Organizations evolve.
Sometimes that evolution happens gradually enough that you do not notice it until one day you realize the name no longer fully describes what has been built.
That is where we found ourselves.
Many people first came to know us as AQAL Therapies. The name AQAL stands for "All Quadrants, All Levels," a framework developed by Ken Wilber as part of Integral Theory. Integral Theory attempts to create a comprehensive understanding of human experience by recognizing that every situation can be viewed from multiple perspectives. It invites us to consider what is happening within individuals, between individuals, within groups and cultures, and within the larger systems that shape our lives.
When AQAL Therapies was founded, that perspective deeply influenced our work. It encouraged us to look beyond narrow explanations of human suffering and change. Rather than reducing people to diagnoses, symptoms, thoughts, emotions, biology, or environment alone, we sought to understand how these dimensions interact and influence one another.
The AQAL framework helped establish several values that remain central to our organization today: curiosity about multiple perspectives, respect for complexity, attention to context, and a commitment to understanding people as whole human beings rather than collections of problems to be solved.
As our clinical work evolved, however, we found ourselves increasingly drawn to a particular branch of psychological science known as contextual behavioral science. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Functional Contextualism, Relational Frame Theory, and more recently Process Based Therapy provided not only a broad philosophical foundation, but also a practical and empirically grounded framework for understanding behavior and facilitating meaningful change.
This led to our next chapter. We eventually transitioned to Rhode Island ACT and that change served an important purpose. For clients, referral sources, and clinicians, the name immediately communicated what we did. We were a practice centered on ACT and psychological flexibility. It removed confusion and made it easier for people to find the services they were looking for.
For a time, Rhode Island ACT was exactly the right name. Then something unexpected happened. We grew again. What began as a clinical practice gradually expanded into something much larger.
We developed a residency program for early career clinicians. We began offering consultation, supervision, professional training, process groups, workshops, and community events. Clinicians from different backgrounds started gathering around a shared interest in contextual behavioral science. New programs emerged. New collaborations formed. A professional learning community began to take shape.
At some point, it became clear that we were no longer simply a therapy practice that provided ACT. We had become an organization devoted to helping people learn, apply, teach, and advance contextual approaches across multiple settings. The name Rhode Island ACT no longer captured the full scope of that mission and it also created an unintended limitation.
While ACT remains one of the most visible and effective applications of contextual behavioral science, it is not the entirety of the work. Beneath ACT sits a broader foundation that includes Functional Contextualism, Relational Frame Theory, Process Based Therapy, and other contextual approaches that continue to evolve.
Our work has always been larger than a single model.
The new name reflects that reality.
Why "Relational Institute of Applied Contextual Therapies"?
Each part of the name was chosen intentionally.
Relational reflects our belief that human beings develop, heal, learn, and thrive through relationship. Relationships with others. Relationships with communities. Relationships with our own thoughts, emotions, and histories. Even our understanding of language and meaning is fundamentally relational.
The term also reflects the kind of professional community we seek to build. Growth does not occur in isolation. It emerges through collaboration, mentorship, shared learning, and mutual support. Whether working with clients, training clinicians, supervising residents, or developing new programs, we believe that how we relate to one another matters. The quality of those relationships shapes both our individual development and the strength of the community we create together.
Institute reflects our commitment to education, training, scholarship, and professional development. We are not only providing services. We are building a place where clinicians can learn, grow, collaborate, and contribute.
Applied emphasizes practicality. Ideas matter. Theory matters. Research matters. Yet their value is ultimately determined by whether they help people build lives that are more workable, meaningful, and connected.
Contextual Therapies reflects the broader family of approaches that guide our work. ACT remains central. It is simply one expression of a larger contextual tradition focused on understanding behavior within the situations and histories that give it meaning.
What Is Not Changing
Names matter, yet values matter more. The principles that guided us as AQAL Therapies remain present today.
- Our commitment to psychological flexibility remains unchanged.
- Our dedication to evidence based and process based care remains unchanged.
- Our focus on practical skill development remains unchanged.
- Our belief that people are doing the best they can with the knowledge and resources available to them remains unchanged.
Most importantly, our commitment to helping people build lives worth living remains unchanged.
Looking Forward
The Relational Institute of Applied Contextual Therapies is not a departure from our past. It is the natural next step in a journey that began years ago.
AQAL Therapies helped us discover where we were headed.
Rhode Island ACT helped us clarify what we did.
RIACT reflects what we have become.
A community of clinicians, learners, supervisors, educators, and practitioners working together to advance contextual approaches that help people flourish.
We are grateful to everyone who has been part of that journey.
We are excited about where it leads next.
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