Black Therapists Rock and RLT: A Partnership for Diversity in Couples Therapy

We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with Black Therapists Rock (BTR).

Terry Real, The Relational Life Institute, and The Relational Life Foundation are committed to increasing diversity within Relational Life Therapy and opening the doors for more therapists from marginalized communities to train with us. This partnership is an exciting and important step for us in that mission.

Founded by Deran Young, BTR consists of over 30,000 black therapists across the US, and we are delighted to provide scholarship opportunities for these members to train in RLT. As a small and relatively new school, we will be opening scholarships in phases while we adjust to meet the demand. We will welcome the first 20 BTR students in 2023.

However, it is important to stress that any BTR member who wishes to train with us will be eligible for substantial discounts on our trainings, all the way to full accreditation as an RLT Certified Therapist and beyond. If this applies to you please contact support@terryreal.com for more information.

We are also welcoming Deran on board as our dedicated Diversity Equity Inclusion Belonging (DEIB) consultant. We’re looking forward to raising the consciousness of all of us within the school, bringing exponentially greater diversity in our ranks, and opening RLT to people who may not have had as much exposure as we would have wished them to.

About Black Therapists Rock

Black Therapists Rock is a non-profit organization that mobilizes over 30,000 mental health professionals committed to reducing the psychological impact of systemic oppression and intergenerational trauma. BTR was founded by Deran Young, licensed therapist, CDWF, CDTL, and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, You Are Your Best Thing.

Deran created BTR to organize black mental health professionals towards ACTION in decreasing the stigma and barriers to psychological and social well-being among marginalized communities.

A note from Terry Real

“For over forty years, I have devoted my life to being an ally of the oppressed in our culture. I have been clear in standing up to the force of patriarchy and, with RLT, constructed a method to help gender move beyond traditional constricting gender roles into a way of living that is truly relational: replacing the delusion of power, control, and dominance with the ecological wisdom of interdependence, collaboration, and cooperation. 

RLT is centrally concerned with deconstructing the “Great Lie” that one person or group is better or less than anyone else: the divisive poison that is rippling through our current culture. RLT has been both a therapy and a form of political activism at the same time. 

And we’re extending our social critique and social change agent focus beyond patriarchy and gender roles to include race and other marginalized groups. I’m delighted by our partnership with the fabulous Black Therapists Rock (BTR), which has been in the works for a while. 

I’m also pleased to welcome BTR’s founder, Deran Young, on board as a dedicated DEIB consultant to both the Relational Life Institute and The Relational Life Foundation. 

It’s imperative that RLT tackles the issue of race along with the issues of homophobia and patriarchy that we’ve been looking at for decades. I look forward to raising my own consciousness and the consciousness of all of us within the school. 

Welcome aboard, Deran, and congratulations to everyone who has worked on this collaboration. Let’s move forward with this exciting, positive step for RLT and our future. 

Love,

Terry”

Learn more about Black Therapists Rock here: https://blacktherapistsrock.com/

Learn more about Relational Life Therapy here: https://relationallife.com/

Learn more about Relational Life Foundation here: https://relationallifefoundation.org

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