Why narrative

The difference
it makes

You already know how to hold space. You already know how to ask good questions. Narrative practice gives you a new layer to work with — the stories people are living inside, not just the ones they tell.

Most coaching and facilitation training gives you frameworks for working with what people say. Narrative practice gives you something different: the capacity to work with the stories people are living inside — the frameworks of meaning that shape what they notice, what they conclude, and what they believe is possible.

These stories are rarely explicit. They operate beneath the surface — in the metaphors people use, the patterns they repeat, the futures they can and cannot imagine. Learning to hear and work with them changes the depth and quality of what becomes possible in any room you're in.

This training adds something distinct to what you already do — new ears for the narrative layer, new moves for working with meaning, and a richer understanding of how transformation actually happens in people and systems.

Work with meaning, not just behaviour

Hear the story beneath the story

Navigate complexity without reducing it

Open new possibilities for collective sense-making

Bring systemic awareness to individual work

Design processes that allow genuine emergence

What changes

What you'll be able to do

By the end of the program, something fundamental will have shifted in how you work — not just what you know, but how you listen, intervene and hold complexity.

Hear the narrative layer

You'll be able to identify the narrative frameworks operating in a room — the stories shaping what people see as possible, and what remains invisible to them.

Work with complexity without resolving it prematurely

You'll have the tools to hold tension, ambiguity and contradiction as productive — and to facilitate processes that move through complexity rather than around it.

Design transformative processes

You'll be able to design and facilitate narrative processes — from single sessions to multi-day retreats — that create conditions for genuine insight and sustainable change.

Integrate the systemic dimension

You'll understand how individual stories are shaped by systemic narratives — and how to bring that awareness into your work without losing sight of the person in front of you.

Hold a narrative practitioner identity

You'll leave with a clear, grounded sense of your own narrative practice — what it is, why it matters, and how to articulate and embody it with clients and colleagues.

Become part of a practice community

You'll join a cohort of practitioners who share a common language and orientation — and the possibility of joining the wider INP network as your practice develops.

The curriculum

Five Modules

Each module runs over two to three days at The Loft. Modules are spaced approximately six to eight weeks apart — enough time to integrate and practice between sessions. The program runs across six months, from first module to completion.

Foundation

The Narrative Lens

2 days

An introduction to narrative practice as a distinct way of seeing and working. We examine the difference between working with content and working with meaning — and begin to develop the capacity to hear the narrative layer in any conversation or group process.

What is narrative practice?

Stories vs. facts

The observer and the observed

First narrative interventions

Deepening

Stories and Systems

2 days

Every story exists in relation to others. This module introduces systemic thinking as a complement to narrative practice — exploring how individual stories are shaped by organisational, cultural and relational systems, and how to hold that awareness in your work.

Systemic narrative

Dominant and marginalised stories

Patterns and feedback loops

Multivoiced spaces

Practice

The Practitioner's Moves

3 days

The craft of narrative practice. We work intensively with the specific moves available to a narrative practitioner — how to open narrative space, introduce productive disruption, support re-authoring, and close in ways that consolidate rather than close down.

Externalisation

Re-authoring conversations

Witnessing practices

Scaffolding emergence

Application

The Practitioner's Moves

2 days

From single sessions to multi-day retreats — how to design processes that create genuine conditions for narrative work. Participants develop and present their own process designs, receiving structured feedback from the group and Ana-Laura.

Process architecture

Holding containers

Working with resistance

Participatory design

Integration

Your Narrative Practice

3 days

The final module is about integration and identity. Each participant develops their own narrative practice statement — articulating what they do, why it matters, and what distinguishes their approach. We close with a group ceremony that marks the transition from student to practitioner.

Practitioner identity

Articulating your practice

Ethics and care

Joining the constellation

Between modules, participants are expected to practice what they're learning — bringing narrative approaches into their existing work and bringing observations back to the group. Peer supervision calls are held between each module to support integration and provide a space for reflection.

Right fit

Who this is for

This training is designed for practitioners who are ready to go deeper — regardless of where they're starting from.

Primary audience

Coaches & Facilitators

You already work with people navigating complexity, transition or change. You have a developed practice and you're looking for a new depth — a set of tools and perspectives that lets you work with the stories operating beneath the surface of the work you already do.

Also welcome

Curious Practitioners

You may be earlier in your journey — perhaps coming from consulting, HR, leadership, social work or education — and you're drawn to narrative practice as a field you want to grow into. You don't need an established practice to apply. You need genuine curiosity and a willingness to be changed by what you learn.

This is not the right training if you're looking for a quick certification or a set of tools to apply without changing how you think. Narrative practice is a way of being as much as a way of working — and this program will ask something real of you.

Your lead practitioner

"I designed this program because I couldn't find the training I was looking for. After years of working at the intersection of narrative, systemic and participatory practice, I wanted to offer others the formation that had changed how I work."

Ana-Laura Lemke is a systemic-narrative facilitator and consultant with over fifteen years of experience working with organisations, leaders and communities navigating complex transitions. She has trained in narrative practice, systemic coaching and participatory communication across Europe and Latin America.

She leads each module of the program personally — bringing her full practice, not just a curriculum. Participants work directly with her methods, her cases and her thinking throughout the six months.

Full profile

Beyond the program

Join the
constellation

The training doesn't end with the final module. Graduates become part of the INP community — and practitioners who continue to develop their work may be invited to join the INP constellation of practitioners, contributing to the wider network of narrative practice.

"The most valuable thing I took from the training wasn't a technique. It was a community of people who think the same way — and a language we share."

— Programme graduate, cohort 1

Ready to go
deeper?

Applications are carefully reviewed. The process starts with a short conversation — to understand where you are, what you're looking for, and whether this program is the right fit.

Next cohort · Autumn 2026 · 12 places available

Apply now