Learn from the world's most experienced Narrative Therapy teaching team
Train with Integrity, Creativity, Politic and Purpose
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.
Our mission is to train therapists to feel more knowledgable, comfortable and confident sitting inside the therapy room ~ with their clients. Helping you become the therapist you always dream you could be!
Certificate Training Courses 2026
**All training courses include live therapy demonstrations + faculty/client video sessions + transcripts*
Therapeutic Conversations Conference ~ October 2nd-4th, 2026
Vancouver Canada
Therapeutic Conversations the training conference designed for participant therapists and students to interact with some of the world's most creative therapists, theorists, and justice advocates showcasing their latest practice work - LIVE!
All workshop presentations are skill focused, and demonstrated through Live interviewing, session videos, and unaltered client/therapist transcripts.
Cool post conference day gatherings with presenters and participants. Connect, have
a drink, relax, and meet up with colleagues from around the globe.
Couple Therapy with High Conflict Relationships
MAY 15~16, 2026
Relationships are Relational:
Narrative Therapy informed Relational Interviewing (NIRI) with
Highly Conflicted Couple Relationships
Modern couples (like your own!) are extremely busy ~ where day-to-day living is often described by the couples I see as ~ exhausting. Filled to the brim with tremendous expectations, obligations, norms, and responsibilities. While the couple may be heralded for being great workers, parents, friends, community members etc., these relationships often (and unknowingly) place their intimate relationship at risk. So ~ NIRI work does not view couple relationships solely responsible for what brings them to therapy.
Dr. Stephen Madigan teaches why the practice of NIRI a) considers the loss/transgression of cherished relationship values are a primary source of couple conflict, b) demonstrates how to view and work with couple relationships as relationally interconnected to the larger society, and c) demonstrates how to work with all aspects of the couple relationship they are indelibly influenced by and the relational contexts and cultural norms they are deeply imbedded within.
Foundations One: 5-Day Certificate Training (30 CEC's)
Six world-class narrative therapists teach alongside 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, integrity, politic, and creativity of their interviewing practices through in depth discussion, participant practice exercise, therapy session tapes, client transcripts, and live interview demonstrations.
Foundations Two: 3-Day Applied Skills of Narrative Practice
(18 CEC's)
Level Two Foundations is focused on dramatically increasing a participants confidence, understanding, and skill working inside the therapy room. Participants learn through a wide range of live practice demonstrations regarding the crafting, composing, learning, and asking narrative therapeutic questions and writing therapeutic letters.
Participants learning moves participants through the ecology of ideas, historical meanings, and creative structures of narrative therapy questions. Learning is highly engaged where participants are taught through sets of live session counter-story interviewing exercises designed and developed by VSNT faculty.
Faculty are world renown narrative supervisors ~ Stephen Madigan and David Nylund
Space is limited.
Foundations Three: 5-day Advanced Skills Intensive
(30 CEC's)
VSNT faculty are dramatically reshaping the ideas and practices of Narrative Therapy. Join us for a powerful, 2-weekend intensive that promises to improve your application and knowledge of narrative therapy.
International faculty:
Rosa Arteaga (Canada/Mexico), Julia Gerlitz (Canada), Helene Grau Kristensen (Denmark), Stephen Madigan (Canada), David Marsten (USA),Todd May (USA), David 'Rock' Nylund (USA)
VSNT.live
An all inclusive, 24/7 access, membership only, online interactive narrative therapy interactive learning platform connecting the world wide narrative therapy community.
Provides the largest archive of Narrative Therapy. Including: an ever growing list of over 500 videos + 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. All with VSNT faculty and international guests discussing all of the most recent narrative ideas and therapeutic practices.