Stuck in the Story: Using a Narrative Therapy Approach for Rewriting Early Beliefs
Friday, October 24, 2025
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Richmont’s Atlanta Campus
OR Live Webinar *
Presentation Description
Stories that our clients tell themselves can contain false scripts which interfere with their ability to understand their needs and may create severe ambivalence about getting their needs met. Additionally, they are likely to project these false beliefs onto others; even their therapists. Valuable therapy time can be lost if the therapist doesn’t understand the client’s narrative early in the process. This presentation will provide a step-by-step procedure for helping clients increase awareness of their personal narrative and reevaluate its usefulness in their lives. Secondly, the presentation will offer a concrete approach for rewriting old narratives into positive narratives while still drawing from the person’s unique experiences utilizing aspects of their authentic self. Finally, since insight is not enough to change the brain, participants will be given specific strategies that are well-designed for rewiring the brain to be receptive to the new narrative. Strategies will be chosen from ACT, DBT, and CBT among others.
Presenter: Linda Paulk Buchanan ’83, Ph.D.
Dr. Linda Buchanan is a psychologist who has been working in the mental health field for over 30 years. She received her master’s degree from Georgia State University and her Ph.D. from Georgia State University with a specialty in family therapy. She also earned a diploma I Christian Counseling from the Psychological Studies Institute (now Richmont). Dr. Buchanan founded Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders in 1993 which she sold in 2017. She now primarily focuses on consulting and writing. Her book A Clinician’s Guide to Pathological Ambivalence was published in 2019, the content of which she has presented at national and international conferences. She has also self-published three workbooks (one serves as a client companion to the Clinician’s Guide) which can be found on her website at www.lindapaulkbuchanan.com. Additionally, she has published four research articles on the treatment of eating disorders including two outcome studies of the treatment provided at Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders and two book chapters and serves as a peer reviewer of American Psychological Association (APA) Journals. She has been married for over 30 years and is the mother of two adopted sons.
Learning Objectives: As a result of attending, participants will be able to:
1) Educate their clients on the various factors which affect the nature of narrative.
2) Utilize specific strategies for applying narrative therapy with diverse clients.
3) Utilize a template designed to enable their clients to increase mindfulness of the false narratives that they have developed which may be preventing them from having a satisfying life and decreasing their ability to utilize therapy effectively.
4) Utilize a template designed to enable their clients to re-evaluate their false narratives and write a new narrative which is more effective and true to their authentic selves.
5) Utilize specific mindfulness strategies from a variety of sources such as ACT, DBT, and CBT for rewiring the old story and replacing it with the new narrative.
6) Describe the factors that affected their own narrative
7) Utilize strategies for dealing with ambivalence
Continuing Education: 6 CE Hours Available
Target Audience: Psychotherapists from all disciplines: Psychologists, Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Social Workers, graduate students
Instruction Level: Appropriate for all levels
Schedule of the Day
8:30-9:00 Registration
9:00 – 10:30 Overview of Narrative Therapy Models
Introduction to Four Phase Model
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45 – 12:15 Phases I and II of Narrative Therapy
12:15 – 1:15 Lunch Break
1:15 – 2:45 Phase III Narrative Therapy
2:45 – 3:00 Break
3:00 -4:30 Phase IV Narrative Therapy/Q&A
Refund policy: In order to receive a refund, requests must be submitted prior to October 17, 2025.
* Registration is being offered with in-person and virtual options. Richmont and/or the presenter reserve the right to shift the workshop to fully virtual, depending on registration numbers.
For questions, including information about accommodations, please contact Amy Estes at ContinuingEd@Richmont.edu.
There is no known commercial support for this program.
Richmont Graduate University has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 4534. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Richmont Graduate University is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Richmont Graduate University is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Richmont Graduate University maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Presentation References:
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Hayes, S. C., Levin, M.E., Plumb-Vilardage, J., Villatte, J.L., & Pistorelly, J (2013). Acceptance and commitment therapy and contextual behavioral science: Examining the progress of a distinctive model of behavioral and cognitive therapy
Metcalf, L. (2017). Solution focused narrative therapy. NY, NY: Springer Press.
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White, Dwayne & Darrow, Nancy & Carney, Jamie & Warner, Aisha. (2024). LGBTQ + POC Experiences of Meaning-Making to Externalize Oppression: A Critical Narrative Inquiry. Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling. 18. 107-124. 10.1080/26924951.2024.2325891.
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