WHAT is Value Relating?
Value Relating
is a new kind of support service to help you respond better to your psychosocial needs. We each have personal needs and social needs, both yanking at our coattails for equal attention. You feel it?
In our highly individualized culture, I notice we’re pretty much left to fend for our separate selves. I hear us sooth our alienation with songs about love we desperately crave. Meanwhile, we assume our social needs get adequately met. Are yours?
Value Relating turns this assumption on its head. Through education, counseling and consulting, Value Relating works to transform our strained relationships into ones enjoying greater mutual value.
What's it for?
After years of not finding anything or anyone to fully support my psychosocial needs, I went ahead and created Value Relating to fill that gap. I anticipate value relating to be a shared learning experience with you.
I continue perfecting a process to respect the needs of others as if they were my own, because ultimately they are. I see how your needs involve some interplay with mine. When I invite others to relate better to my needs, I inspire them to relate better to these needs inothers. And this boosts their social value.
Too often we're shamed into assuming our personal problems are only psychological. Value Relating breaks that cycle of stigma. Wellness is psychsocial, period. No one succeeds in life without some level of social support. I created Value Relating to smash through the barrriers to our goal to live more fully.
What's in it for you?
If you are faced with an embarrasing problem, take courage knowing it most likely involves some social factor beyond your control. I created Value Relating for folks just like you.
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Value Relating, unlike traditional therapy, treats the impacted relationship. By changing the dynamics of your unsatisfactory relationships, we believe, any personal problems can more easily resolve themselves. No stigma here.
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Value Relating provides an attractive alternative to our usual adversarial remedies. Instead of rushing to enforce some rule to coerce respect, we incentivize each other to be more responsive to each other's needs. No coersion here.
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Value Relating addresses not only your needs, but the needs of others who affect you. Only by addressing both sides of the coin, we realize, can we turn stubborn problems into enduring solutions. No hatred here.
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Value Relating helps you rethink interpersonal obstacles as worthy challenges, then support you into converting these into mutual opportunities. Only by relating to what each other specifically needs, in our impactful interactions, can we fully be of value to one another. No worry here.
In short, we need each other, even if only through cooperation to respect each other’s need for space from each other. At the other end, we need deep affirmation for who we fully are, and recognize our deep value despite our many imperfections.
Value Relating works to help us all find the value in others and in ourselves. Value Relating provides this through what we call psychosocial support.
Value = respond to need
By “value” we specifically mean “responding to need.” For example:
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We value clean water because we need clean water. We would not value clean water if we did not need it.
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We value our free time because we need time to ourselves. We would not value our free time as much if we did not require it.
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We value our loved ones because we need them in our otherwise lonely lives. We generally do not value others we perceive as nonessential to our lives.
What we value expresses what or who we need.
Relate = know each other
By “relating” we specifically mean “knowing each other specifically.” For example:
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We relate to what others may specifically need of us, instead of objectifying them as only serving our needs.
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We invite others to relate to our specific need of them, instead of passively expecting their rules to apply.
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We relate to what we can specifically do for each other, replacing overgeneralized expectations slipping into disappointment.
We relate mostly in terms of what we expect of each other, from what we need of each other.
Value Relate = respect the needs we get to know in each other
Value Relating serves your need to relate more assertively with needs of others by applying the pioneering field of anakelogy.
WHO is Steph Turner?
Value Relating founder
With a degree in sociology & anthropology and years of experience in teaching, and a background serving underserved individuals and communities, I saw the need to create a service that prioritizes our value to each other. Because I see wellness as psychosocial. So Value Relating was born.
Psychosocial supporter
With a graduate degree in counseling and experience serving psychotherapy clients, while aware of powerless individuals needlessly shamed by cultural individualism, I saw the need to empower individual clients to speak their truth to power, who in turn could improve their value to them. Because wellness requires psychosocial supports. So psychosocial supporting was born.
Anakelogy founder
With a graduate degree in public administration and experience in strategic planning, complemented by indigenous wisdom and counseling, I saw the need to better understand the phenomenon of “need” at both the personal and public levels. Because, yep, wellness is psychosocial. So anakelogy, as the study of need, was born.
And…
I’m called to be different to make a difference. It’s not just the education and experience and background stuff. Up front and center, I am a sacred misfit, a “transspirit.” I am spiritually constrained to connect with life at a profoundly deep level, propelling me to transcend divisive norms. At whatever the personal cost.
This “life calling” pulls me out of expected conformity to various polarities. My life purpose compels me to integrate into holistic union what others experience as mutually exclusive opposites: gender traits, political sides, adversarial justice, to name a few.
Outwardly for me, this appears as transgender. Other “transspirits” I’ve known are not transgender but share this deep link that runs deeper than divisive categories. As if nature counterbalances polarization with those least polarized. Can you help us create this value to respond to this great need?
Perhaps you can see some transspirituality in yourself. If so, we’d like to hear from you. Anakelogy suggests more social minority categories lurk out of shared awareness, including this category to transcend categories until were categorized no more.
If there was anyone qualified to bridge the gap between angry liberals and upset conservatives—of which I am neither yet paradoxically both—then I am that person. If others also experience this calling then please step forward. We need you. The need is greater than one soul can carry.
I was born for this, an entrepreneurial transspirit. I believe I was destined to create Value Relating as the means to provide psychosocial support applying anakelogical insight. The current need appears great to press beyond political polarization, so Value Relating starts there.
In brief
Steph Turner is a self-described transspirit, which is a kind of sacred misfit. By transcending conventional limits—gender norms, religious identities, political polarities, and more— Steph experiences a unique connection in life. And suspects others do as well. This website is an expression of that spirituality, of that underappreciated state of being others may desperately need right now.
