Bloomington Center for Connection is a unique agency providing mental health services and community engagement using Relational Cultural Theory (RCT). RCT shapes all of our policies, from accessibility to mental health services to what types of community partners work with us. Why RCT then? Unlike when RCT first started, there are plenty of therapeutic approaches out there that value connection and the therapeutic relationship.
Mutuality and Power
Relational Cultural Theory places an emphasis on mutuality. In therapy, this means the therapist is open to being moved by their client, and is willing to trust the connection created to hold that movement. It steps away from an “expert” mode of therapy and into one of curiosity, an exploration of who we are, how we impact each other, and how we shape the space between us. We are in it together.
Power is another feature of the therapeutic relationship that frequently goes unnamed. When you go to see a therapist, you are looking for someone you can trust to hold the less powerful parts of you. Someone who can provide an anchor during harder explorations, who can offer you a path back when you need it. The study and practice therapists engage in prior to your work is essential— you look for a qualified therapist after all— and that training and the situation of therapy creates a power difference. RCT techniques work to move through vulnerability to shared power.
RCT shines light on how power is used to perpetuate systems of oppression, and offers alternatives that empower. What’s the difference between power used to empower, and power that oppresses? Power used to protect itself becomes oppressive.
Maureen Walker and Harriet Schwartz discuss these ideas in depth in this video:
Authenticity
Stepping away from the role of expert helps us develop a deeper connection with our clients. We may use a variety of other tools to aid in our exploration; Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Play Therapy, and other techniques, but the foundational principle is that of authentic connection. If a therapist is focused on providing expert help, they are stepping out of an authentic connection and into one of power-over and certainty. Vulnerability, authenticity, and messy uncertainty are essential elements of healing. Uncertainty becomes a place for growth.
While almost everyone wishes they know the ending to their therapeutic journey, (don’t we all just want to peek at that last page of the book and see how it turns out?), certainty isn’t a representation of what actually happens when both therapist and client are willing to be moved by each other. A therapist anchored in empathy and authenticity can provide room for change and healing we didn’t know we were seeking.
Culture
Naming culture as the center of Relational Cultural Theory shifts the emphasis to one that clarifies both the difficulties our culture places on making good connection, and the multilayered connections that sustain us all, whether or not we’re aware of it. Committing to center culture means we are called to listen and amplify marginalized voices in our work, note how we contribute to marginalization and oppression perpetuated by our culture, and use our layers of deep connection to make change.
RCT is not value-neutral. In The Complexity of Connection, Jordan and Walker write, “RCT recognizes that to feign value neutrality is to perpetuate the distortions of the stratified culture.” In other words, pretending to be value neutral props up toxic ways of being as the norm. Ignoring inequity and injustice, allowing them to remain unnamed in the therapy room and anywhere else, pathologizes the experience of the client without offering any real hope of change.
Hope
Most therapists enter the field because a therapist helped them or someone they loved, and they hope to do the same for others. Sometimes we are successful. Sometimes we are not. Sometimes we look out and see a world of possibility, other times it feels darker and scarier. Relational-Cultural Theory provides hope not only of helping individuals heal, but of healing our world.
The path of connection is filled with complexity, contradiction, and uncertainty. In the face of the unknowns and the humbling blindspots, we are dedicated to learning, to being responsive. In a world that is increasingly disconnected, violent, and filled with fear, where community needs are obscured by individual greed and competition, we feel a commitment to connection. And in turning to connection, we feel hope.
Judith V. Jordan and Maureen Walker, from Introduction to The Complexity of Connection, 2004