and supports the healing power of mutually supportive and growth-promoting relationships that foster equality and healing.
Relational Foundations
As we will explore in the developmental considerations of RCT later in this chapter, human relationships are the core of growth and healing, and oftentimes, the wellspring for many people’s deepest and profound pain. Relationships weave through many social strata. Counselors who embrace RCT see how relational connections and social contexts help people conceptualize the disempowering and growth-promoting relationships in their lives (Jordan, 2018; Jordan & Hartling, 2008; Miller, 1976, 1986). One focus of RCT is on exploring relationships and the inherent connections and disconnections that lead to suffering and growth (Miller, 1976, 1986). This focus is a stark departure from counseling theories that ascribe psychological distress to faults and deficiencies within a person that can be first diagnosed and then remedied through resolving intrapsychic faults or the adoption of rational thinking. By contrast, RCT explores connections and disconnections people have with others and how these connections engender growth or consign them to isolation (Jordan, 2018; Miller, 1976, 1986). Growth-promoting relationships lead to what Miller (1976, 1986) described as the “five good things” that occur when people experience growth-promoting relationships. In these experiences, people enjoy a sense of zest and vitality; worthiness; clarity about themselves, their relationships, and other people; a desire to expand their relationships with others; and an increased desire to act (Jordan & Hartling, 2008; Miller, 1976, 1986).
As we apply the five good things to multicultural and social justice counseling, we contend that a counselor who is aware of the power inherent in mental health practice as well as the social dominant power structures can operate from a place of humility and recognize the myriad ways to bring the five good things into direct practice and social advocacy efforts. When clients experience vitality, productivity, worth, and clarity and seek to grow their relationships as a result of counseling, we suggest that these experiences are hallmarks of effective multicultural counseling practice.
Neuroscience and Connection
RCT integrates the processes of relational neurobiology and how connectedness with others leads to marked increases in physical health and optimal human development (Banks, 2011, 2015). Amy Banks, a psychiatrist and RCT scholar, stated that “relational neuroscience has been showing that people cannot reach their full potential unless they are in healthy connection with others” (Banks, 2015, p. 18). Exploring the intricate connections between connection and brain functioning, Banks described the CARE neurological pathways that resonate in healthy relationships and become disrupted during disconnection. The CARE acronym describes the experiences of calmness, acceptance, resonance, and energy. Banks contended that as counselors move from a model of human growth that values separation to one that supports growing in relational complexity and connection, the brain areas that facilitate CARE strengthen relationships and grow in complexity. There is a clear connection between the brain and relational health, and the evidence now supports the power of healing relationships as strong predictors of longevity and quality of life (Banks, 2015; see Sidebar 2.1).
RCT in Contemporary Practice
RCT has grown as a substantive theory for counselors, counseling researchers, and professional counseling organizations. The Association for Creativity in Counseling, one of the 18 chartered divisions of the American Counseling Association (ACA), was intentionally founded on the principles of RCT integrated with creative practice (Duffey & Kerl-McClain, 2008). Likewise, numerous researchers have published about RCT in counseling for numerous client concerns, including couples counseling, addiction, supervision, counselor education, crisis and trauma, career counseling, and mentoring (Alvarez & Lazzari, 2016; Banks, 2006; E. Brown et al., 2020; Dorn‐Medeiros et al., 2020; Duffey & Haberstroh, 2020; B. Hall et al., 2018; K. Hall et al., 2018; Hitter et al., 2017; Purgason et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020; Singh & Moss, 2016; Stargell et al., 2020; Storlie et al., 2017; Vandermause et al., 2018). It is clear that RCT is a viable approach to working with a variety of clients and client concerns. In 2018, Judith Jordan published the second edition of Relational Cultural Therapy, which applies RCT principles in contemporary counseling practice. Rich with examples and conceptualizations, the book provides counselors with a way to work with clients grounded in RCT philosophy and practice. Finally, RCT began as a feministic critique of counseling practices that has now emerged into a counseling theory that helps counselors understand the fundamental human experience of growth and development. Although RCT is a robust approach to working with men and other people from privileged positions (Duffey & Haberstroh, 2014; Lenz, 2016), the core developmental considerations of RCT begin with deconstructing the dominant masculine conceptions of human nature and human development (Miller, 1976, 1986).
HUMAN NATURE: A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
In 1976, Jean Miller published Toward a New Psychology of Women, which challenged the dominant theories of human growth and development. Many traditional developmental theorists conceptualized growth from a dominant White masculine perspective that honored individuation, separation, and self-sufficiency as hallmarks of psychological health (Jordan, 2018; Miller, 1976, 1986). In the second edi tion of Toward a New Psychology of Women (1986), Miller contended that these White male–oriented models of development rested on the illusory foundation that separation from others and growth toward independence chart the optimal human developmental trajectory. As a result, the experiences and development of people from socially subordinate roles become marginalized, ignored, or psychopathologized (Miller, 1976, 1986). The power that dominant groups hold to shape academic, clinical, and social narratives profoundly affects how people in subordinate positions see their true experiences as mattering and valued. These experiences create what RCT scholars call relational images (Miller & Stiver, 1995; see Sidebar 2.2).
Sidebar 2.1 RCT and Neuroscience
Emerging neuroscience research validates many aspects of RCT. Understanding how our brains are wired toward seeking connections can help facilitate the counseling process. By providing psychoeducation on the biological functioning behind certain feelings and behaviors, counselors can empower clients to strengthen their relationships.
Development of Relational Images
Miller and Stiver (1995) wrote that relational images “reflect a person’s expectations and fears of how other people will respond to her longings for connection” (p. 214). Related to human development, relational images begin to form in infancy and develop throughout a person’s life (Miller & Stiver, 1995). Children who generally experiences the five good things throughout their development grow up experiencing a sense of vitality, worth, clarity, and feelings of productivity in their formative years. These children can expect responsiveness to their longing for connection. By contrast, children raised in neglectful or abusive environments may hold relational images of rejection, neglect, violence, or manipulation (Jordan & Duffey, 2020). When a child yearns for connection and is met with rejection in its many forms, these relational images set the expectations throughout the person’s life. The very nourishment of human connection can seem frightening or unattainable. People can protect themselves from the very relationships they need. Vulnerability and authenticity become frightening prospects, and people develop strategies to survive in a disconnected world (Miller & Stiver, 1995). From a developmental perspective, counselors attend to the meaning and experiences of clients’ relational images and engage with mutual empathy and shared creativity to foster new relational images.
Human Growth and Development in Connection
In contrast to developmental theories that place autonomy, independence, and individuation