Harry Potter and the Relational Child: Engaging Millennials in a New Generation of Counseling

ABSTRACT

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two (Rowling, Thorne, & Tiffany, 2016) is the latest installment in a franchise that has defined the millenial generation. The screenplay captures the essence of human behavior as it is molded by individual effort, human interactions, and cultural wellbeing. The authors present a way to conceptualize the millennial generation and their families through the lens of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT). The authors begin with an overview of RCT, followed by a conceptualization of the screenplay using RCT as a theoretical lens. A conceptualization of how this story can be used to process themes of family, friendship, isolation, parenting, and adolescents with millennials and their families is provided. Furthermore, the researchers explore how this story can be used as supplemental material in the classroom to help the next generation of counselors conceptualize and process these themes with clients.

KEYWORDS:

• Relational-cultural theory
• millennials
• techniques
• creativity in counseling