Collective narrative practice with young people

with Aspergers Syndrome who have experienced bullying

by Kit Hung (Chris) Tse

Chris Tse is currently working in a public social service agency, The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs
Association of Hong Kong (BGCA), as a social worker in Hong Kong. He mainly works with
children and young people who have experienced difficulties in relation to the mental health
and developmental issues in their lives. Chris is passionate about collective practice and he is
committed to organising different kinds of groups and community programs to connect people
in responding to hardship and oppression. Chris can be contacted at tsekit1013@gmail.com

Abstract
This paper presents an experience of collective narrative practice with young people with
Asperger Syndrome (Aspergers) who have experienced bullying. In Hong Kong, it is common
to hear about bullying of young people with Aspergers. This article first discusses some
dominant discourses relating to Aspergers and bullying. It then documents the innovative
methodologies of the ‘Smartphone of Life’, which connects young people and assists them
to develop second stories with alternative identities. The narrative practices of externalising
conversations, re-authoring conversations, outsider-witness conversations, and definitional
ceremonies are used to richly describe the stories of the young people. In this work, the local
knowledge and skills of young people in resisting the challenges of bullying are documented
through co-creating collective postcards. The article concludes with some reflections about
the collective practice and ethical considerations.

Key words: narrative therapy, collective practice, young people, Asperger Syndrome,
Aspergers, disability, bullying, Hong Kong

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The young people who participated in this project all had
Asperger Syndrome (Aspergers) and had all experienced
bullying which had invited them to develop negative identity
conclusions. According to poststructuralist ideas, problems
are products of culture and history and ‘identities are
constantly created in relationship with others, with institutions,
and with boarder relations of power’ (Thomas, 2002, p. 87).
Bullying is therefore a problem constructed by the culture and
the broader society. Before describing my work with young
people who had experienced bullying, I’d like to illustrate
these contexts and unmask the power of social discourses
which are related to Aspergers and bullying.
Young people with Asperger Syndrome
Asperger Syndrome was first named by an Austrian
pediatrician, Hans Asperger, in 1944. He studied some young
patients who had similar social difficulties, such as lack of
nonverbal communication skills, limited empathy in their
relationship with others, and difficulty in figuring out what the
other people were thinking or feeling (Autism Speaks, n.d.).
Asperger Syndrome was added to the fourth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM-4) in 1994. Cashin (2008) revealed that although
autism does not affect ‘personality’ or ‘temperament’, it can
increase anxiety for people in complex social situations,
especially adolescents. The dominant pathologising
discourses in Hong Kong construct a ‘deficiency’ identity or
‘disabled-person identity’ for young people with Aspergers.
With the influences of these pathologising discourses, most
professionals commonly use normative ideas in practice.
Michael White (2011) described that modern power sets
up a whole range of norms for people’s lives and engages
people to discipline themselves according to these norms.
People who do not comply with these norms are classified
as ‘abnormal’ and are often ‘corrected’ back to the socially-
accepted behaviours. These pathologising discourses execute
their power in constructing the thin description of the lives of
young people with Aspergers. Morgan (2000) stated that ‘thin
description leads to thin conclusions about people’s identities’
and ‘thin conclusions often lead to more thin conclusions
as people’s skills, knowledges, abilities and competencies
become hidden by the problem story’ (p. 13–14). Therefore,
the insider-knowledges of young people with Aspergers are
disregarded under the conventional intervention approaches
which only privilege expert knowledges. Some conventional
‘interventions’, for instance, Applied Behavioral Analysis,
social story1 and social skills training groups, are dominant in
the social services organisations and schools in Hong Kong.
All of these intervention approaches use the language of
‘deficiency’ or ‘disability’ in understanding the hardships
of young people.
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Norman Kunc and Emma van der Klift shared an alternative
concept of ‘neurodiversity’ in an interview about relocating
the problem of disability (Dulwich Centre Publications, 2015).
The concept of neurodiversity views autism as constructed by
the society and draw on a social model of disability (Krcek,
2013). This leads to understand the experiences of disability
in a social context rather than an individual context. Norman
shared his idea of moving from the presumption of deficiency
to the consideration of ideas of diversity. Using this concept,
I was encouraged to explore the multi-identities of young
people with Aspergers instead of the problematic identities
related to disability.
