Mutual storytelling technique

1. Introduction

Version followed: Richard A. Gardner's mutual storytelling technique (MST) as set out in Therapeutic Communication with Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique (New York: Science House, 1971; 970 pp.; revised printing New York: Jason Aronson, 1977), described here through the step-by-step school-mental-health adaptation taught by Woolley (2019), with Gardner's own later game formats (Pick-and-Tell Games, 1994) for structured variants. Bibliographic details of the 1971 book (pages, bibliography at pp. 941–949, ISBN 0-87668-042-2, the 1977 Aronson revised printing), the 1968 Contemporary Psychoanalysis paper and two 1976–77 reviews of the 1975 book are taken from library catalogues and PEP records; Woolley's step sequence is also drawn on. Gardner's own texts are not drawn on here: the only digital copy (HathiTrust) is search-only and PEP full texts are subscriber-only. Procedural detail therefore rests on secondary accounts and is tagged accordingly. [source: HathiTrust record; Wellcome Collection record; TUM catalogue record; PEP records; Woolley 2019; analog.games listing] [uncertain: Gardner's primary texts]

MST is a technique, not a complete therapy. It sits inside child psychotherapy or play therapy, usually psychodynamically informed. The child makes up and tells a story. The therapist privately works out what the story says about the child's conflicts. Then the therapist tells a story of their own that keeps the child's characters, setting and opening but steers the plot towards a healthier, more adaptive resolution. [source: Woolley 2019]

How change is thought to happen: the child's metaphor is kept intact, so the therapeutic message gets through without direct interpretation that might rouse defences. The child is left to own the metaphor and its meaning. Gardner treated the moral or lesson the child chooses as especially revealing. [source: Woolley 2019; Between Sessions] Related techniques have their own entries: Claman's storytelling variant of the squiggle is in 150 Squiggle game, and wider story-based play work is in 165 Narrative play therapy. This entry covers only the Gardner method.

2. Framework

Professional frame. No regulated profession or credential exists specifically for MST, and no certifying body for it was found. [uncertain] It is a technique for clinicians who already hold child-psychotherapy or play-therapy training and registration, e.g. a play therapist registered through APT (US; RPT), BAPT or PTUK (UK), or a child psychotherapist, psychologist, counsellor or social worker with supervised child training. Do not use it without training in child development, play-based assessment and safeguarding. Gardner's commercial game versions state they are for mental health professionals only. [source: analog.games listing for Pick-and-Tell] [synthesis: training route]

Structure. MST has no phases across a course of therapy. It is one structured activity, repeated across sessions where useful. No source gives a typical session count or frequency: Woolley (2019) does not specify one, and Gardner's own texts, where he would give it, are not drawn on. Decide frequency within your overall treatment plan. [uncertain] [synthesis] Each round follows the same sequence, which Woolley groups into three phases: elicit the child's story, analyse it, then build a reply story from the child's metaphors with a therapeutic message added [source: Woolley 2019]:

Set-up and consent. Frame the activity as a storytelling show. Get parental consent and the child's assent before you record. Goal: a playful, safe frame the child chooses to enter.
The child's story. The child tells an original story with a beginning, middle and end. Goal: an uncontaminated sample of the child's own themes. Move on when the child says they are finished or the story seems complete.
Title, lesson or moral. Ask for a title, lesson or theme. Goal: the child's own summary, which is often the most revealing element. [source: Between Sessions on Gardner's view of the moral]
Analysis. This step happens silently in the therapist's head. Goal: decide what each figure represents, what the central conflict and affect are, and what an adaptive alternative would be.
The therapist's story. Tell it using the child's characters, setting and opening, with a healthier resolution and a lesson of its own. Goal: deliver the therapeutic message inside the metaphor.
Close. Offer playback, and avoid interpreting. Goal: the child keeps ownership of meaning.

