Analyzing Mutual Storytelling Technique in Child Therapeutic Sessions

This report examines the mutual storytelling technique as a therapeutic communication tool in child therapy. It begins with an introduction to the technique, explaining how therapists use it to understand a child's inner world by analyzing the stories they create. The report then presents a case study involving an interview with a 5-year-old child, detailing the interaction, the child's story, and the therapist's analysis. The analysis focuses on the child's emotional state, empathetic nature, and fears, drawing conclusions about their psychology. The report also discusses the implications of this technique for nursing practice, emphasizing the importance of effective communication and empathetic care. It highlights the need for nurses to adapt their communication strategies to the patient's age, context, and mental state, and suggests the value of training programs in interpersonal communication to enhance nursing competencies and improve patient care.

Running head: MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Introduction
Mutual storytelling technique has proven to be an effective method involving therapeutic
communication with child. In this technique, the therapist or nurse elicits study created by the
child, summarizes psychodynamic meaning from it and then makes another story using the same
characters decried by the child in a similar way. However, the story of the therapist or nurse
differs from that of the child’s story with healthier resolutions and mature adaptations. This
technique is considered to be a therapeutic tool used in several phases of child therapy and for
many psychogenic disturbances among children. A child creates his or her own story based on
the best knowledge they have (Datta, 2018). The story created by them are generally grounded
on their imagination and dreams. It is often difficult to interpret meaning and analyse their
stories. However, a therapist know effective strategies to analyse them and draw conclusions on
the child’s psychology. Stories created by the child are the main sources of psychodynamic
information. Just like dreams and free associations, stories are found to be an important source of
information regarding the child (Luwisch, 2006). While analysing a story, some if the important
points to be considered include What in the story stands for the child and what stands for
significant others, what is the ambience or overall climate of the study; pleasant, anxious, neutral
or horrifying and a salient theme needs to be generated, but with a different conclusion
(Neapetung, Bradford & Bharadwaj, 2019). Therefore, this paper will talk about an interactive
interview session with a 5 year old child, analyse the story told by the child and draw conclusion
upon the interaction followed by implications for practice.

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Discussion
The best way to understand the child’s emotion, develop problem solving skills and
understand their psychology is via a story told by the child. The children tell stories based on
their imagination and psychology. The interaction was a one-to-one communication between me
and the 5 year old child. We continuously communicated with each other and the child seemed to
be interested in the interaction. The child was very enthusiastic while telling story. She explained
it in a succinate manner and did not jump to conclusion without proper explanation.
The interview and the mutual story telling session was conducted in an empty classroom
of a community school, located in Calgary, Canada. There were many children who could
actively take part in the session, however, we have chosen a child, named Emily, a student of
standard 1, who showed some abnormal behavioural attributes such as getting mad at people,
depression and anxiety. Before conducting the interview, consent was taken from her parents and
her parents were informed about the objectives and purpose behind conducting this mutual story
telling session. The session was set in an empty classroom and the presence of any other teachers
or her parents were not entertained. The child was given to sit facing the therapist, to maintain
eye contact. She was sitting opposite to me that facilitated an effective communication. To ease
the situation and crate a comfortable environment for the child, I interacted with the chid in a
very casual and friendly manner. I asked her name, asked whom does she stay with, her hobbies
and interests and other details about her so that she interacts freely and fearlessly. Then I insisted
her in telling me a story that was recorded for analysis.

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Reflection of the nurse:
I did not interrupt the child while she was telling the story. Instead, I listened to the story
in a way as if I could actually visualize the whole incident. I found that the child was too much
engrossed while telling the story. However, she was not very optimistic about the whole thing.
She ended it in a bad note and then she became sad after finishing her story. She said that the
poor little mouse had no fault but he died because of the lion king. This shows that she has an
empathetic nature. She was extremely depressed and upset about the little mouse so I consoled
her saying that this story can have an alternative ending. I modified the story accordingly that
have healthier resolutions and mature adaptations.
The child showed signs of fear and depression. The child was also upset when the little
moue died in the story which indicates that she has a sympathetic nature (Refer to the Appendix).
The child was also scared and sad about the fact that the little mouse died. She immediately
became sad and tensed when she said that the little mouse died. Her concern about the mouse
indicates her sympathetic nature. It also indicates that the child has a fear of losing or dying. She
is also sacred about her situation and life events. She fears a superior person may give her death
sentence or punish her severely if she commits any mistake. However, on telling the story with
alternative ending, she seemed to be much happier and showed a sign of relief.
This story telling session was important was conducted successfully to get an insight of
the child’s inner conflicts, defences, frustration by listening to the story created by her. This
technique of mutual story telling uses child’s language for giving healthier resolutions and
mature responses to the difficulties faced by the child (Patrick, 2018). The story session has
become an interactive session and an indirect way of communication with the child. The child