Bullying in the school context
During my last three years working as social worker with
young people with Aspergers, I have often heard stories about
bullying experiences due to the effects of marginalisation
from institutions, systems, and social discourses. To better
investigate and understand the situation of students with
Special Education Needs (SEN) in Hong Kong, the Equal
Opportunities Commission commissioned the Centre for
Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education of The
Hong Kong Institute of Education to conduct a research
project called Study on equal learning opportunities for
students with disabilities under the integrated education
system (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2012). The project
included 5136 stakeholders, including principals, teachers,
professionals (such as social workers, counselors, and
therapists), students with SEN, regular students, parents of
SEN students, and parents of regular students, from 230
schools who participated in questionnaire surveys. In the
qualitative research, 417 stakeholders from 20 schools were
interviewed. According to this research project, which took
place in a mainstream school, principals (16%), teachers
(18%), and parents of regular students (25%), were found to
be less accepting of students with autism spectrum disorder,
including Asperger, than those with dyslexia or hearing
impairment. At the same time, 9% of SEN students disagreed
that they had a ‘good relationship’ with school staff, and
14% of SEN students shared they were not treated equally
in school. On the other hand, around 30% of SEN students
felt that they were bullied (26%) and teased (31%) by their
classmates (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2012).
As shared by the young people I’ve worked with and the
information in the above research project, the problem of
bullying is not located purely in the relationship between the
bullies and the young people. It is related to the wider power
system, discourse, and culture. Bullying can further reinforce
the negative identity conclusions experienced by young
people with Aspergers. Problems of bullying and Aspergers
are often internalised, leading to further social isolation.
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The story of ‘isolation’ was commonly shared by the young
people in this project. However, using ideas of ‘the absent but
implicit’ (White, 2000), these young people hoped to rebuild
their connection with friends or people in their lives.
Dominant discourses related
to bullying
There are multiple social discourses which promote, sustain,
and nurture the life of bullying in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong
society, the influences of traditional Chinese culture have
formulated the dominant standards in human relationships
and affect how people to relate to each other. Discourses
of pleasing power figures and complying with authority are
dominant. Young people with Aspergers who reject requests
from others and stand firm with their own views are identified
as impolite or self-centered.
Further, in the dominant discourse of men’s culture,
it is expected that men should acted out of masculinity,
toughness, or strength. However, the young people in this
project described their qualities as being gentle and quiet,
anxious, introverted, or preferring some static and individual
activities which are different from the dominant men’s culture.
Other young people who believe in the dominant discourse
can be recruited as accomplices in executing the techniques
of power towards people who violated the dominant discourse
and social expectations (M. White, 2011). For example,
a young person in this project shared that some classmates
teased him about his interest in reading books and refusing
to join football or basketball games with other boys.
Similarly, in Hong Kong, the discourse of elitism is privileged
by parents, schools, government, and even young people
themselves. It promotes an atmosphere of perfection and
being the ‘first class’ person in different aspects of society.
This discourse employs people to isolate, reject, or even bully
those who are not classified as ‘good’. It provokes the culture
of ‘if you live with a lame person, you will learn to limp’.
Narrative practice innovation
When I started to think about using narrative practice with
young people with Aspergers, Cheryl White’s (2011) writing
about social movement and innovation inspired me, saying
that innovation is generated in the process of challenging
the taken-for-granted authority, and exploring alternative
ways in practice. Four particular principles shared by David
Denborough about working with an individual in a prison
also guided me in the process of developing alternative
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or innovative practice (Denborough, 2008). Applied to this
project, these four principles are:
• listen for double-storied accounts from the young people
in this project
• find a way to richly acknowledge the effects of bullying
• link each young person’s lives collectively
• enable the young people to make a contribution to others.
Guided by these principles, I decided to use collective
narrative practice in connecting the young people in this
project. Creating a group for young people with Aspergers
to share collectively inherently challenges the taken-for-
granted discourse that these young people have difficulties
in communicating and understanding others’ feelings
and perspectives. Furthermore, as noted above, most
conventional intervention approaches with Aspergers in
Hong Kong are based on pathologising discourses and only
privilege expert knowledges. An alternative practice which
respects and privileges the young people’s local knowledge
is therefore significantly important.
In order to facilitate double-story development, I wanted to
provide some ways for the young people to share and thicken
the alternative stories which consisted of their knowledges,
skills, hopes, and dreams. In reviewing to the collective
narrative methodologies of the Tree of life and Team of Life
(Denborough, 2008), I was interested in the use of metaphors
in representing problems and stories. McGuinty, Armstrong,
Nelson, and Sheeler (2012) state that such a use of metaphor
is not simply a change of perspective-taking, but that ‘it is
moving into committed action, acting indirectly upon one’s
problems and sense of self’ (p. 12). It can also offer motivation
that hopes and dreams are possible. Therefore, I decided to
develop a metaphor and methodology that resonated with the
young people and fit for their culture. McGuinty et al. (2012)
also mentioned that ‘the metaphors are embedded in personal
experiences and understanding of self and life within the
context of culture’ (p. 12). With this inspiration, I decided to
use the smartphone as a metaphor. Smartphones are popular
in youth culture and also imply a way of connecting with the
outside world and others in our lives. The collective narrative
methodology of the ‘Smartphone of Life’ was incorporated
with outsider-witness practice as a way of telling, retelling,
and thickening the alternative stories of the young person.
