What is Relational Therapy?
Relational therapy focuses on the real, present-moment relationship between therapist and client as the container and mechanism for change. Within this container, long-standing relational dynamics will be brought to light with curiosity and compassion.
Once awareness is brought to these dynamics, we will explore, deepen, and play with all the unconscious "rules" about how we get to be with each other, as human beings, in the moment. This is done in a safe way. It's about gaining understanding and asking what happens if...
What happens if I tell you it's okay to say "No!" to me? Notice the thoughts, feelings, and body reactions that occur just by reading this question! There's no right or wrong reactions, they're all just a point to begin the exploration.
Sometimes, we work with experiments like these. As a Somatic therapist, sometimes (and only at your pace, again, in the way that feels safe and right to you) these are body-centered, expressive experiments. What happens if when I reach my hand toward you? What happens if you are allowed to push it away? What happens if you are allowed to reach out and meet me there? Again, it's all a starting point, and whatever emerges in the moment is encouraged to find expression, and to deepen as a process.
It is in our old relationships that we're wounded, and in our current relationships that these old wounds tend to get perpetuated. Luckily, with awareness, curiosity, and compassion, it is also through relationship that we can be healed.
In Relational Therapy, we are two human beings sharing an experience together, bringing kind, focused awareness to where we get stuck, and what happens if we get to try something different.