Coaching Practiced

41 Narrative coaching – Part 2: Two forms of change structures: re-authoring and remembering

Ho Law

Abstract

This paper follows the introductory article by discussing the transformation function and forms of narrative coaching in comparison with other forms and types of coaching approaches in psychological interventions. It describes two forms of narrative techniques known as ‘re-authoring’ and ‘remembering’. The procedures show that the two techniques take different shapes or forms and are used in different contexts during a coaching conversation. Nevertheless, both techniques provide rites de passage for the coachee to achieve positive change and thus the same function of transformation. The narrative analysis and its implications are further discussed with a recommendation for further research.

Keywords

coaching psychology; change; coaching; narrative; practice; re-authoring; remembering; self-identity; learning; research; transformation.

Original publication details: Ho Law, ‘Narrative coaching – Part 2: Two forms of change structures: re-authoring and remembering,’ pp. 59–69 from The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2020. Reproduced with permission of The British Psychological Society.

As an introduction to this paper for those who are new to the narrative coaching approach, I will start with a recap. In Part 1, I advocated narrative coaching for coaching psychology and described the procedure of the externalising conversation as the first step for narrative ...