Dr Doris Brett on being on the other side of the therapist's couch, asking great questions, and constructing great stories.

My guest today is Doris Brett, also known as Doris Imber - my mum! As well as being my mum, Doris Brett has practised as a clinical psychologist for nearly four decades, and is also a multi-award-winning poet and critically acclaimed memoirist and writer. Her books range through various genres, including therapeutic stories for children, fiction, memoir and poetry. She even wrote a bread baking book back in the 80s.Doris' latest book is The Sunday Story Club, co-written with Kerry Cue, about conversation being the new hot conversation topic. It taps into the global movement towards reclaiming face-to-face meaningful conversation and personal stories, rather than living our lives online.In this chat, we cover: What happens in a client’s very first therapy session How Doris identifies patterns and themes in therapy sessions How to build rapport and trust quickly The impact of writing about trauma to help gain insight Questions to ask yourself to elicit stories that you haven’t thought about in years How to construct a great discussion question How stories can help us reframe our experiences around failure How stories can help us overcome procrastination How to construct a great story How to identify personality disorders in the workplace What to do if you are working with a Narcissist or Psychopath How to find a great therapist Get your copy of The Sunday Story Club right here. And check out Doris talking about the book here.Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at [email protected] you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.