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
was enthusiastic and very charming. She was completely engrossed in her story. The story
revealed her character and showed how much she was sympathetic.
Implications for nursing practice:
As a nurse, the primary responsibility is assessing the patient’s concerns and
implementing care strategies addressing those concern of the patients. An effective way for the
nurses to do so is maintaining professional communication with the patients (Sibiya, 2018).
Thus, a nurse must implement effective strategies to communicate with the patients that are age
appropriate and relate to the patient’s context, circumstances and mental state of the patients. A
nurse must possess the key competencies while practicing in order to ensure a better and
enhanced care (Fukada, 2018). For the above patient Emily, I have communicated with her
efficiently with an approachable attitude and maintained professional communication throughout
the interaction. A nurse must deliver care by being compassionate and sympathetic towards the
patients. Despite these theoretical concepts underpinning nursing practice, nurses often fail to
comply with these professional attributes that impact the overall quality of care and decrease
patient’s satisfaction. Therefore, it is highly recommended to provide the nurses with supplement
educational and training programs comprising of practical courses in professional interpersonal
communication that will shape the nursing competencies leading to an enhanced care system for
the patients (Włoszczak-Szubzda & Jarosz, 2013).

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
References
Datta, R. (2018). Traditional storytelling: an effective Indigenous research methodology and its
implications for environmental research. AlterNative: An International Journal of
Indigenous Peoples, 14(1), 35-44.
Fukada, M. (2018). Nursing competency: Definition, structure and development. Yonago acta
medica, 61(1), 001-007.
KRAHN, E. (2018). Storytelling, Poetry, Writing, and the Art of Metaphor. Expressive Arts for
Social Work and Social Change, 76.
Luwisch, F. E. (Ed.). (2006). Teachers' voices: Storytelling and possibility. IAP.
Neapetung, M., Bradford, L., & Bharadwaj, L. (2019). “Spirit, Safety, and a Stand-off”: The
Research-Creation Process and Its Roles in Relationality and Reconciliation among
Researcher and Indigenous Co-Learners in Saskatchewan, Canada. Engaged Scholar
Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning, 5(2), 37-60.
Patrick, C. L. (2018). Understanding the Impact of Indian Residential Schools on Cultural
Identity: Canadian Indigenous Perspectives and Practices of Spirituality A Qualitative
Study with Storytelling as Narrative (Doctoral dissertation, Saybrook University).
Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective Communication in Nursing. Nursing, 19.

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Włoszczak-Szubzda, A., & Jarosz, M. J. (2013). Professional communication competences of
nurses–a review of current practice and educational problems. Annals of Agricultural and
Environmental Medicine, 20(1), 183-188.

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
Appendix
Me: Hi, Emily. How are you doing?
Emily: I am good.
Me: How are you doing at school?
Emily: I am fine here.
Me: Do you have any friends here?
Emily: Yes. Absolutely. I have a lot of friends.
Me: Do you like gossiping with them?
Emily: Yes. I tell them stories and then we laugh together.
Me: Will you mind if I ask you to tell me a story? I will also tell one.
Emily: Yes sure.
The story said by the child:
Emily- “Once upon a time, a lion, who is the king of the jungle was sleeping peacefully.
Suddenly, a little mouse who was playing nearby with his friends came and started running up
and down that disturbed the lion and he was awakened. The lion got angry and furious. He
placed his paw on the little mouse and opened his big mouth to swallow him. The mouse cried
and shouted but nothing worked. The lion was also very hungry as he has not eaten anything
since morning. The poor little mouse cried that he will never repeat this again. The mouse also
said “pardon, king. If you forgive me this time and spare me with your kindness, I will be able to

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
help you in case you are in trouble”. The lion king was too furious and too hungry to listen to
the mouse, so he ate him up”.
Me- “Oh no! That’s sad. The lion should not have killed the poor little mouse. How unkind and
greedy the lion is. The mouse was playing and was causing no harm so there was no pint to kill
him. We will now make the story with alternative ending where the mouse will not get killed and
it will be a happy ending”.
Emily- *Giggled and smiled* “Yes. We can save the little mouse. But how?”
Me- “Let us see how we can save the little mouse”.
I modified the story accordingly that have healthier resolutions and mature adaptations that will
help in the child’s development and teach her values and morals.
The alternative story within the same context:
Me- “A little mouse, once, began running up and down on a sleeping lion that made him awake.
The lion got very angry and furious. He paced his large paw on the little mouse and opened his
mouth to swallow him. The poor little mouse started to cry and beg for his life. He said that if the
tiger forgives the little mouse, he will be able to help him in any situation when the tiger will be
in trouble. He said that may be he will be able to help to do him a good turn one of these days.
The lion got tickled by the idea of the mouse and so, he lifted is paw and let him go. Later, on
one fine day, a few hunters visited the forest, captured the lion and tied him on a tree. Then they
went deeper to find a wagon and take him to zoo. The little mouse was just passing from nearby,
seeing him tired, the little mouse cut the robes that tied him and the lion was freed. The little

MUTUAL STORYTELLING TECHNIQUE
mouse was very happy after helping the lion and he smirked and said “See, I was right”. So, the
Moral of the story: A little of kindness is rewarded greatly”.