[21] The school determined that Jordan should see a therapist, which was her initial introduction to the profession of psychology, and while this relationship was important, it did not deconstruct Jordan's internalized belief that she had to separate from the people that she loved in order to "be successful"[22] Her interest in the power of connection found its roots in her own struggle to stay connected with important people in a world that told her that was a sign of "weakness".
As a young faculty and clinician at Harvard Medical School, she began to write about the limitations of a "separate self" model of development and looked at the ways in which empathy provides an experiential sense of connection and compassion.
[23] At Harvard, Jordan was told that her position in the doctoral program was "wasted on a woman," a refrain that was repeated to other leaders in feminist psychology (including Carol Gilligan).
program and excelled at Harvard, but she "really went underground in terms of any sense of competence and strength" until she joined Jean Baker Miller's Monday night group.
[28] The core group met every other week for ten years, talking openly and honestly about the work that they were doing, and the things they were learning from and with their patients, in Jean Baker Miller's living room.