From a Narrative Therapy approach
Offering my services in the psychopedagogical field, within an educational environment, allows me to combine therapeutic techniques with didactic methods to unravel life experiences, especially under the guidance of the Assumption Spirituality.
On this occasion, I propose a personal exercise so that you can “mirror” your encounter with yourself and your relationship with others, what builds identity. This exercise considers that my vocational sense is not a monologue, but a constant dialogue based on three elements of narrative therapy, which interprets existence through personal stories, these narratives determining how we feel and act.
One might think that being a psychologist means having a degree, a couch, and the intention to care; however, a force has accompanied me since adolescence. I was part of a youth pastoral movement called "Pandillas de la Amistad." Imagine the scene: children evangelizing other children. To join the group, you must experience the weekend retreat. There, various activities encourage reflection and aim to foster an encounter with God.
The children preparing the retreat create the support materials and energize the activities. Throughout the weekend, the child guides attend to the participants: listening, offering comfort, sharing meals and sleeping space. Each day, identity is shaped by the motto “United All to Form a Better World.”
This is not an isolated event. After the retreat, during weekly meetings, formation continues through song, play, and service to the Parish. Active listening, bond creation, support, and leadership, inherent in the movement, give meaning to my being a psychologist. In this “gang laboratory,” I discovered for whom I live and the importance of monitoring the emotional state of others. I learned to provide safe spaces where people express what is in their hearts, guiding with enthusiasm and example, without hierarchy.
In the school corridors, I meet children and adolescents facing emotional and behavioral conflicts. Each situation is addressed individually. I do not see a “problem child” or “negligent parents”; instead, I encourage parents to view the conflict as an unexpected visitor in their home.
By externalizing it, the child ceases to be the symptomatology, and the family unites to face this visitor with curiosity, displacing guilt. My role is to remind them they have the resources to decide how the visitor behaves or if it’s time to invite external specialists providing academic and clinical tools. I am a facilitator of encounters, aiming to heal the dialogue between parents and children.
I segment the word “communion” to emphasize the intentional and conscious encounter among members of the Assumption community. Helping to rewrite the narrative allows removal of labels and identification of moments of exception. Teachers act as “witnesses of hope”, validating the child’s new story.
In this dialogue, we transform “I am a psychologist or teacher” into “I am someone who builds bridges and accompanies vulnerability through my profession.” Thus, we continue weaving encounters as a vocation calling for union.
These events of my vocational sense would be meaningless if seen as mere professional achievements or symbols of power. It is essential to recognize for whom I accompany and build bridges in the environments God has placed me. Offering these experiences is not an empty act, but a service for social and spiritual transformation, personifying the vocation, separating problems from identity, and rewriting stories of love, service, and shared hope.
As our founder, Saint Marie Eugénie de Jésus, said: “Each of us has a mission on earth… to leave behind a trail of light.” Ultimately, accompanying life stories is my way of ensuring that this trail of light continues to shine in every family and every child God has placed in my path.
Marlé Uribe Ortiz
Psychopedagogue at the Instituto Asunción de Querétaro