In addition to a collective practice metaphor and outsider-
witness conversations, I used externalising conversations,
definitional ceremony, and therapeutic documents as other
ways to acknowledge the effects of problems and the insider-
knowledges of the young people. In the following section,
I will illustrate this project through describing the process,
demonstrating some narrative conversations, and sharing
some stories of the young people in this group.
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The process of
collective narrative practice
Preparing the group members
For recruiting the young people to join in this project,
I designed a leaflet to explain the ideas and the content
of group. This leaflet was distributed to the young people
through other social workers in my work agency. Six young
people were referred to join the project and an initial contact
with each group member was arranged beforehand to clarify
the ideas of the group and address any concerns of the young
people. I also provided some opportunities for the participants
to co-construct the group through sharing their expectations. A
possible name for this group – the ‘Back-up Friendship Team’
– was also shared, which the young people agreed with.
The six young people with Aspergers who participated
consisted of five boys and one girl. Their age range was
between 14 and 18 years old. In order to address the
concerns about gender issues for the sole girl, she invited her
school social worker, Ms Chan, to join in the group. One of
my colleagues, Eddie Fu, also joined the group as a member
of the outsider-witness team in supporting the young people.
At the very beginning, I wanted to acknowledge the intention
of the young people in making the decision to join this project
and share their personal stories. People’s intentions can
be a sparkling moment in developing an alternative story.
Therefore, I prepared an invitation card with a letter for each
group member which aimed at acknowledging their intentions,
contributions, and also priviling their insider-knowledges of
struggling with bullying. A letter for one young person, Hei,
read as follows:
Dear Hei,
Thank you for joining this group, ‘Back-up Friendship
Team’. I am writing a letter to each of the participants. In
this group, you can share your stories with other young
people who have similar experiences in struggling with
bullying. These experiences may influence your lives in
different aspects. We are willing to listen to any of your
stories if you are willing to share.
Besides that, I am curious about your knowledges and
skills in sustaining you to go through these hardship times.
It is my privilege to listen to your wisdom and I thought
that this wisdom could be contributed to others who have
similar experiences with bullying. On the other hand, I am
curious about your intentions in joining this group. Do you
have any ideas about what motivated you to participate
in the group? Does this mean that you are looking for any
differences in your life?
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Thanks again for your participation. See you in the first
session.
Best regards,
Chris
Acknowledging the hopes
and drea ms of young people
In the first session, it was important to create a safe space for
the young people to tell their stories. A ‘not-knowing’ stance
full of curiosity was essential to help me in ‘opening space’
for the group. I believe it is workers’ responsibility to create
this space and we can do this by checking with people’s
experiences and asking about their preferences during
conversations (Johnson, 1999). Therefore, I kept on checking
with the young people’s experiences of the conversation,
arrangements, or even the group pacing.
At the beginning of the group, I invited the young people to
introduce themselves in telling a brief story to each other.
In order to facilitate their sharing, I placed different kinds of
pictures on the floor. The young people picked up a picture
which resonated with a theme or a plot of their stories.
Their shared stories included the uncertainty of school life
after summer holiday, their struggles in peer relationships,
the emergence of worry towards the public examination,
challenges from depression, and also some lovely family
stories. When the stories of bullying experiences were shared,
these resonated with all the young people. We therefore spent
some time discussing the effects of the bullying experiences
on their lives. One of the members, Chun, shared that
depression emerged together with the bullying and they
created profound hazards in his life. Besides the problem
stories, I was also curious about the alternative stories in
their lives. The young people shared some different stories
about sustaining themselves during these hard times. Some
alternative stories included receiving support from parents
and teachers, meeting some new friends in other contexts, or
joining some interest activities.
After sharing these alternative stories, the young people
further discussed their experiences of relationships with
friends and peers. They shared what was the most important
in friendship for them, for example, respect or a sincere
attitude. Their sharing was intended to challenge the social
discourse of elitism that students with a good academic
performance or higher status in school have privileges in
making friends with others. It also evoked the hopes and
dreams of the young people towards friendship. These hopes
and dreams included treasuring a harmonious and trustworthy
relationship, meeting some new good friends, and building
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a peer network in the future. In order to acknowledge and
honour these hopes and dreams, we sang two local songs
whose lyrics related to friendship at the end of this session.
The young people shared that some lyrics strongly resonated
with their stories. These lyrics, below, are approximate
English translations:
Friends
We’re not afraid of the thorns that cover our road,
Help me to release the lonely feeling inside my heart,
Who understands me?
Feeling happy and sad together and hand in hand,
Share together, regardless of you and me,
You think of me, I think of you,
Go through the difficulties and despair together,
We hold our hands together, my friends.
