In today’s episode, I’m joined by my long-time colleague, and our Chief People Officer here at CEG, Sandy Longworth. Sandy has worked as a therapist, a researcher, college counselor — among other things — and has spent years studying the role that narrative storytelling plays in how teens develop their identities.

Important note: While Sandy trained as a therapist, and we do talk a lot about therapy in our conversation, I want to make clear that I do not hold that college counseling and essay coaching — or what we do at College Essay Guy — to be therapy. It isn’t. As college counselors and essay coaches — and I’m speaking about us as a profession here — we help students discover the skills, qualities, values, and interests they’ll bring to a college campus… and then express those parts of themselves in writing.

Having said that, when I was first introduced to Narrative Therapy in 2012, I was struck by how some of its techniques — like reframing, for instance, which involves finding alternate perspectives on a set of events, something sometimes called “re-storying” — overlap with some of the things that happen in essay coaching sessions… and that’s the territory Sandy and I explore in this conversation.

In this episode, Sandy and I get into:

How adolescence is a key time for identity development, how this process unfolds and why it’s so significant for personal statements
What is narrative identity theory and how do our stories shape who we think we are and can be?
How can narrative therapy techniques help students develop and showcase these qualities?
What are some narrative therapy exercises students can use to reflect on their experiences and write authentically?
And more

Sandy Longworth is a proud first-generation college graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison who earned her M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Seattle Pacific University, completed her doctoral coursework in Child and Family Studies from UW-Madison, and completed her School Counseling certificate at Northern Illinois University.

There’s a little more to her bio, but I’ll let her share that with you directly — hope you enjoy.

Play-by-Play:

3:05 – Sandy shares her background and some of her roles and identities
9:46 – Why is adolescence such a key time for identity development, and how does that connect to the personal statement?
12:20 – What role does narrative storytelling play in how students think about and develop their identities?
24:26 – How can narrative therapy techniques help students develop and showcase these qualities in their college application?
39:32 – What are some practical ways counselors and students can bring narrative therapy techniques into the personal statement process?
41:34 – Sandy leads Ethan through a narrative exercise
53:41 – Ethan and Sandy share impact and reflections
1:01:16 – How could narrative therapy ideas inform a montage-style essay?
1:10:10 – What does Sandy love about this work?
1:13:32 – What resources are available to learn more about narrative therapy?
1:16:15 – Closing thoughts

Resources:

616: Authoring Your Life: Why the Personal Statement Is About (Much) More Than Getting into College

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions