JBMTI Director of Program Development Maureen Walker, Ph.D.,  recently published her article, "What's a Feminist Therapist to Do? Engaging the Relational Paradox in a Post-Feminist World," in the latest issue of Women & Therapy (34: 38-58, 2011).

The advances that women have made in public and private venues are often attributed to the successive feminist movements. One of the ironies of the 21st century, however, is that women's accomplishments are sometimes cited as proof that feminist consciousness is passe. This stance generates profound confusion and disempowerment for young women whose experience of embedded misogyny is contradicted by distortions of post-feminist discourse, one outcome of which is disconnection from socio-political context. This article illustrates the use Relational-Cultural therapy as a feminist approach that fosters healing and growth by facilitating both personal and collective empowerment. - Article abstract

Learn more

Comment (0)

JBMTI is thrilled to announce a new program initiative, the Miller Family Social Action Project. The Project's mission is to address social problems resulting from inequitable power arrangements in contemporary culture. Using the precepts of the Relational-Cultural Theory as our guiding philosophy, the Project members will work in collaboration with diverse groups and individuals to develop programs that promote reconciliation, shared power, and mutual respect across in a context of culturally stratified relationships.

Following is an excerpt from an article Jean's husband, Mike Miller, wrote for the recent Winter 2011 eConnections about the intention of the project:

Social action was a defining aspect of Jean’s life.  Whether she was working with fellow Sarah Lawrence students in low-income  areas of Yonkers, pursuing national health insurance while in medical school, or supporting feminist mobilizations and anti-nuclear efforts, theory and action were always intertwined for her, each clarifying the other.  Her emphasis on “growth-through-connection” was not only about achieving psychological health and well-being, it was a call to action, urging us to work for social justice in all of our relationships.

The Miller Family Social Action Project is an effort to further Jean’s vision for social change through the work of the JBMTI.  Over the years, the Institute has contributed to both increasing awareness of the need for connection and improving organizational communication and effectiveness.  It is our hope that the Project will move Jean’s relational activism to a new level by mobilizing and inspiring even more practitioners to apply their knowledge and skills to social action that lead to positive and enduring social change.

Visit the Miller Family Social Action Project page on the JBMTI website for updated programming and initiative information

Comment (0)

WBUR, one of Boston's NPR stations, recently ran an incredible five-part series on children and mental health in Massachusetts, "Are the Kids All Right?" Issues such as struggling to find a diagnosis; effects of medication; health care coverage; stigmas of mental health; and the shortage of pediatric mental health care providers are all explored in this important, in-depth series.

It's been five years since a federal judge issued a scathing ruling accusing Massachusetts of not providing adequate mental health services to children on public health insurance. The landmark case, Rosie D. v. Romney, has had broad implications on the diagnosis and treatment of all Massachusetts children who need mental health care. Although there have been many reforms in the five years since the suit, several challenges remain. We check in on how care has changed since Rosie D. - Excerpt from WBUR's report

Part 1: One Family’s ‘Traumatic’ Struggle For Mental Health Care

Part 2: Parents Divided By The Medication Debate

Part 3: Mental Health Screening Exposes Access Problems

Part 4: Provider Shortage Leaves Parents Searching, Doctors Overwhelmed

Part 5: Stakes High For Improving Mass. Children’s Mental Health System

Listen to the full series

Comment (0)

Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, and brilliantly introduced by Judith Thurman, Simone de Beauvoir’s masterpiece weaves together history, philosophy, economics, biology, and a host of other disciplines to analyze the Western notion of “woman” and to explore the power of sexuality.

Sixty years after its initial publication, The Second Sex is still as eye-opening and pertinent as ever. This triumphant and genuinely revolutionary book began as an exceptional woman’s attempt to find out who and what she was. Drawing on extensive interviews with women of every age and station of life, masterfully synthesizing research about women’s bodies and psyches as well as their historic and economic roles, The Second Sex is an encyclopedic and cogently argued document about inequality and enforced “otherness.”

This long-awaited new translation pays particular attention to the existentialist terms and French nuances that may have been misconstrued in the first English edition; restores Beauvoir’s phrasing, rhythms, and tone; and reinstates significant portions of the “Myths” and “History” chapters that were originally cut due to length, including accounts of more than seventy female figures.

A vital and life-changing work that has dramatically revised the way women talk and think about themselves, Beauvoir’s magisterial treatise continues to provoke and inspire. - Book description from Amazon.com

Comment (0)

A January 30, 2011 New York Times article, Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia's Contributor List reported less than 15% of the site's "hundreds of thousands" of writers are women. This statistic was discovered in a collaborative study with Wikimedia, Wikipedia's operational foundation, United Nations University, and Maastricht University.

In response, Wikimedia Executive Director Sue Gardner has announced a goal of 25% participation of women by 2015.

According to the OpEd Project, an organization based in New York that monitors the gender breakdown of contributors to “public thought-leadership forums,” a participation rate of roughly 85-to-15 percent, men to women, is common — whether members of Congress, or writers on The New York Times and Washington Post Op-Ed pages.

It would seem to be an irony that Wikipedia, where the amateur contributor is celebrated, is experiencing the same problem as forums that require expertise. But Catherine Orenstein, the founder and director of the OpEd Project, said many women lacked the confidence to put forth their views. “When you are a minority voice, you begin to doubt your own competencies,” she said.

She said her group had persuaded women to express themselves by urging them to shift the focus “away from oneself — ‘do I know enough, am I bragging?’ — and turn the focus outward, thinking about the value of your knowledge.” - Article excerpt

Read the full article

Comment (0)

Please send us links to blogs you are writing as well as blogs you love! We are expanding our blogroll and want to make sure we include any and all blogs written and supported by RCT practitioners. All submissions can be sent to kprice@wellesley.edu. Happy writing!

Also feel free to send any other suggestions you my have have for the JBMTI blog: topics that you would like to see written about; any updates in previously-offered resources or information; and/or articles you think fellow RCT practitioners would like to see and share.

Thank you!

Comment (0)

Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown, director of our friends at Hardy Girls, Healthy Women, will present a webinar "Fighting Like a Girl: Myths, Realities, and Solutions" this Thursday, February 3rd from 12:00-1:30PM EST .

Reality TV, PG movies, magazines, and chic lit series are obsessed with girlfighting.  What does this say about the way our culture views girlhood?  In this webinar, Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D. explores media representations of girls' relationships, distinguishes myth from reality, considers the impact of these portrayals on girls, and discusses the importance of media literacy and strength-based approaches to working with girls. - Program description

Dr. Brown is the author of Girlfighting: Betrayal and Rejection among Girls, and Raising Their Voices: The Politics of Girls' Anger, and Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes.

Visit the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women website for additional information and programming.

Comment (2)