Dear Reader,

I hold a Doctor of Philosophy in narrative studies, a Masters of Art in Fine Art and a BA in the dramatic arts and literature. I hold course certificates in various therapeutic modules, including Narrative Therapy from the Dulwich Centre in Australia, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Clinical Hypnosis from the College of Applied Psychology in the United Kingdom.

I have served the international human rights organisation, The World’s Children’s Prize Foundation, as coordinator and trauma counsellor for more than two decades. In this capacity, I have witnessed thousands of resilient, yet desperately vulnerable women and children’s stories from all walks of life, tell their stories.

As a result of a long association with the narrative arts, healing and teaching, I registered for a PhD in the Faculty of Science at UCT in 2015, determined to find a scientific context for the union between narrative arts therapy and indigenous knowledge. I was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy for this trans-disciplinary research at the inter-sections of the arts, psychology, anthropology, archaeology and history (Winberg 2020).

This research enabled me to use 30 years of research and experience to develop a therapeutic narrative arts programme in consultation with indigenous communities in southern Africa, the University of Cape Town and the Dulwich Centre in Australia – a global pioneer in Narrative Therapy. (Read more about this programme in the Narrative Therapy room in this website.)

My current post-doctoral research is an investigation into the neuroscience of storytelling and the brain’s incredible capacity for making sense of life through visual and verbal narratives.

Thank you for your interest.

Kindly,

Marlene.