Friendship
Time is flying, the world is shifting,
People’s attitudes are changing,
Yet our friendship stays firm,
The purity is raw and flawless,
We meet again,
Our bodies and souls get worn with year and month,
Our friendship stays whole,
The warmth within our heart
Signifies our purity untouched.
Externalising interview
In the first session, the group members shared their different
stories regarding the bullying experiences and their effects on
their lives. White (2007) stated that the problems of people’s
lives are often seen as a reflection of their own identity or a
reflection of the identity of their relationship with others. This
sort of understanding shapes people to believe that their
problems are internal to themselves. In the first session,
the group members shared that they attributed a part of the
responsibilities of bullying to their inadequate communication
skills or the characteristics of their Aspergers diagnosis. As an
‘antidote’ to these internal understandings, an externalising
conversation was arranged for the next session.
In the second session, the group members were invited to
have a group interview with ‘Bullying’. This externalising
interview took inspiration from Hung (2011) who conducted
this kind of interview with ‘Uselessness’ in her collective
narrative practice with rape victims. I enacted the role of
‘Bullying’ by dressing differently. I prepared some example
questions in advance for the group members. They could
either use the sample questions to interview ‘Bullying’ or ask
any other questions they were curious about.
Here are some example questions that the young people
used to interview Bullying, as well as its replies:
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What is your name?
– I have different names with different kinds of people,
such as, trouble, or rogue. But most people call me
‘Bullying’.
Who is your target?
– I love young people very much. I always want to make
trouble for them.
Where do you stay the most?
– Of course, I almost always stay in school. There are
many young people that I can hang around with.
What is your objective of staying in school?
– I aim at make trouble for young people and isolate them
from others. I am happy when people feel depressed
and frustrated. People who are useless, weird, or
noncompliant should be excluded from society.
Have you come alone? Do you have any alliances?
– I have many friends. I love to hang around with them
together. They are ‘useless’, ‘depression’, ‘anger’, and
‘Aspergers’. When we make an alliance together, our
power becomes stronger.
What are your strategies for affecting people?
– I usually tease about people’s appearance. My strength
is giving nicknames to people. Most people feel anger
or frustration when I call them by their nickname. It’s
really funny to do so. Sometimes, I even use violent
acts in threatening young people.
Do you have any unsuccessful experiences?
– Yes, but I don’t want to talk much about these
experiences. I was driven away by some people in
another school. It was the dark ages in my life.
Who are you most afraid of?
– The spirit of ‘solidarity’ or ‘collaboration’ from different
people makes me scared.
If your target wants to get rid of you, what do you do?
– It is not easy to get rid of me. I will get along with
the majority group in controlling and doing whatever
we want.
Who is your enemy?
– I hate people joining together and talking about me.
It seems that they are planning some strategies to
challenge me. Also, I hate the parents, teachers, and
social workers who support the young people.
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Through this externalising interview, we richly acknowledged
the effects of bullying in a funny way. The young people also
shared their own stories which were sparked by some of the
interview questions. For example, a young person, Chun,
shared the further effects of bullying on his life in recent
years and the emotional impact this had. In the remainder of
the externalising conversation, I invited the young people to
take a position in evaluating such effects and redefining their
relationships with these problems.
The Smartphone of Life
The metaphor of a smartphone was used for the young
people to share their different life stories. In order to ‘tune
in’ the group members into this metaphor, I invited them to
participate in a ‘hide and seek’ game which they covered their
eyes with a mask and explored their own smartphone with
their hands only. Through this game, some young people in
the group had new discoveries about the appearance, shape,
or other details of their phones which they had never paid
attention to before. After that, I also invited each young person
to share a brief story related to their smartphones. Ying told
us she threw her smartphone on the floor when angry once,
Hei used his smartphone to read novels, Chun felt worried
when his smartphone was suddenly not working, and Poon’s
smartphone was a gift from his auntie. With the inspiration of
this mini-game and brief sharing, the young people started
to more broadly connect their smartphone with different life
stories. This further provided grounds for introducing the
metaphor of the ‘Smartphone of Life’. I invited the young
people to pick up some paper and coloured pens to draw and
design their ‘Smartphone of Life’ in this session,
as I explained its different parts.
The ‘Smartphone of Life’ consisted of seven parts:
1. Wallpaper (sparkling moment) – The wallpaper
represented any activities or interests that the young
people were engaging in their daily life. As many young
people love to set a meaningful and impressive image as
their wallpaper, wallpaper can be viewed as a sparkling
moment in life.
• When you turn on your ‘Smartphone of Life’, what do
you want to see as a wallpaper?
• Do you have any picture or image that you would
love to download as the wallpaper? Does this picture
or image have any special meaning in your life?
• This could show any activities or interests that you
are engaging in your daily lives. Why are these
activities, interests, images, or pictures engaging to
you that you really want to see it every day?
