Winnipeg Narrative Therapy is an organization that was born in the community, for the community. Instead of traveling to different locations around Canada and the world for high quality Professional Development events, we decided to bring them here and share them with our colleagues. We choose presenters whose workshops can impact the work we do in the community we live in, challenge our knowledge, and keep us sharp in our practice. 

Another aspect that makes our workshops special is the idea of connection. In this field, it is very easy to get disconnected and feel lost in the loneliness of our offices. We privilege, in all our events, the sense of connection, and sometimes facilitate informal meetings to debrief the workshop and discuss how it might change our work.

Winnipeg Narrative Therapy was initiated by Mariana Sussi. She was born in Argentina and immigrated to Canada with her family in 2003. Her degree as a Clinical Psychologist in her home country has been recognized in Canada as a Masters in Family Therapy. Mariana’s therapeutic experience includes work with individuals, couples, children and groups struggling with different problems that have been shaping and restricting their lives.

The ideas that inform her work are based on the Narrative Therapy theory. She believes that in those sacred conversations that happen in our offices, people can reclaim their own preferred stories and define themselves better by centering on stories that don’t restrict their lives to the definition that the problem imposes on them (ADHD child, Anxious wives, etc.). Paraphrasing the Just Therapy Team from New Zealand, it is the therapist’s responsibility to open possibilities for clients, bringing forward other stories in their lives, and in doing so, offering them liberation.