The clinical approach of therapists working at the WTC is psychodynamic, person-centred and feminist. The emphasis is on building trustful and respectful working relationships with clients.
Therapeutic Practice_WTC 2012
Relational-Cultural Theory
The ethos and therapeutic practice at the WTC is particularly informed by the work of Jean Baker Miller and her colleagues of the Stone Centre, Wellesley, U.S.A. In 1977, this group of women psychiatrists and psychotherapists began focusing specifically on women clients; they listened to what their clients were telling them, critiqued available theories of human behaviour (which they argued were based on male behaviour), listened to each other and listened to the ideas of other feminist writers.
From this process grew the therapeutic approach that is currently called Relational-Cultural Theory, an approach that values all relationships and views psychological ill health as the result of chronic disconnection in relationships, within a culture that over-values power and independence. Relational-Cultural Theory is currently significant because it has emerged as the first sophisticated theory of human behaviour that has its origins firmly in the experiences of women.