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2. C
 ontacts (life membership that is significant to the
person) – These could be the contacts in the phone book,
WhatsApp, or a Facebook friends list – anything that
represented people who are significantly important to the
young people and they would like to keep contact with.
• Which people are significantly important to you that
you would like to keep contact with them?
• Are there any meaningful relationship that you won’t
want to miss out on in your life?
• Can you share any stories or histories between you
and this significant person?
• Why are these relationships important to you?
• Have these significant people contributed to your
life in some way? If yes, can you tell me a story
about that?
3. Photos or movies (unique outcome of alternative
stories) – These represented any story or precious
moment that the young people wanted to preserve,
and served as a metaphor for the unique outcomes
in developing the alternative stories to counter the
problematic storylines:
• What kinds of pictures, stories, or precious moments
in your lives do you want to store in the gallery of the
Smartphone of Life?
• Why are these pictures, stories, or precious moments
the most special to you?
• What do these pictures and stories say about what
are you most value at?
4. Downloaded apps (knowledges and skills) – Apps are
a tool to be installed in the Smartphone of Life in helping
people to solve daily problems: different apps represented
the knowledges, skills, or abilities in dealing with hardship
times. This section highlighted that young people with
Aspergers have their insider-knowledges in responding to
bullying or any other problems:
• What apps do you have in your Smartphone of Life
that are helping you a lot in life?
• Where did these apps ‘download’ from?
• Who taught or passed these knowledges and skills
to you?
5. Junk call list (responding to hardship) – ‘Junk calls’
represented some unpleasant experiences or histories
which would influence the young people on and off. The
‘junk call list’ was a place that the young people could put
these experiences ‘in the bin’. It also provided a way to
capture responses to hardship:
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 • Are there any unpleasant experiences or histories
that influence your lives on and off which you would
like to put on a junk call list?
• How do you respond to them and place them in the
Junk Call List in daily life?
• Would there be any differences for your life if you
could place them in the list successfully?
6. Music list (sustenance for life) – Denborough (2008)
shared that songs could be a sustenance for life and
serve as a response to hardship, trauma, and grief. In the
Smartphone of Life, the music list represented songs that
resonated and offered company, sustenance, and support
for the young people:
• What kinds of songs or music do you feel resonate
for you, and you would like to add to your play list
for life?
• Are there any songs that evoke hopes, support, or
energy for you in passing through hardship times?
• Why are these songs special to you?
7. Camera (hopes and dreams) – As people usually use
the camera on their phones to record some precious
moments that they want to keep and remember,
the camera represented the hopes and dreams of the
young people:
• If you could take a picture or record a video of
some moments of life, what would you like to keep
record of?
• Are there any hopes or dreams that you would like
to record in your Smartphone?
The above sorts of questions were used in scaffolding the
process of creating the Smartphone of Life. They helped the
young people to thicken and fully describe their alternative
stories. When the young people had no idea of some aspects
of their Smartphones of Life, some of them would refer to their
own actual smartphone and look for some ideas to draw. This
helped further connect the metaphor with the life situations of
the young people.
Storytelling and
outsider-witness practice
From session four to session six, I invited each group member
to share stories which were evoked by their Smartphone of
Life. When one member told his or her story in the group, the
others acted as outsider-witnesses (White, 2007). Before the
sharing, the young people still had opportunities to update,
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amend, add, or delete any parts of their Smartphones.
Indeed, this idea reflected that life is not static but variable
and diverse. In the following section, I will introduce the story
of Hei for illustrating the re-authoring conversation and the
outsider-witness practice used in the Smartphone of Life.
Hei’s story
Hei introduced his drawing with the wallpaper: a drawing
of a ferry with the text ‘in 2020’. Hei said this was because
he wanted to be a sailor as his future career; he looked for
freedom and relaxation in his life. When discussing photos,
Hei said he would like to store many family pictures in the
gallery of his Smartphone of Life, and that family relationships
were important to him. He shared some stories about how
his family supported and cared for him during the hard times
when he experienced bullying at school. For the apps, Hei
‘downloaded’ three apps that represented his knowledges
and skills in resisting bullying. They were ‘despise’, ‘facing the
challenge’, and ‘the social worker’. These three apps helped
Hei to sustain himself and deal with the bullying in school.
In his contact list, he said he would like to add in the contacts
of his parents and his elder brother. Although Hei shared
some stories of family conflicts, he said that ‘love’ and ‘caring’
were the main intention of his family members. On the other
hand, he decided to put the bullying experiences in the junk
call list. On the bottom of right hand corner of his drawing, Hei
wrote down some songs. They were ‘Staying alive’ by the Bee
Gees, ‘Careless whisper’, ‘How deep is your love’ and ‘First
of May’. He shared that these songs were meaningful and
supported him at times when he felt despair.
