The Community Narration Approach in Organizational and Community Settings

Catalog description

A core competency of community psychology practice is collaboration with individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Consultants working in organizational and community settings often utilize community building tools to promote collaboration among people working within organizations and communities. In 2011, the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice published a special issue on community psychology practice competencies which served as a catalyst for the development of practical and engaging community building tools. One such tool is the Community Narration (CN) approach (Olson & Jason, 2011) that utilizes the narrative method to deepen a group’s understanding of their individual and collective identity. This one-day workshop will provide students with exposure to facilitating the CN approach, a participatory narrative technique that utilizes personal stories as well as community narratives to better understand identity and social dynamics within an organization, community, or social group. The CN approach can be used for a variety of purposes - program evaluation, visioning, strategic planning or organizational change. Students will participate in the CN approach exercise and learn how to facilitate the CN approach as part of their community practice. Students will collaboratively write a report that summarizes their experience and individually develop a work-plan to facilitate the CN approach with the organization or community of their choice.