The Poetics of Space in Therapy

Course Description

After therapy, every client goes someplace. Most of us treat those places as backdrops against which the action unfolds. Yet nothing is static. The spaces and settings of our lives shape our experience, and we shape them back. Our internal and external worlds are in constant conversation as we live. This session considers what happens when narrative therapy takes this idea seriously, what we risk missing if we do not, and how we might integrate it into practice.

Instructor Information

Educational Goals

1. Participants will develop an understanding of human connection with place from a multi-disciplinary lens.
2. The session will bridge this knowledge with therapeutic practice.
3. Participants will engage in, and observe, clinical application in a narrative therapy context.

Measurable Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to identify 3 hallmarks of being human which underlie our connection to our spaces and settings.
2. Participants will be able to describe examples drawn from philosophy, history, religion, psychological theory, architecture, anthropology, literature, and art which demonstrate the importance of place to psychological functioning.
3. Participants will be able to apply human connection to spaces and settings to at least 5 key narrative therapy concepts including problem story, re-authoring, unique outcomes, alternative story, and statement of position maps.
4. Participants will be able to plan to integrate these ideas into practice with a set of narrative questions and a therapeutic activity to take with them.

Outline with Main Points for Each Topic (including times)

1. 12:45–1:35 PM · Theory/talk — Obj 1, 2, 3 — 50 minutes

   • Three hallmarks of being human that underlie our connection to our spaces and settings
   • The importance of place to psychological functioning: examples from philosophy, history, religion, psychological theory, architecture, anthropology, literature, and art
   • Space and setting in five narrative therapy concepts: problem story, re-authoring, unique outcomes, alternative story, and statement of position maps

2. 1:35–1:55 PM · Activity — Obj 4 — 20 minutes

   • Participants engage in a therapeutic activity on human connection to spaces and settings
   • A set of narrative questions to take into practice

3. 1:55–2:05 PM · Video — Obj 3 — 10 minutes

   • Client video: observing clinical application of space and setting in a narrative therapy context

4. 2:05–2:15 PM · Questions — Obj 4 — 10 minutes

   • Questions and discussion
   • Planning to integrate these ideas into practice

Total instructional time: 50 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 90 minutes / 60 = 1.5 CE hours

Signing in and out

• Sign in at the door before 12:45 PM.
• Sign out and complete this session’s evaluation at the door when it ends at 2:15 PM.
• Sign-in, sign-out and the evaluation are not part of the 1.5 CE hours.

References

• Abbas, S., Okdeh, N., Roufayel, R., Kovacic, H., Sabatier, J. M., Fajloun, Z., & Abi Khattar, Z. (2024). Neuroarchitecture: How the perception of our surroundings impacts the brain. Biology, 13(4), 220.
• Bachelard, G. (1994). The poetics of space (M. Jolas, Trans.). Beacon Press. (Original work published 1958).
• Barragan, L., & Goeritz, M. (1954). El manifiesto de arquitectura emocional [The emotional architecture manifesto]. Museo Experimental El Eco.
• Baumeister, E. (2020). House Lessons: Renovating a Life. Sasquatch Books.
• De Botton, A. (2006). The Architecture of Happiness. Random House.
• Lee, K. (2022). The interior experience of architecture: An emotional connection between space and the body. Buildings, 12(3), 326.
• Pitt, B., & Casasanto, D. (2022). Spatial metaphors and the design of everyday things. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1019957.
• Ren, H., Shi, M., & Zhang, J. (2024). Research contents, methods and prospects of emotional architecture based on a systematic literature review. Buildings, 14(4), 997.
• White, M. (2007). Maps of narrative practice. W. W. Norton.