Narrative Alchemy
Narrative/noun/nær.ə.tɪv/a spoken, written, or visual account of connected events that tells a real or fictional story
Alchemy/noun/æl.kə.mi/the conscious attempt to create transformation
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What are you trying to change?
What are you trying to change?
What do you want people to Think, Feel, Know or Do differently?
What do you want people to Think, Feel, Know or Do differently?
I use narrative to understand what is getting in the way of change, then develop and deliver interventions designed to help make that change possible.
I use narrative to understand what is getting in the way of change, then develop and deliver interventions designed to help make that change possible.
Change what becomes possible.
Change what becomes possible.
As individuals, organisations and communities, we make sense of the world through stories.
As individuals, organisations and communities, we make sense of the world through stories.
Stories about who we are. What matters. How things work. What is possible. What is expected of us. Who belongs. Who doesn't. What needs to change, and what needs to stay the same.
Change the Narrative
Change the Narrative
The narratives we hold influence what we notice, what matters to us, how we interpret what is happening, and how we respond. So when we want to create change, one of the first questions to ask is:
What story is operating now, and what needs to shift?
That is where my work begins.
creating change through narrative
I work with organisations facing complex human problems: changing behaviour, shifting attitudes, navigating change, raising awareness, developing understanding or creating conversations that need to happen.
I don't begin with a predetermined solution. I begin with the change you're trying to create.
From here, I explore the narratives already operating, the people involved, their values, perspectives and capacity for change, and what may be getting in the way. I then develop and deliver an intervention around what we discover.
creating and exploring stories
I'm also a writer and theatre director. I work with theatres, production companies, universities and drama schools to create, interrogate and develop stories: from writing and directing new work to Shakespeare, actor training, dramaturgy and the application of narrative theory to creative practice.
For me these aren't two separate careers. They're different applications of the same fascination: how stories work, how we make sense of them, and what they do to us.
WHy narrative?
We are meaning-making animals.
Narrative isn't an embellishment we add to information to make it more interesting. It's fundamental to how human beings make sense of experience.
We construct narratives about ourselves, other people, our organisations and the world around us. Those narratives influence what we notice, what matters to us, how we interpret what is happening and how we respond.
My practice draws on Narrative Theory alongside behavioural, cognitive, developmental and social psychology to explore those processes.
I use narrative as a lens through which to understand a problem, and narrative as a tool with which to intervene in it.
My work has taken me into rooms with actors, writers, frontline practitioners, military personnel, senior leaders, public servants, academics and communities in the UK and internationally.
The context changes. The fundamental question doesn't.
What needs to be different when we leave the room?
Some of the organisatons I've worked with include...
'Following the session, our practitioners agreed it was ‘powerful’, ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘impactful’. I wish we had got Sean in earlier because the feedback we received, and the impact we witnessed, have both been enormously positive.'
- Fiona Colton, Head of Service Early Help at Derby City Council
I've spent most of my career trying to understand how change happens.
I'm Sean McGrath, a narrative practitioner, writer, director and researcher.
My work sits at the intersection of Narrative Theory and behavioural, cognitive, developmental and social psychology.
I trained and worked as an actor before moving increasingly into writing, directing and facilitation. Over time, those different strands of my work began to converge around the same question:
What actually makes somebody see something differently?
My research at the University of Cambridge allowed me to explore that question more deeply, particularly the role narrative plays in shaping how we understand ourselves, other people and the world. That work has continued to develop through my practice, and now forms the basis of Narrative Lens Theory: a framework I use to explore why people see and respond to situations differently, what may be driving existing behaviours, and what might make change possible.
Alchemy is the conscious attempt to create transformation.
Narrative Alchemy is the conscious use of narrative to create intentional change.
That might mean changing a conversation, a behaviour, an organisational culture, how people understand a complex issue, or the way an audience experiences a story.
But narrative is powerful precisely because it can change how people see the world. That means its use comes with responsibility.
why narrative alchemy?
how will it work?
You don't need to know what you need.
You might need a workshop, a facilitated discussion, a film, a narrative intervention, a keynote, a longer programme of work, or something neither of us has thought of yet.
So I don't ask potential clients to choose a service before we've spoken. We start with a conversation about:
What are you trying to change?
Who needs to Think, Feel, Know or Do something differently?
I then explore what may be getting in the way of that change and develop an initial idea for how we might approach it. If that idea feels worth pursuing, we scope the project, work out what it will cost, and decide how we develop and deliver it.
There's no charge or commitment for that initial conversation and exploration.
If film is the right intervention, I can also develop and deliver that work through 2 Pears Films , a not-for-profit film company specialising in narrative-led projects designed to create social impact.
Narrative Alchemy Limited
Riverview
Dart Mills Estate
Old Totnes Road
Buckfastleigh
Devon, TQ11 0NF
Company number 12473525
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