Embargoed press release
Hello. I'm Steph.
Welcome to Value Relating.
WHAT is psychosocial support?
Psychosocial supporter
Think of a counselor. But instead of changing the individual to adjust to their hostile surroundings a psychosocial supporter empowers that individual with tools to change their hostile surroundings. Because it is questionable to expect the client to always adjust to unhealthy environments.
While psychotherapies like feminist therapy and systemic therapy also address a client’s social context, only Value Relating (so far) offers this psychosocial support therapy from an anakelogical perspective. Not quite a mediating service, Value Relating’s unique process enables these individual clients to express their needs to these entities in more inviting ways.
In turn, we help such influential entities improve their impact upon our individual client’s needs. Improved responsiveness to such needs boosts these entities’ value to their audiences.
If you’re a stakeholder in that entity then consider how this can boost your branding, add value to your corporate social responsibility, or attract talent, among other benefits.
According to this anakelogy school of thought, wellness is psychosocial. Value Relating applies psychosocial support to respect the needs on all sides of a conflict. Starting with yours.
Value IMPACTEE
Value IMPACTOR
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORTER
The Value Relating model for psychosocial support addresses the impacted needs in a working relationship between the less influential party, typically a vulnerable individual, and the more influential party, typically an entity of some kind.
Impactee
The less influential party is more likely to be impacted by the working relationship than have as much impact upon it. Such "impactees" often adjust to this sense of powerlessness, to the detriment of their full value and the value they could bring to others. Understandably, this readily compromises their health.
Psychosocial support stands between to incentivize both sides to be more responsive to the needs of others. Despite feeling powerless, a discontented individual can do much dagmage to an impactor's public repuation, thanks to the Internet. Psychosocial support empowers the vulernable individual impactee to turn their energies toward developing mutual value.
For example, a disgruntled employee, or an exasperated student loaded down with student debt.
Impactor
The more influential party is more likely to impact the other party in a working relationship than be impacted by it. Such "impactors" risk alienating their impactee constituents. Laws, ethics and best practices help, but may fail to keep pace with rapid social changes affecting their audiences' needs. Missteps can get costly.
Disgruntled impactees can now react with an array of adversarial options: angry online reviews, social media badmouthing, even become the nimble competition. Impactors are increasingly vulnerable to losing comparative advantage to other entities more responsive to the needs of their impactee audiences.
Before misunderstandings congeal, psychosocial support can build bridges where they may otherwise get burned.
For example, a mid-sized progressive company struggling to retain their conservative leaning talent.
Psychosocial supporter
The psychosocial supporter links the needs of both to each other.A psychosocial supporter does not take sides in the relationship, except taking the side of both side's improved value, improved responsiveness to what each other needs. Using counseling and other skills, the psychosocial supporter helps each side turn obstacles into worthy challenges, then convert these winnable challenges into opportunites of mutual value.
For example, helping politicians and their voting constituents recognize the role of psychosocial needs in their political leanings.
helping a politician link their political outlook to how constituents
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Contact us using the form below if you need more information.
WHAT is anakelogy?
The study of need
Out of my interdisciplinary degrees, a new academic field emerged. One focused on the study of need. Taken from the Greek word for need (anagke), i was born.
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My public administration degree (MPA) me to view our needs on a public scale. This served the social side of psychosocial wellness.
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My counseling degree focused on personal needs. This emphasized the personal side of psychosocial wellness.
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My indigenous spirituality inspired me to harmonize the two. Indeed, wellness is psychosocial.
Imbalance between our personal needs and social needs goes against wellness. I demonstrate how politics aims to fill that gap in a Udemy eCourse. We recognize how political polarization persists when we fail to fill that gap.
Perhaps you’re feeling the painful pinch of political polarization now. What can we do for you?
anakelogy [n.] (ä'-nä-kĕ'-lŏ-jē): the study of need, specifically here the human experience of need.
anakelogical [adj.] (ä'-nä-kĕ-lŏ'-jĭ'-kâl): of, relating to, or characteristic of anakelogy; referring to the role of need in another subject.
anakelogist [n.] (ä'-nä-kĕ'-lŏ-jĭst): one who studies the role of need in observable phenomenon.
anakelogic [adj.] (ä'-nä-kĕ-lŏ'-jĭk): same as anakelogical.
anakelogically [adv.] (ä'-nä-kĕ-lŏ'-jĭ-kâ-lē'): referring to the role of need on some action. E.g., Politics is not all rationally deduced, but in fact produced anakelogically. The diversity in how we experience our needs generates the diversity in our politics.
WHAT others & you say
Enough about us, tell us something about you. Do you see anything we can do for you? Any questions? Suggestions? Complaints? Compliments? Testimonial?
We’d be glad to hear from you, and engage in conversation with you about how Value Relating can fit in your life.
Thanks in advance for valuing our value of you.
Adam Kant
Detroit MI
I was inspired by your blog post on how we can overcome political polarization. Not sure how that would all work in real life, but I sure hope it succeeds. Thanks, Steph, for addressing what should be a difficult challenge to tackle. We need this to succeed.
Ron & Sara Jones
Ferndale MI
Steph is an amazing visionary. Who else would have thought to create a new academic field just for the study of need? We both can’t wait to check out the eCourse on it.
Michelle Ryder
Rochester MI
I just knew Steph would go far when we first met at Oakland University. Just didn’t realize it came with a new way of looking at how we experience needs. Sure could use this perspective to understand why we need to be at each other’s throats, politically speaking. Can’t wait to take the course on Defusing Polarization.