Single session therapy (SST) is a form of psychotherapy that has been researched and practiced internationally since the 1980s. More recently it has been widely employed from the therapeutic modality of narrative therapy - more commonly known as brief narrative single session therapy. Narrative therapy - an internationally practiced psychotherapy in its own right - operates from a blending of social constructionist and Foucauldian/poststructural theory where therapists support clients to co-construct preferred identities amidst powerful discourses which constrain this process. While the co-construction of client-preferred identity is multilayered, studies within this field have historically leaned on social constructionist explanations of how this process occurs at the expense of the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective. This study blends these two perspectives, both conceptually and methodologically, to understand how client-preferred identity co-construction occurs in brief narrative single session therapy. From the social constructionist perspective, the preferred identity that narrative therapy seeks to foreground is viewed as something that is constructed within the session between the client and therapist rather than something that is fully formed prior to the session’s start. Yet, from the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective this process also occurs within the culturally available discourses that are afforded to us. To highlight both perspectives I conducted a hybrid discourse analysis that included a macro-focused Foucauldian discourse analysis and a micro-focused element of discursive psychology, on five appointment-based sessions of brief narrative single session therapy. Immediately following the recording of each session clients and therapists filled out separate post-session questionnaires to share their impressions and experiences of these single sessions. The results of this study present rich examples of how working practitioners trained in brief narrative single session therapy support clients in the co-construction of preferred identities in the context of constraining cultural discourses. In addition, alternative discourses that supported the work of client-preferred identity co-construction based within these sessions, and found within the fields of narrative therapy and the brief therapy movement, were identified. Comments from participant post-session questionnaires offer supplementary perspectives that add greater context to the findings from my analysis of sessions. Implications for the training, practice, and study of brief narrative single session therapy are discussed.

[pt] A presente pesquisa tem como escopo a análise discursiva da interação de jovens alunos de um CIEP com o propósito de melhor entender suas percepções acerca daquele espaço escolar, por meio de seus posicionamentos e suas construções narrativas sobre a escola. Este trabalho procurou investigar e compreender o processo de construção de sentido e de subjetivação desse espaço, assim como (re)pensar a política educacional vigente do Rio de Janeiro. A pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa e interpretativa (Denzin e Lincoln (2003),2006), foi desenvolvida por meio da análise de entrevistas em grupos, semi-estruturadas, gravadas em áudio, com jovens entre 15 a 18 anos, alunos de uma turma de nono ano do ensino fundamental, de uma escola estadual da região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro. As entrevistas são analisadas com base na perspectiva teórica da análise de narrativas (Bastos e Biar, 2015), mais especificamente da concepção de micronarrativas (Bamberg; Georgakopoulou, 2008); da percepção de espaço da Geografia Humanista (Tuan, 2013 (1977)); de comunidades de práticas (Wenger, 1998) e da teoria do posicionamento (Langenhove; Harré, 1999). Assim, observaremos como, na entrevista de pesquisa em grupo i) os participantes se posicionam, em relação a gostar ou não de ir à escola; ii) os alunos constroem conjuntamente conhecimentos e práticas compartilhadas na escola; iii) seus posicionamentos e suas construções narrativas sinalizam o processo de subjetivação do espaço escolar. As análises sugeriram uma heterogeneidade e complexidade na percepção dos alunos sobre a escola. Seus posicionamentos e construções narrativas esbarram na concepção social do senso-comum de local para estudar; ademais, o significado construído individual e coletivamente a partir de suas vivências naquele espaço está além de uma perspectiva pedagógica. / [en] The present research aims at the discursive analysis of the interaction of young students of a CIEP in order to better understand their perceptions regarding that school space, through their positioning and their narrative constructions on the school. This work sought to investigate and understand the process of construction of meaning and subjectivation of this space, as well as (re)think the current educational policy of Rio de Janeiro. The research, of a qualitative and interpretive nature (Denzin and Lincoln (2003), 2006), was developed through the analysis of interviews in groups, semi-structured, recorded in audio, with young people between 15 and 18 years old, students of a ninth grade class of elementary school, of a state school in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. The interviews are analyzed based on the theoretical perspective of narrative analysis (Bastos and Biar, 2015), more specifically the conception of micronarratives (Bamber; Georgakopoulou, 2008); of the perception of space of the Humanist Geography (Tuan, 2013 (1977)); (Wenger, 1998) and positioning theory (Langenhove and Harré, 1999). Thus, we will observe how, in the interview of group research i) the participants are positioned, in relation to liking or not to going to school; ii) students jointly build shared knowledge and practices at school; iii) their positions and their narrative constructions signal the process of subjectivation of the school space. The analyzes suggested a heterogeneity and complexity in the students perception about the school. Their positioning and narrative constructions run counter to the social conception of the common sense of place to study; moreover, the meaning built individually and collectively from their experiences in that space is beyond a pedagogical perspective.