Format: one therapist and one child (the Pick-and-Tell game is designed for that pairing). Audio recording is part of the classic frame. Intended ages for the game format are 5 to 12, and the listing also gives a minimum age of 4. [source: analog.games listing] Woolley reports storytelling works with cognitively delayed clients of any age, using animal protagonists for younger children and human characters for older children and teens. [source: Woolley 2019]

Children and young people. Get informed consent from parents or carers with legal authority and age-appropriate assent from the child, and get both again specifically for audio recording. [source: Woolley 2019] Explain limits of confidentiality to both in plain language. Tell parents that stories are worked with as metaphor and will not be reported to them as statements of fact. [synthesis] Safeguarding and mandatory-reporting duties apply in full, and they vary by jurisdiction and profession: know your local statute or guidance and your service's procedure. A story is never evidence that abuse did or did not happen. It is a projective, fantasy product, and no validated manual supports reading MST stories diagnostically or forensically. A direct statement of harm made during or around the story is a disclosure and must be handled under safeguarding procedure. [synthesis]

Contraindications. Gardner's game directions rule out psychotic children and children heavily absorbed in fantasy. They recommend reality-oriented games for these children instead. [source: analog.games listing] Woolley lists thought disorder and autism spectrum conditions as cautions for storytelling generally. [source: Woolley 2019]

Materials and physical safety. The materials are a recorder or microphone (a real or toy one), and optionally chips or points, a spinner board, small plastic toys, word or picture cards. Check small toys for choking risk with under-3s or children who mouth objects, and store recordings securely under your data-protection rules. [synthesis]

Touch. Keep physical contact out of the method: no touch is needed, so allow only brief, child-initiated, non-intimate contact (such as a high five), follow your service's touch policy, never use touch as a reward or prompt, and never any sexual touch. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

Work inside the metaphor. Respond in the story's own terms rather than translating it back to the child's life. [source: Woolley 2019]
Do not interpret. Let the child own the story's meaning. If the child asks whether a character is them, respond with interest and surprise rather than confirming. [source: Woolley 2019]
Original material only. Ask for a made-up story, not one from TV, a book, a film or a game. The child's own invention carries their themes; borrowed plots carry less. [source: Woolley 2019]
Separate the unique from the derivative. When analysing, weigh the elements that are idiosyncratic to this child more heavily than conventional or borrowed ones. [source: Woolley 2019]
Formulate from the whole case. Read the story against what you know of the child, family, school and presenting problem, not from the story alone. [source: Woolley 2019]
The moral matters. The child's chosen lesson is a key window on their underlying issues. Always ask for it. [source: Between Sessions, reporting Gardner]
Keep the child's frame and change the outcome. Keep the child's characters, setting and opening, and depart from the child's plot only where a healthier option is needed. [source: Woolley 2019]
Choose one therapeutic aim per story. Choose empathy, naming the affect, information or a reframe, or a more adaptive, age-appropriate coping response. [source: Woolley 2019]
Make it a game. The playful show or game frame and light incentives such as points or chips lower resistance in reluctant children. [source: Between Sessions; analog.games listing]
Consent before recording. Recording is part of the method and needs parental consent and child assent. [source: Woolley 2019]
Stories are not evidence. Never treat story content as proof of events, and never use MST for forensic or custody assessment. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The items below are the components of the classic sequence plus the structured variants in the sources. Gardner's 1971 book and his 1975 Psychotherapeutic Approaches to the Resistant Child are reported to describe further storytelling-derived games, but neither book is drawn on here (HathiTrust search-only; PEP reviews of the 1975 book are subscriber-only), so those games are not named or described here. The only derivative game format described here is the Pick-and-Tell set (4.9). [uncertain]

4.1 Introducing the storytelling show

Purpose / when: Use it at the first MST round, and again whenever the frame needs resetting. It turns storytelling into a game the child chooses to join.
Steps:
1. Before the session, get parental consent for audio recording and explain how recordings are stored and when they are deleted.
2. Show the child the microphone or recorder and ask whether they would like to play.
3. If the child agrees, start recording and open the show: you are the host, and you name the show and introduce the child as the special guest.
4. State the rules: the story must be made up, not from TV, a book, a film or a video game. A good story has a beginning, a middle and an end, and ideally a title or lesson.
5. Pass the microphone to the child. [source: Woolley 2019]
Example language (illustrative): "Welcome to the Storytelling Show! I'm your host, and today's special guest is Maya. Maya, the one rule is that the story has to come out of your own head, not from a film or a book. Ready? Over to you."
Watch for: reluctance about the recorder (offer to keep it off, or let the child press the buttons), and performance anxiety. It is working when the child takes the microphone and settles into the role. [synthesis]

