The Relational Universe
Key Learning from the programme
As explored in the previous blog, we know that relationships matter greatly to young people. The extent to which they feel connected to other people – friends, family members, social groups – affects their quality of life and sense of security. In supporting care experienced young people, we therefore need to pay attention to their interdependence and help them deepen their sense of belonging. Yet, the focus in preparing young people leaving care is too often more narrowly on independence. A wider focus on interdependence does include building independence skills but requires us to consider the young person as a relational human being and to ensure that transition plans are underpinned by a relational focus rather than a technical or logistical exercise. There are great examples of family group conferencing for care leavers, Lifelong Links, Staying Close, Staying Connected, peer support groups for care experienced young parents (such as Ohana, the Village) and mentoring projects (such as The Mighty Creatives, Pure Insight, Powering Up,) that reflect such a perspective.
By fostering a sense of interdependence, we can help young people build resilience, cultivate social skills and ensure they have a network of meaningful relationships which provide stability, connection and support, especially at critical transition periods and hopefully throughout their lives. This perspective prompts us to move beyond just offering support in isolation, aiming instead to enable care experienced young people to develop relationships with others around them, who enrich their lives in small or bigger ways.
The Resource:
The Relational Universe offers a powerful framework to visualise and understand who is in a young person’s life and how they are connected to the young person. By using the metaphor of a planetary universe, we can better understand the ‘gravitational pull’ and emotional connection of each person, how close or distant they are, how each relationship affects the young person and, critically, the extent to which we can support a young person in strengthening relationships to create a greater sense of balance within their Relational Universe. This (in)equilibrium is not just about each individual relationship on its own but about the collective effect, how all these relationships interact. A few turbulent or challenging relationships might be less destabilising when they are counter-balanced by other supportive and trusting relationships. Conversely, the ending of one important relationship, for instance with a foster carer when leaving care, could have a huge impact on many other relationships too. The metaphor also highlights the dynamics of relationships: they are ever-changing. This can help a young person consider how they might like certain relationships to be and the agency they have to develop relationships (or leave relationships that have a detrimental impact on them).
From a professional perspective, the Relational Universe can also help us consider who we might have to build a positive relationship with in order to best support a young person. For instance, practitioners at several local House Projects map out a Relational Universe with each of their young people when they first join, understand what these different relationships mean to the young person and what the implications might be for how they can best support the young person. That might mean building a relationship with the young person’s granny, sister, rent officer or social worker, supporting the young person through a difficult relationship, or helping them make new connections with other young people in the House Project.
How might you use this resource?
Using the Relational Universe is easy and you can do it in whichever way makes most sense to you and the young person you’re supporting. You can ask them to sketch it out on paper, using different colours. You can use play-do, different coloured pebbles of varying sizes, take a scrapbook approach, cutting out different planets, star shapes, etc. to arrange together, or buy some space-themed stickers (available from art supply shops, bookshops or online stores) to arrange on a piece of paper/card. Alternatively, you can create a Relational Universe digitally using online images – or just use this PowerPoint design template.
You can use the model for pathway planning or review meetings, in informal conversations with a young person and to co-design support during transition times (e.g. moving into new accommodation, starting further education or a new job, becoming a parent).
By using a metaphor like the planetary constellations, you can gain new insights into more complex thought patterns and emotions. It becomes easier to talk about relationships, especially when you’re both engaged in the activity. You can ask curious non-judgmental questions such as:
- What kind of x? to focus on how a young person might think and feel about something, e.g. What kind of black hole is that in your universe? What kind of close is that planet near you?
- Is there anything else about x? to widen the perspective again, e.g. Is there anything else about that shooting star? Is there anything else about this planet being a bright colour?
Some ideas for action:
- It’s a good idea to start by reflecting on and mapping out your own Relational Universe. That way you get a sense of what it feels like to do the activity and what it might bring up.
- Invite a young person you know well to try this out. You could even do your version of their Relational Universe and then compare what you each came up with. This can be a powerful way of exploring different perspectives.
- Could you include the Relational Universe in your current organisational processes, e.g. as part of pathway planning, and to prepare young people for independence and interdependence?
- Instead of using a traditional genogram to gather information about relationships, could you use the Relational Universe on an ongoing basis to ensure you capture how relationships are changing?
- Use this to look at the present and the future, rather than to analyse the past. That way you can be focussed on moving towards what might be possible rather than on what could have been but wasn’t.
- Have a conversation within your team to explore what might happen if you changed the language and focus from ‘independence’ to ‘interdependence’? What might you do differently?
Where can you find out more?
For more on the Relational Universe, please visit ThemPra’s website.
The shift from independence to interdependence is also explored here:
- Cherry, L. (2021). Interdependence and Independence. Care Leaver Local Offer. Available here
- Radoux, J. (2019). Before they can be independent, we need to give children in care opportunities to be interdependent. Community Care. Available here
This blog is part of a series of resources drawing on the peer learning programme and containing young people’s views, evidence and case studies of why working relationally is important for practice with care experienced young people.
The resources are accompanied by a series of webinars, where you can learn more and discuss how to put them into practice.