Hei also shared that when he studied in secondary school, he
experienced a lot of bullying in class. At the beginning, he felt
confused about why the bullying occurred. However, he had
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now found some reasons, which were related to dominant
discourses. For example, some schoolmates teased him
about his body build, which was ‘not strong enough’ when
compared to other boys. Also, Hei shared that he preferred
to be gentle and quiet and he did not like to play football
and basketball – indeed, he loved to read books and
volunteer in the library. All of these were not fitting with the
dominant discourse of masculinity. Moreover, Hei shared
that he did not like the practice of copying homework, so he
mostly rejected the requests from other students to allow
them to copy his work. This rejection did not comply with
the discourse of pleasing other people, and some students
took revenge on him. For example, some people stole
his calculator so that he could not use it in a mathematics
examination. With these richly-described dominant stories,
I engaged Hei in a re-authorising conversation in order to
explore alternative stories and identities:
Chris: How did you sustain yourself in facing moments
of hardship?
Hei: At the very beginning, I decided to resist the bullying
and also take revenge through reporting to teachers.
When I talked to my mother, she cried in front of
me. I also talked to the school social worker and the
psychiatrist in the hospital. There was a time that
three teachers came to my class and punished all the
classmates. At that time, I understood that it was an
ineffective way. The authority and power from school
teachers could not fix it for me.
Chris: Are there any other ways that you find effective?
Hei: I chose to ‘despise’ or look down on the bullying.
Actually, this was not an easy time – I was even
thinking to take a knife to kill the students in order
to protect myself. It was so painful at that moment.
I was curious about how Hei responded to this ‘killing idea’.
Hei said that he had put aside this idea at that time. It seemed
to me that something was important to Hei that he did not
follow through with this ‘killing idea’, and Hei’s knowledge
in resisting the ‘killing idea’ was absent but implicit in the story.
This provided another way to enable the development of an
alternative storyline through sharing his knowledges and skills
about this issue. Hei shared that he stopped the influence
of the ‘killing idea’ by thinking of his future, and his family
members. Indeed, the idea of killing others did not match
up with his preferred stories and hopes and dreams.
With the support from his family and the hopes for the
future, Hei decided to kick away the ‘killing idea’ and
‘despising’ the bullying.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE THERAPY AND COMMUNITY WORK | 2016 | No.3
Chris: You shared some stories about bullying in school.
Could you give a name to these experiences?
Hei: Um, I named it as ‘primary chicken’.1 It’s just like being
surrounded by lots of flies – you can’t wipe out all
of them.
Chris: How did you resist the ‘primary chicken’?
Hei: Teasing others is immature. I am different from them in
that I am mature. Moreover, I tried to make friends with
other classmates.
Chris: Where did you learn these skills from?
Hei: I love to read many different kinds of books. I have
read a book named Thick black theory.2 From this,
I learned how to separate people in two sides. I would
choose to engage with people who treat me better.
Also, when classmates asked to copy my homework,
I would tell them my answer is probably incorrect
and I don’t want to make any mistakes for them.
Indeed, I really want to leave the dead end of copying
homework. I have another skill in dealing with this
dead end – arriving at school at the last minute so
no-one can ask to copy my homework.
In this conversation, Hei further shared his knowledges
and skills in responding to the social discourse of ‘pleasing
people’. He said he did not want to violate his principles of
life so he decided to reject the request from his classmates
about copying homework. He said this rejection was not only
related to the injustice of these requests, but also a rejection
of complying with this broader social discourse:
Chris: Why do you want to leave the ‘dead end’? Does it
mean that something is important to you?
Hei: I think there is a hidden rule in school, just like our
society. I want to be a ‘neutral’ person. I don’t want
to side with the teachers, but also I didn’t want to lick
someone’s boots. I want to be myself: a person who
prefers to be gentle and quiet, and loves reading.
Chris: ‘Being myself’?
Hei: I would like to be an ordinary person. I don’t want to
push myself forward, but I have my own standard to
achieve. Being neutral, ordinary, is my preferred way
to live.
Chris: Do you have any experiences about ‘being neutral
and ordinary’ in your life?
www.dulwichcentre.com.au 15
We then had further conversations about his alternative
stories of ‘being neutral and ordinary’ in his life. Through
thickening his alternative stories, the earlier problematic
identities were transformed into other alternative identities.
When Hei shared his knowledges and skills in responding to
the dominant discourses about pleasing people and men’s
culture, this implied that Hei intended to question the power
of these social discourses – Hei said he preferred to live in
his own way and ‘be myself’ instead of complying with them.
It was important to Hei that he made a choice to live in a
different way that promoted diversity.
After Hei shared his stories, I invited the other young people
to share their outsider-witness responses of retelling. Their
responses were guided by the four categories shared by
Michael White: identifying the expression, describing the
image, embodying responses, and acknowledging transport
(White, 2005). Ying shared her responses to Hei:
Ying: I feel impressed and resonant to the words of ‘being
myself’. Actually, I am also a quiet person and I have
less communication with other people. I don’t think
that being ‘ordinary’ is a problem. I also want to be not
perfect, but a kind person.