4.2 Eliciting the child's story

Purpose / when: Gets the child's own projective material. Use it in every round.
Steps:
1. If the child stalls, offer an opener such as "Once upon a time…".
2. Keep the story moving with neutral prompts that add no content of your own: "and then…", "what happens next?", "what do they do now?".
3. Continue until the child says they are finished or the story seems complete. [source: Woolley 2019]
4. Do not correct, praise the content, or steer the plot while the child is telling. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Once upon a time… … Wow, and then what happened?"
Watch for: stories lifted from media (gently restate the made-up rule), very short stories, and repeated themes across sessions, which are clinically useful. Rising distress in the child is a cue to slow down (see 5). [source: Woolley 2019 on the rule; synthesis on the rest]

4.3 Asking for the title, lesson or moral

Purpose / when: Get the child's own summary of the story, every time. Gardner regarded the moral as particularly revealing of underlying issues. [source: Between Sessions; Woolley 2019]
Steps:
1. When the story ends, ask for a title.
2. Ask what the story teaches, or what its lesson is.
3. Accept "I don't know" without pressure and note it. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "What would you call that story? And if it had a lesson, something we could learn from it, what would it be?"
Watch for: morals that contradict the plot, punitive or hopeless morals ("you should never trust anyone"), and refusals. Each tells you something for 4.4. [synthesis]

4.4 Analysing the child's story

Purpose / when: Form a working hypothesis to shape your reply. This is done silently, straight after the child's story or between sessions.
Steps [source: Woolley 2019]:
1. Bring in what you know of the child, the family, school and the presenting problem.
2. For each character or object, ask who or what it might stand for: the child, a parent or sibling, a teacher, friends, or you.
3. Name the overall affect and the main conflict or struggle.
4. Separate what is unique to this child from what is derivative or conventional.
5. Factor in the child's title and moral.
6. Identify the maladaptive solution in the story, such as giving up, violence, magic rescue or self-blame, and decide what healthier, age-appropriate option is within this child's reach. [synthesis]
Example (illustrative): A rabbit's burrow keeps flooding, and the little rabbit hides alone until the water goes. The moral: "Don't tell anyone or it gets worse." Hypothesis: isolated coping and a fear that speaking up makes things worse. Aim: show a rabbit who tells a trusted helper.
Watch for: over-reading. Hold hypotheses lightly and test them over several stories. This is a clinical formulation aid, not an assessment instrument, and it has no validated scoring. [synthesis] [uncertain: Gardner's published scoring or analysis rules]

4.5 Constructing the therapist's story

Purpose / when: Turn the analysis into a reply that keeps the metaphor intact.
Steps [source: Woolley 2019]:
1. Keep the child's characters, setting, situation and opening.
2. Choose one main aim: show empathy (that you understand); name the characters' feelings (pain, fear, anxiety, anger, rage); give information or a reframe; or model a healthier, more adaptive, developmentally appropriate response.
3. Decide whether to add a character, such as a wise helper or a friend, and where to depart from the child's plot.
4. Decide the ending.
5. Close with a title or lesson, either the child's or your own, that underlines the message.
Example language (illustrative): "Once upon a time there was a little rabbit whose burrow kept flooding. Every time it rained, he hid at the back, cold and scared, and told nobody. One day an old badger saw him shivering… The rabbit was frightened that telling would make it worse, but he told the badger anyway, and together they dug a channel so the water ran away. The lesson of my story: when something keeps going wrong, telling someone you trust can help."
Watch for: stories that become lectures, morals the child cannot realistically carry out, and solutions that ask the child to fix adults' problems. Keep the story short and about the child's age level. [synthesis]

4.6 Telling, recording and replaying

Purpose / when: Delivers the message and gives the child a chance to hear both stories again.
Steps [source: Woolley 2019]:
1. Tell your story into the recorder, in the host role.
2. Afterwards, offer to play back the whole recording, and let the child decide.
3. Close the show (sign-off), then move to free play or the next activity. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "That's our show for today. Would you like to hear it played back, or shall we save it?"
Watch for: the child asking to hear it repeatedly, a sign of engagement, or turning away from your story, a possible sign it was too close or too preachy. A sign it is working is when later stories by the child begin to borrow your helpers or solutions. [synthesis]

4.7 Responding when the child names the metaphor

Purpose / when: Use it when the child links the story to themselves, e.g. "I'm the bear, aren't I?"
Steps: Respond with interest, curiosity and some uncertainty or surprise. Do not confirm or interpret, and leave the meaning with the child. [source: Woolley 2019]
Example language (illustrative): "Hmm, the bear? What makes you think of that?" or "Interesting… what do you think?"
Watch for: a child who wants to talk directly. Follow them out of the metaphor into ordinary conversation if they lead, without pushing. If the child makes a direct statement of harm, treat it as a disclosure (see 5). [synthesis]

