Relational ethics focuses in particular on the nature and roles of connectedness, caring, reciprocity, loyalty, legacy, guilt, fairness, accountability, and trustworthiness - within and between generations.
The therapist (and possibly a co-therapist where appropriate) would first seek basic information (including any relevant clinical or medical information), construct a genogram if possible, and have each family member explain their side of the story (either conjointly or in individual sessions as appropriate), in order to begin to understand the problem in terms of background facts, the relational context (i.e., intergenerational, interpersonal, and systemic), and deeper motivational factors (e.g., psychological processes, hidden loyalties and legacies, ledger imbalances, destructive entitlement resulting from real or perceived injustices, scapegoating, parentification of the child, etc.
Having gained this preliminary understanding of the situation, the therapist would firstly address any issues requiring urgent attention (e.g., physical welfare, prevention of violence, etc.
The therapist would then go further, carefully and sequentially 'taking the side' of each member (while seeking to maintain overall balance, but not 'joining' the family as occurs, for example, in structural therapy), the aim being to begin a genuine dialogue of mutual accountability, to reduce the reliance on dysfunctional acting-out, and to find resources (e.g., hope, will) for rebuilding relationships through mutual acknowledgement of both entitlements and obligations, shifts in attitude and intention (but not 'relabeling' as in strategic or constructivist approaches), fair exoneration, and redemptive or rejunctive (i.e., 'trust-building') actions, that will in turn build individual and relational maturity and integrity (i.e., self-validation and self-delineation - contextual counterparts of Bowen's differentiation), and trustworthiness, which contextual therapists see as the ultimate relational resource for individual and family well-being.
The approach would be adapted - although the basic principles would remain the same - according to the particular case; for example: adults having problems with their siblings or elderly parents; couples issues; conflicts associated with blended families, adoption, fostering, gamete donation and surrogacy; migration and cross-cultural issues; different mental disorders; addiction and substance abuse; criminal behavior, domestic violence, and so on.