STORY AND THERAPY
Psychological tools for Individual Therapy, Couple-Family Therapy, Group Therapy and supervision
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Projective cards and guide books

The River 

The set includes:
✔ Deck of 60 projective cards
✔ Metaphoric story
✔ Guide book for Therapists

The set was developed in order to facilitate and encourage therapeutic work on various processes in life (e.g. process of coping with illness/ death/ divorce/ relocation, ongoing phases in life/ career/ group/ rehab etc.).
The set is a unique tool for mental health professionals such as psychologists, social workers, expressive therapists, counselors, family and marital therapists, therapeutic group instructors and supervisors. Professionals working in non-therapeutic settings can benefit from working with The River set as well. 

The River Guide Book
The guide book contains professional points of consideration for therapists using the cards as well as an encompassing list of suggestions for working with the cards in settings of:
   - Individual Therapy
   - Marital/Family Therapy
   - Group Therapy
The suggestions for working with the cards are specified according to the  relevant themes, needs and possibilities embedded in each of these settings.
Includes supplementary follow-up tables, for recording the clients' usage and choices of cards in the different settings of treatment.

A Metaphorical Story
"The River" metaphorical story deals with a relationship between a person and a river; advancing, side by side, towards the future. They face and cope with changes of time and space along the way. As in life; the bridge, the new steps taken along an unfamiliar bank and the endless sea awaiting - are all parts of the process.

The story comes to enrich the therapeutic work with the cards. It can be read separately or used in combination with the cards.

"With its waters my years passed, and from behind, I heard my memories and listened. I listened inside, until there was nothing left but the voice of a drop joining another drop…"(p.18 The River)

Application Example 
A client is invited to choose cards which represent phases in a process he is dealing with and place them one next to the other. For example: "Choose a card that represents your life before the diagnosis, next to it place a card that can describe the period of the medical treatment you received and beside it put a card that can describe your life now".
On the basis of this visual and thematic continuum (which stands here for the process of coping with illness), it is easier to intervene, observe and work through the evoked themes.
At a second stage of work, the client can be invited to write (draw or talk about) meaningful characters, helpful beliefs or inhibiting toughest he had during each of the phases described.
Numerous ideas for application of the set and enriching the therapy can be found in the guide book.
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Roads

Included in the deck:
✔ 67 projective cards
✔ Card with basic application ideas
More ideas for application of ROADS deck can be adopted easily from "The River Guidebook" (a part of "The River" set)

Single Cards
Cards can be used separately as individual stimuli representing situations or periods in the client's life. 
For example, the therapist asks the client or the group members: “Choose a card that can portray the ‘career path’ lying ahead of you.” On the basis of this visual representation of the situation, the client can describe the feelings and thoughts that arise while choosing and observing the card. The client is encouraged to think about internal and external factors, as well as people in the environment that may influence the choice.

Joining Cards
Cards can be joined to one another to create a longer image of a road, representing a process in the client's life.
For example, the therapist asks the client: “Choose a card that depicts your life journey before you got sick. Put it next to a card describing the period of hospitalisation and then add a card describing the path you are taking today.” As the client builds a road composed of three different paths (cards); the process of dealing with the illness is represented visually as well as thematically. This road represents her/his life journey in the given periods and can serve as a basis for further observation, processing and interventions in future therapeutic sessions. 


"A road can take you far away,
Or lead you deep inside.             
Partly it is clear,
At times blurred.
Explore it. Build it. Embrace it.
May each step you take pave the right
     journey for you…"
Behind the sets...

The designer of  these innovative therapeutic tools, Gali Salpeter (M.A.), is an Expressive Therapist with specialisation in Drama and Narrative Therapy. Gali worked with children, adolescents and adults having special needs, in various settings around the world.
"I have used decks of projective cards in my sessions throughout the years, but I  kept searching for a way to help my clients  express, observe and work with the many processes they were going through in their lives.  This led me to develop the three sets."