In 1981, after reading Lyn Hoffman's "The Foundation of Family Therapy" (14) I attempted to find common ground between the ideas of Family Therapy and the psychodynamic ideas with which I was familiar. When my head threatened to explode with the effort of finding a resting ground within these conceptual differences I made a decision and committed myself to immersion in the ideas and practices of Systemic Family Therapy. I was drawn toward Family Therapy because it represented an active engagement with the ideas and practices that supported people (clients) to change (Note 3). During this time I was surrounded by the excitement generated within Family Therapy by a climate of discovery where new ideas were being considered, challenged and used. To a certain extent my colleagues and I felt like pioneers and discoverers championing the cause of change-focused therapy. I still feel like a pioneer and discoverer and I hope that this stays with me throughout my working life.

This book represents my thinking and practice up until the moment I put down my pen and say, "That's enough for now". I have attempted to accurately represent my engagement with clinical work. The representation of any clinical work however is just that, a representation; it isn't the clinical work itself. Inevitably this book and all other psychological/counselling texts remain incomplete.

WHAT IS THE MODEL?
I have been frequently asked to define my therapeutic work and ideas using a model. I am loath to do this because I believe the development of therapeutic models is very dangerous. The danger lies in our desire for certainty. Within the professional classes certainty provides comfort, privilege, belonging and access to a commodity. The Narrative way of working has provided a challenge to those therapeutic models that adhere to fixed psychological truths. However the very construction of the term, "Narrative Model" creates an environment of inclusion and exclusion. Instead of engaging with ideas and practices that are described as Narrative, there is a temptation to replicate certain templates of the ideas and practices, and this replication encourages imitation, together with definitiveness about what is and what is not an accurate representation of the model. The idea that "the Narrative model" actually exists overshadows the existence of differences as practitioners attempt to engage reflexively with ideas and practices to engage. It is ironic that our attempt with the idea of "the model" contradicts many of the presuppositions that underpin our engagement with the ideas and practices of what is called Narrative.

I have struggled with defining the ideas that I use and the work that I do, under "the model" umbrella. I feel a sense of colleagueship with people who call themselves Narrative Therapists because we share a passionate engagement with issues of justice and ethics. The development of the technical skills that I use in the work has its foundations in the Milan group's questioning process (26) and in Michael White's early definition and application of externalisation and relative influence questioning (33, 34). The ideas that I engage with are eclectic and wide-ranging. Over recent years my focus has been on feminist theory in relationship to post-structuralism, together with literature - fiction and non-fiction. The colleagueship, technical skills and theoretical ideas I hold come together within a rare environment of discovery. This environment relies on a compassionate connection with and acknowledgement of the people (clients) we work with in the therapeutic relationship. The theoretical ideas and practices which underpin the therapeutic models are discovered and rediscovered, supported and challenged, confirmed and changed within this environment.