Relational‐Cultural Theory: A Framework for Bridging Relational, Multicultural, and Social Justice Competencies

Abstract

Relational-cultural theory (RCT) was conceived after the publication of Jean Baker Miller's (1976) Toward a New Psychology of Women, a groundbreaking book that has been translated into more than 20 languages. The ideas in Miller's book emerged from her clinical practice with women in which she noted that the centrality of relationships in her clients' lives was inconsistent with the traditional theories of counseling and human development she had been taught in medical school. According to Miller and other feminist theorists of the time, these traditional theoretical models emphasize individuation, separation, and autonomy as markers of emotional maturity and psychological health.Miller (1976), like other multicultural and feminist theorists, suggested that a lack of understanding of the contextual and relational experiences of women, people of color, and marginalized men led many mental health professionals to pathologize these individuals by misunderstanding and devaluing how these important factors contribute to the psychological well-being of all people (Robb, 2006). Consequently, RCT complements the multicultural/social justice movement by (a) identifying how contextual and sociocultural challenges impede individuals' ability to create, sustain, and participate in growth-fostering relationships in therapy and life and (b) illuminating the complexities of human development by offering an expansive examination of the development of relational competencies over the life span. Challenges to developing such relational competencies in today's socially stratified and oppressive culture are highlighted throughout this article.Over the past 3.5 decades, Miller (1976) and other multicultural, feminist, and social justice advocates and theorists (Daniels, 2007; Ivey, D'Andrea, Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 2007) have noted how traditional theories of counseling and development are built on the ideology of Western individualism that includes "hyper-competitiveness and deterministic control" (Walker, 2003, p. 1). Such an ideology is based, in part, on the myths of "mastery," "self-sufficiency," and the idea "that people assume their places in the existing societal hierarchy by virtue of merit" (Jordan, 1999, p. 3).RCT further complements the multicultural/social justice movement by serving as an alternative theoretical framework from which mental health professionals can explore how issues related to sex role socialization, power, dominance, marginalization, and subordination affect the mental health and relational development of all people. The goal of this article is to demonstrate how RCT complements the process of multicultural/social justice counseling competency development by providing an additional theoretical framework that supports the fourth force in counseling and psychology. Core Tenets and Assumptions of RCTRCT is a comprehensive theory of counseling and development that emerged from the notion that traditional models of human development and psychotherapy do not accurately address the relational experiences of w...

Community Engagement, Service Learning and Student Social Responsibility: Implications for Social Work Education at South African Universities: A Case Study of the University of Fort Hare

“…RCT challenges social conditions that generate the abuse of children; stereotyping of people of differing sexual orientation; and race, class and gender biases that prevent legitimate inclusion. Power dynamics in RCT are placed at the centre of understanding relationships and cover the complicated mix of social as well as personal change, specifically relevant for the inculcation of social responsibility (Comstock, Hammer, Strentzsch, Cannon, Parsons & Salazar, 2008).…”

“…The focus is on power-withothers, which unlinks the concept of power from the concept of domination. RCT highlights the importance of creating and protecting communities of possibility and hope for all people (Comstock et al, 2008). The transformation agenda of higher education promoted by the national government entails HEIs contributing towards addressing the disconnections caused by apartheid.…”

Stigma of mental illness and multicultural counseling self-efficacy : investigating the implications of the multicultural training environment, mental health literacy, and empathy.

“…Furthermore, the context of relational development for these individuals and groups is directly linked to their race, culture, and social identities (Comstock et al, 2008). As a framework supporting the study of graduate counseling trainees, RCT offers a means by which therapist beliefs and attitudes, such as those that form the bases of cultural bias and stigma of mental illness, can be investigated alongside other non-specific relational qualities, such as therapist empathy, perhaps impacting treatment seeking and treatment adherence among racial and ethnic minority clients.…”

“…Although RCT is grounded in these nonspecific relational factors (Freedberg, 2007), and has been closely tied to multicultural efficacy in counseling (Comstock et al, 2008), mental illness stigma among mental health counseling trainees has not been closely, independently, or jointly investigated.…”

“…These program elements include curriculum and supervision, climate and comfort, honesty in recruitment, and multicultural research areas of focus, as assessed by the Multicultural Environmental Inventory-Revised (MEI-R; Pope- . The MEI-R was designed to assess students' perceptions of these multicultural program elements, grounded in the theory that therapists are influenced by the multicultural environment of their graduate training programs, and that the daily practices of these programs contribute to or detract from a program's stated commitment to multiculturalism (Peters et al, 2011 (Comstock et al, 2008).…”