactive long play series with VSNT faculty and international guests discussing all the most recent narrative ideas and therapeutic practices.
** Yearly memberships $259. and offer discounts to ALL VSNT training events.
November 2022
Six Month Supervision Cross-Training Course SOLD OUT
The Vancouver Schools Cross Training Supervision course is designed to fundamentally change the participants: therapeutic flexibility, agility, cleverness, and curiosity - while elevating their poise, confidence, competence and skill level - by continually altering and challenging the supervisee’s theoretical, emotional, political, and narrative practice learning experience.
If you are looking for an amazing experiential immersion into the craft of narrative therapy and working closely alongside world class narrative therapists - this may be the adventure for you.
Registration is limited to 22 students.