Chris: Can you say more about ‘not perfect, but a kind
person’?
Ying: I don’t want to do bad things towards others and don’t
want to violate my conscience.
Chris: What images emerged when you heard Hei’s story?
Ying: I have a ‘strong’ image about him. He could despise
the ‘primary chicken’ and sustain himself in the times
of hardship.
In a follow-on conversation using deconstruction questions,
the young people further discussed how they perceived
friendship, and how this might be influenced by dominant
social discourses. In Hong Kong, students who have better
academic performance are generally more popular, and have
an advantage in making friends. The young people related
this to the discourse of elitism which was upheld by many
students, parents, teachers, and the society more broadly.
However, the young people shared their disagreement with
this discourse, and shared different stories which contrasted
with this idea. For example, they gave examples of some
students with poor academic performance who would provide
assistance to them in school. Finally, the young people came
up with their own ideas about important values, such as taking
care of ethical responsibilities, living with a conscience, and
valuing justice. These values were cherished by the young
people and they also shared how they upheld these values in
their lives. In this way, their identities were transformed from
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE THERAPY AND COMMUNITY WORK | 2016 | No.3
simply being bullied or having Aspergers to new identities
which were linked with these important values of ‘conscience’
or ‘justice’.
Docu mentation – postcards of
knowledges and skills
After the group members shared their different stories about
resisting bullying, I invited them to document their insider-
knowledges. Epston (2014) writes about how our practice can
facilitate the ‘re-emergence’ of ‘disqualified’ or ‘subjugated’
knowledges. In this context, I hoped that the creation of
the collective documents in this workshop would not only
address the effects of bullying, but also the broader effects of
isolation as well. These collective documents would be shared
with others who had similar experiences and the young
people’s contribution to others’ lives would be acknowledged.
Also, it would be a process of recruiting audiences for a
re-telling through sharing the documents. Newman (2008)
also described how documentation can create a context for
people’s stories to continue to live in the lives of others, an
idea which also inspired me.
The collective document in the Smartphone of Life
workshop was co-created with the young people. It mainly
documented their tips, knowledges, skills, wisdom, or values
which sustained them to get through times of hardship as
‘bullying’ emerged in their lives. We discussed the content,
design, format, and the distribution list as well. The young
people wanted to share their insider-knowledges with their
community, including parents, teachers, social workers,
and other young people with Aspergers who have similar
experiences. Their local knowledges were privileged and
also enabled the participating young people to make a
contribution to others in the process of co-creating the
collective documents. The identities of young people were
no longer seen as a ‘victim of bullying’ or ‘Aspergic’. Instead,
new identities emerged which were related to their important
values about ‘conscience’, ‘being mature’, or ‘justice’. The
young people agreed to produce the collective documents in
the form of postcards.
The following are the list of knowledges and skills that the
young people said sustain them when going through the hard
times of bullying:
• We’re here with you; you’re not the only one who is
struggling.
• Bad things do not last forever; believe that tomorrow is
another good day.
• Be hopeful, be with friends, be fair, and ignore the bullies
are the best ways to pass the time when you get bullied.
www.dulwichcentre.com.au 16
 • If bullies are breaking your heart, just remember, stay
true to who you are and be grateful for what you have.
• Believe in yourself, you can do it if you try your best.
• Don’t be afraid of being who you are.
• Having good friends can help you pass the hard time.
• Everyone is worth to making friends with, no matter
if they are facing different kinds of problems.
• It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.
• Exercising can help you to escape from distressing
experiences.
• Talking to other friends, teachers, and social workers
can help.
• Listen to music while you are feeling distressed.
• Don’t be distracted by others; believe in yourself.
These local knowledges and skills were collected and turned
into postcards:

This picture of three feet was taken by a young person in the group to represent solidarity with friends in facing the times of
hardship. On the top left hand corner on the reverse side, two knowledges were written in Chinese:
• When bullying occurs
• Exercising can help you to escape from distressing experiences.
• Talking to other friends, teachers, and social workers can help.

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE THERAPY AND COMMUNITY WORK | 2016 | No.3 www.dulwichcentre.com.au 17
One young person shared the image of an emerging sunrise when the group shared their stories. Therefore, he chose this picture
for the postcard above. The Chinese words mean bad things do not last forever, and believe that tomorrow is another good day.