4.8 Points or chips as incentives

Purpose / when: Use with reluctant or competitive children who will not make up stories unprompted.
Steps: Award points for telling a story and more for giving its moral. One account gives 1 point for the story and 2 for the moral, earned by child and therapist alike. Points can be traded for small prizes. [source: Between Sessions] In Gardner's board-game format, chips are given for originality and completeness of the story. [source: analog.games listing]
Example language (illustrative): "You get one chip for a story, and two more if you can tell me the lesson."
Watch for: the child shortening stories to win chips fast. Reward completeness, not speed. Prizes should be small and offered equally. [synthesis]

4.9 Prompted storytelling game (Pick-and-Tell format)

Purpose / when: For children who cannot generate a story from nothing. A concrete prompt starts the story. Designed for one therapist and one child, ages 5 to 12.
Steps [source: analog.games listing]:
1. Take turns moving around a board path, using a spinner.
2. Landing on certain spaces sends the player to one of four grab-bags: words, small plastic toys, face pictures or descriptive actions.
3. The child draws an item and tells a story about it. Chips are awarded for originality and completeness, and a beginning, middle and end are encouraged.
4. The therapist then tells a responding story and earns chips. The child can respond to the therapist's story for more chips.
5. The therapist decides when to stop, and whoever has the most chips wins. Nobody needs to reach the finish.
Example language (illustrative): "You picked a little plastic dinosaur. Tell me a made-up story about him: beginning, middle and end."
Watch for: the same contraindications as the game directions give (psychotic children, and children heavily absorbed in fantasy). Watch, too, for the game itself taking over from the stories. [source: analog.games listing; synthesis]
Note: Without the commercial product, you can make your own bags of words, toys, faces and actions. [synthesis]

4.10 Digital storytelling room (online or tele-play adaptation)

Purpose / when: For remote sessions, or children more engaged by screens.
Steps: Use a virtual stage image, a deck of storytelling prompt cards and an on-screen point counter. Optionally the child supplies their own images, e.g. a photo of a place at home or in the neighbourhood that would make a good story. Then run 4.2 to 4.6 as usual. [source: Between Sessions]
Example language (illustrative) [synthesis]: "Here's our story stage on the screen. Pick a prompt card, and I'll keep the points counter going while you tell it."
Watch for: child-supplied photos that show identifying details or other people. Agree privacy rules first with the parent. Check that the child is in a private space for the session. [synthesis]

4.11 Parent or carer involvement around MST

Purpose / when: Keeps carers informed and allied without breaching the child's play space. Use at the start of treatment and in parent review sessions.
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Explain the technique, the recording, storage and the limits of confidentiality.
2. Share themes and goals with carers, not story transcripts, unless the child agrees and it helps.
3. Where a story's adaptive solution involves adults (e.g. telling a trusted grown-up), prepare carers to respond helpfully.
4. Never give recordings or stories to carers for use as evidence in disputes.
Example language (illustrative) [synthesis]: "I'll share with you the themes we're working on and how things are going, not the stories themselves. The stories belong to your child's play."
Watch for: carers asking what the stories "prove" about the other parent or about events at home. Restate that the stories are fantasy material and not evidence. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The sources say little about troubleshooting beyond prompts, incentives, the non-interpretive stance and contraindications. Most guidance below is marked [synthesis].

