not preclude asking questions about suicide and developing a collaborative safety plan. Using relational ethics as a framework, the counselor and Clarita would determine what is in her best interest and collaboratively make decisions about suicide prevention as needed. If Clarita were to be in danger, the counselor would take the time needed to help Clarita find safety and would stay connected to her throughout the process.
Summary
Through this case study, one can see how the crises and traumas in Clarita’s life are relationally situated. The hope for healing is also relationally situated. Clarita experienced the central relational paradox when she withdrew from relationships yet longed for them. Movement for Clarita may come by resolving the paradox through mutual empathy, supported vulnerability, and the emergence of a growth-fostering therapeutic relationship. An RCT-focused counselor works from a place of sociocultural humility and awareness of the power differential inherent in the therapeutic relationship. The science of relational neurobiology informs Clarita’s counselor that a mutually empathic relationship will enliven the neural pathways of healing, which will open up possibilities for more complex relational connections (Banks, 2015).
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25 Haskins,
