Relational-Cultural Theory Archives

Relational-Cultural Therapy: Getting Started

Join us for an Relational-Cultural Therapy training session covering relational assessment, initial sessions, and consultation calls. We assess current and past relational patterns and skills, barriers to connection, and personal and/or cultural trauma, while creating a safe place for our relationship to grow. RCT seeks to initiate healing through growth-fostering relationships. As clinicians, we need to articulate how connection heals in order to set the foundation for our work. How do we assess current and […]

Supported Vulnerability

Supported Vulnerability is a foundational concept in RCT. It refers to the conditions that allow emotional risks within a relationship, trusting the other person to respond with empathy and acceptance.

Behind the eye roll

Irritability in teens is a common symptom of mental health challenges. It can be a catchall for the intense emotions of puberty and social changes, a protective mechanism, or the means of expressing their feelings that feels most familiar and accessible to them. It’s usually a sign that they are suffering, and are asking for help, they’re just doing it in a way that makes it challenging to reach through it.

People standing by a window wearing party hats

Therapish

Not everyone needs therapy, but everyone benefits from healthy connection!

A picture of the Bloomington Center for Connection Sign

2022-2023 Cadre on Caring

The Relational Cadre is a diverse group of humans who are invited to explore aspects of a central theme through the lens of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT). Using an unconference format, participants will be provided a prompt encompassing this year’s theme—Caring—that will be discussed in small breakout groups, sharing those insights when returning to the larger group. Cadre members are encouraged to apply the theme to their own interests, expertise, and projects between sessions. As […]

A card reading Mutuality is the experience of affecting one another. This requires emotional availability, an openness to influence and change. Non-mutual relationships abstruct growth of all people, but particularly the development of subordinate or marginalized groups.

Mutual Meltdowns

We are tired. We need healing. It’s likely we’ve lost people, dreams, cherished ways of being, and not been held in our grief because we were all too busy surviving. Slow down. It’s impossible to rush wellness. Lean into each other. Allow ourselves to mourn together, to mutually hold each other. Trust that allowing mutuality leads to healing. We are in collective pain, and the antidote is messy, authentic, mutuality.

2021-2022 Relational Cadre

We have a few openings for individuals or organizations to join our first ever Relational Cadre! If you join as an organization, you can select representatives to participate and share their explorations with your team. If you’re ready to sign up, click here! If you want more information, continue reading! The Relational Cadre is a series of six small-group discussions focusing on different aspects of a central theme, through the lens of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT). […]

Stress Management for Fifth and Sixth Graders

Offering evidenced based coping tools nested in expressive arts (swing by to pick up your child’s weekly brown bag project, or ask us to deliver) and relational work, these fun meetings will be on Tuesday evenings from 4:30-5:15, on March 23, 30, and April 6, 13, 20, and 27th. Scholarships and sliding scale available!

Feeling Love From a Distance

One of the tools we’ve been trying to use, is Amy Banks’ idea of Positive Relational Moments. In her book, Wired To Connect, Banks defines PRMs as moments you felt “safe and happy in another person’s presence.” Returning to your PRMs can slow or even reverse a downward spiral of stress and isolation by activating healthy neural pathways. It’s not always easy to pull up a PRM on demand though, sometimes we could use a reminder– a picture, an email, a journal entry, or, now, an Appreciation Effect campaign.