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‘Emplotment’: Letter Writing with Troubled Adolescents and their Families

The Adolescent Service, Wandsworth, London, UK

Writing letters is part and parcel of therapeutic work with troubled adolescents. This article proposes a strategy, ‘emplotment’, for use as a practical tool when constructing such letters. The concept of emplotment is developed from studies of how people develop stories about themselves. The aim of emplotment is to write, with the people involved, letters in a style which may allow the young person to evolve his or her own story at a later date, and hence improve outcomes. Finally emplotment is compared with ‘ Literary means to therapeutic ends ’, the method developed by White and Epston.

Key Words: adolescent • emplotment • letter writing • literary means • narrative

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