Mapping and writing as a co-creative therapeutic process

Abstract

Abstract Cognitive analytic therapy’s (CAT’s) conceptual tools and methods offer a scaffolding for a co-creative therapeutic partnership. CAT emphasizes doing therapy with rather than for, or to, the client. It combines personal problem solving with attention to a sense of self and in the process a more general relational and conversational awareness is developed. Whilst CAT centres on the written and diagrammatic reformulation with the client, it is important to not neglect the additional and continuous task of establishing and maintaining a healing narrative. The shared, in-session process of mapping the conversations, stories, and relationships as they develop depends on an open story approach and the sensitive exploration of words and the patterns they relate to. The approach to CAT described is one of several ways of using the CAT framework and it is a tribute to Ryle’s openness and pragmatism that the approach has not become model bound.