their impact on their intersection of identities (Haberstroh et al., 2020; Hill Collins, 2000; see Sidebar 2.5).
Sidebar 2.5 Let’s Go to the Movies!
A great way to get a feel for RCT is to apply it to some of your favorite movies. Consider how relational or controlling images are affecting the main character. How does this character connect with others? What role does power play in the film? RCT can be used to (a) explore the main character’s development in relationship to others, (b) examine the central relational paradox, and (c) explore how a character might feel about connection. Using RCT to examine films can help develop an understanding of the theory.
Relational Resilience
Resilience is a term that conjures for many an image of a person “bouncing back” from adversity or loss. Traditional models of resilience often credit individual qualities, such as hardiness, strength, and a “can do” attitude as markers for resilience (Hartling et al., 2020). By contrast, RCT offers a relational conceptualization of resilience and identifies relationships as core contributors to a person’s resilience. It also recognizes that people may appear resilient when, in fact, they may be harboring unacknowledged pain, stress, or trauma that interferes with their well-being and relationships. Resilience is relationally based, and the counseling relationship is integral to such healing.
Relational Ethics
Counselors abide by the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014) and use a decision-making model in ethical practice (Remley & Herlihy, 2019). Counselors utilizing an RCT framework recognize that principle ethics may be disconnecting and represent a power-over dynamic. By contrast, relational ethics accounts for the mutuality in the counseling relationship and honors shared decision-making. Does this mean there are no boundaries or ethical processes in relational ethics? Birrell and Bruns (2016) addressed this question:
In RCT, no proposition is evident that advocates for a casual ethical stance or one that privileges the client’s voice over the counselor’s voice, the ACA Code of Ethics (2014a), or the legal system. However, inherent in RCT is a stance against disconnected, separate-self decision making. (p. 395)
A collaborative and mutual ethical decision-making process honors the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014) that places a client’s welfare as the foundation for ethical counseling practice.
APPLICATIONS
Overview
RCT, as a theory, conceptualizes relational competency as a developmental marker of well-being. Whereas other theories promote autonomy and separation as cornerstones of growth, RCT sees a person’s capacity to forge and sustain growth-fostering relationships as reflective of human growth (Jordan, 2018). RCT views change as occurring toward and through relationships, and it sees the quality of the therapeutic relationship as core to therapeutic success (Jordan, 2018). The goals of counseling and psychotherapy, and the process of change, are grounded in (a) cocreating a collaborative, growth-fostering relationship; (b) recognizing, honoring, and working through disconnections; (c) exploring relevant relational and controlling images; and (d) identifying the societal and cultural power structures that influence these while creating a growth-fostering therapeutic space. Authenticity, mutual empathy, and power-with relating all contribute to the kind of relationship that best supports successful therapeutic outcomes (Jordan, 2018).
Goals of Counseling and Psychotherapy
The goals of counseling and psychotherapy from an RCT framework involve facilitating growth through connection and identifying the therapeutic relationship as central to healing. They involve fostering human development and recognizing the societal, cultural, and relational factors that either support or impede this development. From an RCT perspective, giving context to the situation and voice to those with less power opens possibilities for people to work through disconnections and ruptures and to reconnect in new ways.
The Process of Change
The quality of a growth-fostering therapeutic relationship is the agent of change, according to RCT. The process involves counselor authenticity, as well as the encouragement and support of the client’s vulnerability. It requires counselors to also allow themselves to be vulnerable, first by being open to being moved by the client and the client’s story, and second by being aware of the power inherent in the relationship and using that power appropriately. Counselors create a space in which clients can grow in their authenticity and rework their disconnections. Counselors respect their clients’ histories by honoring the pace of their movement and their disconnecting strategies, and they respect their clients’ readiness to reenter connection. Counselors also honor the clients’ readiness to bring their authenticity into the relationship.
Therapeutic change involves counselors connecting with the clients’ pain and circumstances in ways that allow themselves to be affected by the client (i.e., through mutual empathy). Together, counselor and client explore the relational and controlling images that affect them, rework disconnections, and navigate the power systems that influence their worlds and lives. The process is not seamless, and the counselor stays attuned to the clients’ verbal and nonverbal responses (see Sidebar 2.6).
Techniques and Interventions
RCT counselors do not use the language of techniques and interventions; rather, they strive to breathe life into the basic RCT constructs through their application. First, they consider the context of the situation in conceptualizing and assessing the situation. Then they consider the relational and controlling images that clients carry. Counselors and clients collaboratively identify the disconnections that clients experience. Looking at the broader cultural context as an impactful factor in clients’ experiences can help them gain compassion for themselves and find new, more growth-fostering ways to relate to their circumstances. Creating a context of authenticity is part of the process of change. In this case, a counselor would bring their own authenticity to the space and encourage the authenticity of the client or, in the case of family work, the authenticity of each family member. This would mean that counselors and clients authentically discuss their feelings of discomfort, fear, and the unknown.
Sidebar 2.6 Authenticity Exercise
RCT requires counselors to be both authentic and vulnerable. Self-reflection activities, like this authenticity exercise, are a great way to help better understand your authentic self. Take time to find a quiet place and journal about the following: When was the last time that you felt unable to be your authentic self? What factors influenced your ability to be authentic? Pay attention to any feelings of discomfort in your body as you reflect. Do you feel connected to others when they understand what you are going through?
Recognizing that growth occurs in relationship, RCT counselors focus on creating a therapeutic space in which clients can safely share their experiences and explore their disconnections, including any acute or traumatic disconnections in their lives. It is here that a counselor would honor the strategies of disconnection until safety is restored. Because counseling is a place where clients may share their more vulnerable feelings and experiences, they may also feel increased danger in this setting. For this reason, it is important to recognize that in the midst of building connection, some clients will also experience a need to pull back when they begin to feel comfortable or close. For many clients, wounding occurred in spaces they once deemed safe and at the hands of people they trusted or were supposed to trust. For this reason, working through disconnections and navigating the ebb and flow of therapeutic connection can take time.
Clients