How can a therapist create the kind of relationship and conversation with a client that allows both to access their creativity and develop possibilities where none seemed to exist before? To answer this important question, Harlene Anderson invites us on a challenging, inspiring journey with an illuminating blend of postmodern theory and clinical narratives. We first meet a Swedish mother, whose experiences in therapy are wrought with frustration. The rest of the book is an answer to this mother’s appeal, showing how therapists and clients can become conversational partners in a powerful process of transformation and change.Drawing on her experiences as a practitioner and teacher and on her clients’ experiences of therapy, Harlene Anderson joins social thinkers who challenge the familiar culture of psychotherapy, including the foundations on which its theory, practice, research, and therapist education have been based. Anderson directly challenges the expert-nonexpert dichotomy and hierarchical structures that flow from it. She asserts that conventional premises and practices have lost their relevance in a world of rapid social transformation, and calls instead for a philosophy of therapy and a way of being in client relationships that invite collaboration.Conversation, Language, and Possibilities forges surprising links between postmodern theory and collaborative clinical practice. In this framework, human systems are viewed as systems of language and communication. Clients’ voices are privileged. And language is generative in shaping—and reshaping—human life and relationships, creating potentials for positive change as infinite in variety and expression as the individuals who realize them.
HARLENE ANDERSON, PhD.
A catalyst who inspires relationships and conversations that make a difference
Recognized internationally as a leader in the development of a postmodern collaborative approach to psychotherapy, Dr. Anderson has applied her approach to organizations, education, research and consultation. A sought-after speaker, consultant, and trainer, she uses her tools--her insights, her keen interest, her engaging conversational style, her leadership skills--to help and inspire individuals and organizations to achieve clarity, focus, renewed energy, and often surprising results.
Her books, translated into several languages, include Conversations, Language and Possibilities and coedited Appreciative Organizations, Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference and Innovations in the Reflecting Process. Dr. Anderson is a cofounder and board member of the Houston Galveston Institute, the Taos Institute, and Access Success International and a founder of the International Journal of Collaborative Practices. She is Associate Professor of Psycholoy, Our Lady of the Lake University, and a dissertation advisor for the Taos Institiute-Tilburg University doctoral program and an Associate of the Silver Fox Advisors.
She is the recipient of the 2008 American Academy of Family Therapy Award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice, the 2000 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy award for Outstanding Contributions to Marriage and Family Therapy, and the 1997 Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy award for Lifetime Achievement.
Harlene Anderson has a doctorate in psychology and is a licensed professional counselor and family therapist.
