By Gali Salpeter – Creator of Narrative Therapy tools, The River, Roads and The World of Trains

Background

Gali Salpeter

I am an Expressive Therapist with specialisation in Drama and Narrative therapy and a background in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology.

My fields of study, work and life are closely intertwined; I have worked and volunteered as a therapist in a few countries and I feel blessed to have chosen this field of work, which enables me to connect with, support and be touched by, so many wonderful people across the world.

I live in beautiful Norway with my husband and 3 children (my most meaningful creation).

Projective cards – underlying concepts

I began to use projective cards as a psychological tool when I was working as a therapist with children having special needs. Combining the cards with art, drama and stories proved to be very useful and I realised it helped my clients raise and share the issues they were dealing with. It supplemented the verbal mode of communication in many ways.

However, with time, I felt that something was missing; putting separate cards apart from each other in order to tell stories, was in fact “losing” the idea of flow. It looked as if there was no connection or transition between the different parts of the stories that the clients were telling. I have started to search for ways to make the images illustrated on the cards “connect” so that the flow of the stories that the clients told will become visual as well.

Joining up the cards to create a story

The metaphors of the river and roads, flow and paths, were metaphors I found enriching when speaking of processes that people are dealing with. People often speak about journeys they make, paths they choose, steps they take or a continuum of periods in their lives.

Both the metaphor of the river and the metaphor of roads enabled my clients and me as the therapist to relate to the “whole” as made of different parts. It helped clients realise that the stories they tell are built of certain chapters and to observe the processes they described as made of many stages or several sub-periods.

Thus, using the metaphors of rivers and paths matched my goals as a therapist; to help my clients tell, observe, work with, and retell their experiences in life in new ways.

The River Set

The first set I have created is “The River”. Like most journeys, it begun with a personal experience. This time it was a sad one… My grandmothers died in a short period, I was a mother of young kids and as a way to cope with my grief, I wrote “The river story”. It dealt with my interpretation of life and death, relationships, identity and memories, strengths and weaknesses. I often use writing as a tool to process the personal experiences I encounter in life so that story almost ended up “in the drawer” like many others…

Since I was working with projective cards I came to the idea of drawing the story in the form of cards. Derived from the story, the atmosphere I chose for the cards was one of – nature – as I have perceived it. I looked for subtle stimuli, and not too much fantasy in the images drawn.

One thing led to the other, “The river guidebook” kind of wrote itself, the ideas for ways to use cards kept on flowing from my experience and imagination, and then – after a long “pregnancy” – ״The River set״ was born. Like many wonderful things, it was born out of pain but it holds the strengths of sharing hope.

Roads Deck

״Roads״ was created several years later when I was living elsewhere. I like travelling to new experiences and I have lived in wonderful countries around our globe. My journey and the paths that I have chosen (and the ones which have chosen me) always led me to interesting places both within myself and in the cultures around me.

The metaphor of “Roads” for me means that I have a road that is mine, with the obstacles I encounter and the “gifts” I find along it, my own beginnings, the steps I take and the ends. However, it is also a road that goes in amazingly different surroundings, with interesting people I was lucky and maybe brave enough to get to know. So perhaps “Roads” for me is this journey as a whole – a journey that is one and unique and “mine”, but it is also many meaningful journeys, stories, paths and periods which I have experienced with others around me.

I believe that although each of us have a unique path in life, we are changing in many ways along it. I decided that the stimuli will be clear in that deck, I wanted to use fantasy and include obvious objects. The colours and atmosphere was completely different than the ones used in ״The River ״so as the method of painting used.

In a sense I think that the sets complete one another. Hopefully having these different sets enable clients to choose the most suitable tool and image they would like to work with, in each given moment.

The World of Trains set

״The world of trains” set is being edited for print in these days. I am not objective, but I think that it is a very special set. The set is designed for therapeutic work with children in settings of individual therapy and group therapy. It contains a deck of illustrated cards, a deck of story-cards and a comprehensive guidebook for therapists. The guidebook describes in detail numerous professional suggestions for application of the cards, according to the different settings and relevant issues children cope with.

Final Thoughts

It is my hope that every person working with the sets will enjoy the opportunity of telling her/his story and the wonder of discovering its rich layers and intertwining chapters.
We all have stories waiting to be told.
Thank you for reading a chapter of mine…
Gali