How Narrative Therapy's ‘Wonderfulness Interview’ Creates Connections and Sparkling Stories During Parent Intake Conversations
Tracks
PRINCE ROOM - In-Person Only
| Monday, March 16, 2026 |
| 3:05 PM - 4:35 PM |
Overview
Kim Billington, Counselling Conversations - Private Practice
Presenter
Ms Kim Billington
Clinical Counsellor & Supervisor With PACFA
Counselling Conversations - Private Practice
How Narrative Therapy's ‘Wonderfulness Interview’ creates connections and sparkling stories during parent intake conversations.
Presentation Overview
The ‘Wonderfulness Interview’ can offer interesting, engaging, enjoyable and fruitful ways of working with children and families. The hope is to come to know the young person through their unique, individual and wonderful interests, passions, talents, strengths, qualities etc.
In their 2016 book Narrative Therapy in Wonderland, David Marsten, David Epston and Laurie Markham proposed that we start the first session with a "Wonderfulness Interview".
In Narrative Therapy, family members are seen as having expert knowledges. Narrative practices do not focus only on a young person’s problem, which might imply that they are the problem. Rather, we begin at parent intake with a strengths-based approach to enhance family connections and reduce shame.
Narrative practices are also founded on an appreciation that identity development is a lifetime project, and that problems can wear down a child’s (and their parent’s) self-esteem.
The Wonderfulness Interview opens up spaces to listen-out for sparkling stories about The Person, and their untold struggles against The Problem. These conversations create a different tone and so we prioritise and take time to get to know the person and their Wonderfulnesses, as well as, but separate to the problem story.
These wonderful narratives told about and by a young person can enhance the therapeutic alliance, provide a significant counter-balance to The Problem and give the young person a refreshing break from the often relentless feeling of personal failure.
In this interactive workshop, participants will have time in break-out discussions to practice some of Narrative Therapy’s quirky questions, and reflect on ways to develop rewarding partnerships with parents of their clients.
Three Key Learnings:
1. Learn different ways to create a life-affirming, productive, non-shaming intake phone call or session with parents.
2. Experience and practice in small groups some of the narrative approaches of naming special skills and qualities through externalising, and tracing the history of these in the family system.
3. Develop ways that can be brought into your own practice to create partnerships with parents through helpful conversations, that become the foundations of the ongoing therapeutic work.
In their 2016 book Narrative Therapy in Wonderland, David Marsten, David Epston and Laurie Markham proposed that we start the first session with a "Wonderfulness Interview".
In Narrative Therapy, family members are seen as having expert knowledges. Narrative practices do not focus only on a young person’s problem, which might imply that they are the problem. Rather, we begin at parent intake with a strengths-based approach to enhance family connections and reduce shame.
Narrative practices are also founded on an appreciation that identity development is a lifetime project, and that problems can wear down a child’s (and their parent’s) self-esteem.
The Wonderfulness Interview opens up spaces to listen-out for sparkling stories about The Person, and their untold struggles against The Problem. These conversations create a different tone and so we prioritise and take time to get to know the person and their Wonderfulnesses, as well as, but separate to the problem story.
These wonderful narratives told about and by a young person can enhance the therapeutic alliance, provide a significant counter-balance to The Problem and give the young person a refreshing break from the often relentless feeling of personal failure.
In this interactive workshop, participants will have time in break-out discussions to practice some of Narrative Therapy’s quirky questions, and reflect on ways to develop rewarding partnerships with parents of their clients.
Three Key Learnings:
1. Learn different ways to create a life-affirming, productive, non-shaming intake phone call or session with parents.
2. Experience and practice in small groups some of the narrative approaches of naming special skills and qualities through externalising, and tracing the history of these in the family system.
3. Develop ways that can be brought into your own practice to create partnerships with parents through helpful conversations, that become the foundations of the ongoing therapeutic work.
Biography
Kim Billington: B. Ed, M. Couns & Masters in Narrative Therapy, has worked with children, families and adults for over 30yrs in the fields of family violence, family separation, men’s behaviour change programs, bereavement and crisis telephone counselling.
Kim is an author of two books, A Counsellor’s Companion: creative adventures for child counsellors, parents and teachers, and Counselling Conversations: 10 Powerful Interviews Seasoned Experts.
Kim is a PACFA registered counsellor and clinical supervisor, working with the Monash Masters of Counselling team, and is a trainer delivering workshops for RAV, PACFA, Sydney Centre for Creative Change, PESI, Schools and NFPs.