The child cannot or will not start.
- Offer "Once upon a time…" and keep prompting with "and then…". [source: Woolley 2019]
- Add points or chips. [source: Between Sessions]
- Switch to a concrete prompt: a toy, word, face or action from a grab-bag, as in 4.9. [source: analog.games listing]
- If the child still declines, go back to free play and try another day. Never insist. [synthesis]
Stories copied from TV, films or games.
- Restate the made-up rule kindly. [source: Woolley 2019]
- If the child keeps borrowing, accept the story and attend to what they changed from the original and which characters they picked; these are the unique elements. [synthesis, building on Woolley's unique-versus-derivative distinction]
Very short, flat or stereotyped stories.
- Use prompts and the moral question.
- Reward completeness, not length alone.
- Repeated stereotyped stories over several sessions may themselves be a defence worth noting in your formulation. [synthesis]
Refusal of recording.
- Run the show without recording, or let the child control the recorder. Assent for recording can be withdrawn at any time. [synthesis; consent requirement from Woolley 2019]
The child rejects or argues with the therapist's story ("That's not what happens!").
- Treat the objection as information.
- Invite the child to tell what happens instead, then reply again within the metaphor.
- The point is not to win the plot. [synthesis] The Pick-and-Tell format builds in a turn for the child's response to the therapist's story. [source: analog.games listing]
The therapist's story comes across as a lecture (the child yawns, turns away or says "boring").
- Shorten it and add action and humour.
- Hand the main helping act to the child-character rather than an adult rescuer.
- Pick one aim only (4.5). [synthesis]
Overwhelm or distress during storytelling. The story may move too close to a real trauma: escalating violence, freezing, dissociation, or the child asking to stop.
- Slow down and step out of the show.
- Ground the child in the room.
- Offer a safe ending for the story (e.g. "the storm passed and everyone found somewhere safe").
- Don't push on with the analysis or your reply that day. [synthesis]
- With known trauma, consider a trauma-focused approach and use MST only once stabilisation is in place. [synthesis]
Disclosure or a safeguarding concern.
- Story content alone is not evidence of abuse. Do not question the child about the story's "real" meaning, and do not use leading questions.
- If the child makes a direct statement of harm, or you form a concern from the whole picture, listen calmly and record the child's exact words, the date and the context.
- Don't promise secrecy. Follow your safeguarding procedure and the mandatory-reporting duties of your jurisdiction and profession, and consult your safeguarding lead.
- Keep the recording secure. It may become part of the record, so follow local guidance on retention. [synthesis]
Requests to use stories in custody or other legal disputes.
- Decline to offer story content as forensic evidence. No validated manual supports that use.
- Keep the therapy role separate from any evaluative role. [synthesis]
Psychotic children, or children immersed in fantasy.
- Don't use MST with them. Use reality-oriented games and activities instead. [source: analog.games listing, Gardner's game directions]
Thought disorder or autism.
- These are cautions for storytelling in Woolley's account. [source: Woolley 2019]
- Adaptations to consider: more concrete prompts (4.9), visual supports, explicit literal endings and shorter stories, with the child's response checked each time. [synthesis]
The child says "That's me, isn't it?"
- Respond with curiosity rather than confirmation (4.7). [source: Woolley 2019]
Rupture, e.g. the child feels tricked once they realise the stories are "about" them.
- Acknowledge the feeling.
- Be honest that you make stories to help children with things that are hard.
- Offer the child more control: they choose the characters, or they end your story. [synthesis]
Competitive upset over points.
- Keep the stakes low and the prizes small and equal.
- The therapist can lose gracefully, which models coping with frustration. [synthesis]
Low engagement of older children.
- Use human characters and age-appropriate settings. [source: Woolley 2019]
- Consider a podcast or interview framing in place of a "show". [synthesis]

Sources

Sources:

Further reading (bibliographic details from the records above; full texts not drawn on):

Gardner, R. A. (1968). The mutual storytelling technique: Use in alleviating childhood Oedipal problems. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 4, 161–177.
Gardner, R. A. (1971). Therapeutic Communication with Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique. New York: Science House. 970 pp.; bibliography pp. 941–949; ISBN 0-87668-042-2. Revised printing, New York: Jason Aronson, 1977. [source: Wellcome Collection and TUM catalogue records; HathiTrust copy search-only]
Gardner, R. A. (1975). Psychotherapeutic Approaches to the Resistant Child. New York: Jason Aronson. 384 pp. Reviewed by E. Furman, Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 46 (1977), 537–538, and by M. Sylvester, Psychoanalytic Review, 63 (1976), 482–483 (review texts subscriber-only, not read).
Gardner, R. A. (1994). Dr. Gardner's Pick-and-Tell Games. Center for Applied Psychology.
Gardner, R. A. (2002). Mutual storytelling. In C. E. Schaefer & D. Cangelosi (Eds.), Play Therapy Techniques. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. [uncertain: citation as given in Woolley 2019, no page range there; chapter. Earlier Gardner chapters on the technique (1986, 1993) are not drawn on here.]

See also: 150 Squiggle game (Claman's storytelling variant); 165 Narrative play therapy.

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