This cartoon picture was designed by a young person with

Aspergers. You can see different people are standing on the
Definitional ceremony
top of the earth, but some of them don’t have two hands and At the end of the group, we had a definitional ceremony to
their heads are also different in size. The young person said celebrate the transformation of the identities of the young
that this meant that people could love each other and their people from ‘bullied’ or ‘victim’ to alternative identities, such
diversity. The Chinese words on the card mean that everyone as ‘kind’, ‘strong’, ‘being mature’, ‘conscience’, ‘justice’, or
is worth making friends with, no matter if they are facing ‘ordinary’. These identities emerged in their different stories
different kinds of problems. On the top left hand corner of the while sharing in the group. Some identities were identified
reverse side, two knowledges were written in Chinese: by the storyteller themselves and some were discovered in
When the bullying occurs, the retelling process. In order to document these multiple
identities and stories, I invited the young people to make
– listen to music while you are feeling distressed.
collective cards as therapeutic documents for each other.
– don’t be distracted by others; believe in yourself.
I distributed blank cards and some stickers to the young
people, who added different images, profound words,
In the process of sharing these knowledges and skills,
blessings, or hopes and dreams for each other in the stickers,
different stories emerged. For example, one young person,
which were stuck onto the cards.
Chung, shared his knowledges about ‘everyone is worth
making friends with, no matter if they are facing different
kinds of problems’. He learned this knowledge from one
of his friends who supported Chun in the distressing times.
This statement not only represented support from a significant
person, but implied some important values to Chun, such
as ‘being worthy’, ‘fairness’, or ‘justice’. He shared that
opportunities in making friends should not be limited or
restricted by Aspergers and bullying.

On the back of each postcard, we included that ‘the

knowledges in this postcard were collected from a group
of young people who have experienced bullying and they
would like to share with all of you. If you have any responses,
resonances, or any further ideas about that, we look forward
to receiving them through backupfriendship@gmail.com’. This
aimed to provide a way to collect any feedback or responses
from community audiences, as well as collect more wisdom
in facing bullying and oppression from different people. In this
way, the outsider-witness responses will be expanded and
Figure 1. A collective card for documenting the qualities,
continued in the community. identities, hopes, and dreams of one young person.

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE THERAPY AND COMMUNITY WORK | 2016 | No.3 www.dulwichcentre.com.au 18
These therapeutic documents were used to celebrate the
alternative identities and stories which emerged and also
served as a counter-document to the problem-saturated
stories of the young people’s lives (Morgan, 2000). The young
people took the collective cards home so that they could
revisit them at any time.
After creating these therapeutic documents, I introduced a
song to the group members that celebrated the emergence of
different alternative stories. The original song was ‘Friendship’
which we had sung in the first session, but I had rewritten
the lyrics with the words or messages shared by the young
people in the group. All the group members said they felt
resonance with these lyrics – this song represented their
spirits, hopes, dreams, and blessings for their futures.
Back-up Friendship Team
On this day, we share our past together
Enjoy the process of painting our story
If we come across Bullying
Telling these experiences
Please do not distress and self-blame
I prefer the strength in my heart
We meet in here and feel relieved to talk
Connected in the Back-up Friendship Team
We feel resonance and warmth
Thanksgiving and treasure this moment
We have some changes
Searching our dreams
Hopes friendship forever
Let’s overcome the previous resentment
Hope for the togetherness and encourage each other
Reflections on this project
This was my first attempt to use the methodology of the
‘Smartphone of Life’ in practice. The metaphor of the
Smartphone really resonated with the lived experiences of
the young people and fit with their culture. This metaphor
provided a suitable medium in making connections between
the young people’s lived experience and the different parts
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NARRATIVE THERAPY AND COMMUNITY WORK | 2016 | No.3
of smartphones. Due to the resonance with youth culture, the
young people could share their stories in a more relaxed and
comfortable way.
In this collective practice, the different lives of young people
were connected through eliciting their stories. Dominant social
discourses, such as pleasing power figures, men’s culture,
and elitism were challenged and deconstructed. Indeed,
I think that this process of collective practice was not only
a journey in deconstructing the dominant discourses but also
reconstructing the counter or alternative discourses which
fit for the young people, so that a stronger sense of
personal agency would emerge while living under
the preferred discourses.
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to acknowledge the participation of
the young people in this group with my heartfelt gratitude.
I learned a lot from their stories and insider-knowledges.
Moreover, I want to express my deep thankfulness for the
support from BGCA as well as my colleagues, Caca Wong,
Eddie Fu, and Chan Wing-shan. It would have been difficult
for me to complete this project without their opinions,
emotional support, and contribution. Last but not the least,
I also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments from
David Denborough who inspired and encouraged me
a lot in this project.
Notes
‘Primary chicken’ means something immature in Hong Kong
1.
slang.
Thick Black Theory is a book which documents some wisdoms
2.
or life skills in dealing with relationship problems. These life skills
come from figures in Chinese history, such as, Cho Cao and
Lau Bei.
Note
1.
See carolgraysocialstories.com/social-stories/
www.dulwichcentre.com.au 19
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