Harmful versus Helpful Narratives

How do you know if a narrative is harmful or helpful?

It depends on who gets to decide.

At Narrative Initiative, our approach is simple: a helpful narrative is one that advances your vision, mission, and goals. A harmful narrative is one that undermines them. That’s it.

Using the terms “helpful” and “harmful” implies a judgment—and in this case, you’re the one making that judgment. Context matters. Your values and your end goals shape how you evaluate the stories around you.

Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate what we mean.

Example: Disability Justice & COVID-19

If you are a disability justice advocate thinking about COVID-19 and masking, how would you classify the following narratives?

• “The pandemic is over. Go back to work, go back to school—no need to wear a mask.”

• “Wearing masks protects the most vulnerable people.”

• “Long COVID doesn’t exist.”

Which ones help advance your vision? Which ones actively work against it?

Exercise: Applying harmful and helpful labels to my own narrative realm

1. Fill in the blanks with your own role and goal.

I am a _____ (name what issue you are working on) working on the goal of _____ (name the future you want to see.)

2. Then imagine three common narratives that show up in your work. If you need help understanding what a narrative is, check out the Waves Model here.

   
   

   1. Example A

   2. Examples B

   3. Example C

3. For A, B, and C think about whether the narrative helps you reach the future named in your goal, or whether it keeps that desired future from happening.

   
   

   1. Is Example A a harmful or helpful narrative, based on the future you are trying to achieve?

   2. Is Example B a harmful or helpful narrative, based on the future you are trying to achieve?

   3. Is Example C a harmful or helpful narrative, based on the future you are trying to achieve?

Why This Matters

Understanding which narratives are harmful and which ones help your cause is essential. You might think you only need to focus on the helpful new narrative you're shifting to—the one you do want to advance. An equally critical part of success in a narrative change effort, however, is recognizing and avoiding the harmful narratives you don’t want to reinforce. It's really hard not to lean into harmful narratives. Deep narratives are pervasive, entrenched, and heavily invested in. Oftentimes, they're part of how power is maintained. That’s why those in power are invested in keeping them alive.

Start with a Narrative Landscape

At the beginning of any narrative change effort, it's important to name not only where you're headed but also what you want to avoid accidentally investing in. For this reason, at the beginning of any narrative change project we suggest you undertake a Narrative Landscape. A strong Narrative Landscape is research that helps groups of people orient to a shared understanding of the narrative environment any issue is operating in. When your team is grounded in a shared Narrative Landscape, it becomes easier to move strategically—and avoid accidentally propping up the very narratives you're working to change.