ABSTRACT
Everyone wants to be loved, to feel valued, heard, and respected. Whatever the presenting issues or symptoms, these deeply personal core concerns are directly related to larger sociopolitical contexts. Most psychotherapists know sociocultural systems influence their clients’ lives, but few know how to connect the dots between what happens in the wider society, interpersonal neurobiology, relational processes, and well-being. As a result, they inadvertently reinforce societal-based power differences, with detrimental effects. This chapter introduces Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), a socioculturally attuned clinical model that transforms destructive power imbalances and creates relational possibilities based on equity and mutual support. SERT draws on enduring concepts from multiple couple and family therapy models and stands on the shoulders of many prior feminist, critical, and social constructionist scholar-practitioners and the work of Boszormenyi-Nagy, while incorporating recent advances in interpersonal neurobiology. Practice focuses on what happens as societal context, power, and emotion converge in our closest relationships and social interactions. The author describes how SERT was developed and what distinguishes it. She shares her own journey to socially responsible practice and invites readers to apply this innovative approach as a primary framework or integrate it with other models.?
