RCT Toybox
The RCT Toybox is a 48-card deck for exploring Relational-Cultural Theory through connection, power, growth, repair, identity, and play. Each card pairs an RCT concept with a clear definition and reflection question—inviting meaningful learning and conversation, one card at a time.
The RCT Toybox: 48 Cards for Exploring Connection
The RCT Toybox is a forthcoming 48-card learning and reflection deck based on Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT). Each card introduces a key concept, a clear definition, and a question to support conversation, study, and personal reflection about connection, power, growth, and disconnection.
The new deck brings together 48 RCT concepts across four areas: Foundations, Forward, Deeper Dive, and Actions. It includes familiar concepts such as connection, mutuality, the Five Good Things, growth-fostering relationships, and power-with, alongside concepts that invite deeper attention to identity, culture, privilege, oppression, repair, play, and relational courage.
The RCT Toybox is designed for learners, educators, clinicians, facilitators, and anyone curious about how relationships shape our lives. It is a teaching and reflection resource—not a clinical assessment or a substitute for professional care.
The updated 48-card RCT Toybox for 2026 will available for purchase soon. We’ll share release details, availability, and ways to order here when the deck is ready.
How to Use the RCT Toybox
The RCT Toybox is intended to be a tangible way to learn & explore important ideas about relationships & the cultures that influence them. There is no single right way to use the cards. Use them on your own, with a trusted conversation partner, in a classroom, or as part of a facilitated learning experience.
- Explore a Question
Choose one card at random and sit with its reflection question. Notice what the concept brings to mind about a relationship, a challenge, or a moment of connection. - Tell a Relational Story
Draw three cards and use them to tell a story about a relationship or experience. Consider how the concepts connect, conflict, or create movement over time. - Sort and Notice Patterns
Select several cards and group them according to the relationships you see among them. You might sort by concepts that feel familiar, challenging, urgent, hopeful, or relevant to a current situation. - Build a Map of Connection
Place one card in the center, then add cards that relate to it. As the map grows, name the clusters, tensions, and possibilities you notice.
A Half-Century of Thought Leadership
The 2026 edition of the RCT Toybox celebrates Relational-Cultural Theory's 50th Anniversary. These 48 concepts include several brand new ones from our Maureen Walker's When Getting Along is not Enough, Nathanial Smith's Queering Connection, and our 2024 Play Summit.
You can still order your own copy of the 2024 edition of the cards through the Game Crafter website!
Resources
For more information about these and other RCT concepts:
- Toward a New Psychology of Women (1976) Jean Baker Miller
- Women’s Growth in Connection (1991) Alexandra Kaplan, Irene P. Stiver, Judith V. Jordan, Janet Surrey, Jean Baker Miller
- The Healing Connection (1997) Jean Baker Miller and Irene Stiver
- Women’s Growth in Diversity (1997) edited by Judith V. Jordan
- The Complexity of Connection (2004) Judith Jordan, Linda Hartling, Maureen Walker
- How Connections Heal (2004) edited by Maureen Walker and Wendy Rosen
- The Power of Connection: Recent Developments in Relational Cultural Theory (2008) edited by Judith V. Jordan
- Relational Cultural Therapy 1st edition 2009, 2nd (Norton Theories of Psychotherapy Series) (2018) Judith V. Jordan
- Wired to Connect: The surprising link between brain science and strong healthy relationships (2016) Amy Banks
- Transforming Community (2017) Connie Gunderson, Dorothy Graff, Karen Craddock
- Connected Teaching (2019) Harriet Schwartz
- When Getting Along Is Not Enough: Reconstructing Race in our Lives and Relationships (2019) Maureen Walker
About Relational-Cultural Theory
Relational-Cultural Theory is a psychology of human growth that understands connection as central to well-being. Developed through the work of Jean Baker Miller and other scholars associated with the Stone Center and the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, RCT explores how mutual empathy, authenticity, power, culture, and repair shape relationships.
The RCT Toybox offers a tangible way to encounter these ideas: one concept, question, and conversation at a time.
For a deeper introduction to Relational-Cultural Theory, explore BCC’s RCT training resources.