Feminist therapy isn’t only about women.
Don’t freak out, we’re not the stereotypical, nice-white-lady therapists trying to indoctrinate you into some all lives matter sh*t. There is a place and time for non-feminist therapy work too.
But not here and not now.
So, what is feminist therapy anyway?
Feminist therapy isn't just sessions on a couch spent only talking about women. It's an approach to therapy that recognizes the dynamic and intersectional realities of existing today. It acknowledges and dismantles the impact of the power structures outside of the person's experience.
So while a non-feminist focused therapist would help a person with their trauma internally, a feminist therapist considerers the outside forces that contribute to that trauma (or that anxiety, depression, etc.).
Feminist Therapy is an approach to psychotherapy. You can be a feminist and a therapist. You can also be a Feminist Therapist.
Feminist Therapy 101
In the 60s, feminist therapy started as an approach to give women the power to help other women. Since then, Feminist Therapy has evolved to include any community, gender, or identity that wants to explore how gender roles factor into their emotional lives, relationships, patterns, and mental health.
This approach can be so beneficial to any person or group of people that has been marginalized. People of color. Gay. Lesbian. Bisexual. Transgender. Nonbinary. Gender variant. Immigrants. People in poverty. Refugees. People with disabilities. And so much more.
Feminist therapy is centered around how one’s identity is shaped from the world around them. This means it is focused on working with communities that are often marginalized and “othered,” who often deal with complex layers of life experience, and helps them feel seen and heard equally in every part of their identity.
Everyone deserves to be heard, especially those whose identities are often ignored.
Therapy will never be one size fits all, but this approach allows a therapy practice to create enough space of every size for more people. No matter your gender identity or expression, your experiences matter.
Life is informed by unseen forces - not just the histories and patterns within us, but all the different webs we live in and circles we inhabit. These things impact our emotional well-being, our relationships, even our personal values and goals.
To ignore them is to give incomplete therapy.
The Feminist Therapist’s Job
TL;DR: Feminist Therapy is a psychotherapy approach that recognizes the dynamic and intersectional realities of existing today. It acknowledges and dismantles the impact of the power structures outside of a marginalized person's experience.
So what can I expect with a therapist who has a Feminist Therapy approach?
With any therapist, the goal is to find someone you feel comfortable working with to help you navigate whatever you came to navigate in a safe, comfortable, productive space. But each therapist will have their own approach depending on the variety of therapy.
Just like real life, the range of approaches to this school of thought are on a spectrum. There are many schools of thought that incorporate everything from radical feminist theory to cultural feminist perspectives. But there are some major ideas and concepts you can expect to find in most practices.
Here are 3 core values you’ll find in the Feminist Therapy Approach:
Empowerment of Personal Identity
The most powerful thing you can be is your authentic self. But what if you’re not really sure who that person is? The value of empowerment emphasizes connection, belonging, and confidence in who you are.
Intersectionality of Person and Society
Identity by definition is the fact of being who or what something is. But society often has a huge impact on how we relate to these identities. This value focuses on where your personal experience and society’s impact meet to define who you are.
Recognizing Privilege in Marginalized Experiences
This tenet focuses on self-awareness by exploring one’s relationship to their different identities. This can be some seriously hard work because it requires taking off the rosy glasses and seeing the impact of privilege in new ways.
Therapy can be really hard work.
But your therapist is here to help guide you through that work and support your personal journey, whatever that may look like.
As your feminist therapist, it’s our job to create an inclusive, open, welcome, and safe space for everyone who comes through our door (or joins our secure, encrypted, HIPAA-compliant, Fort-Knox-level-security video calls, cause duh pandemic).
We are consistently working to divest ourselves of holding cis-het-mainstream culture as the default, as the basis on which truth is measured, or as an aspiration for everyone.
At the end of the day, this is your life, your identity, and your emotions. All that matters are the truths for your lived experience. You deserve to find a therapist you feel comfortable working with in every aspect of yourself to help you navigate whatever you came to navigate in a safe, comfortable, productive space.
How do I find a feminist therapist in Long Beach?
So you’ve learned about Feminist Therapy. You got some insight on the core values of empowerment, intersectionality, and privilege. Now you’re ready to take the next step.
Want to explore the idea of finding your own badass Feminist Therapist but don’t know where to start?
Choosing a therapist can be a PROCESS. You most likely aren’t looking for someone to talk about the weather with. This person will be learning about your life experiences, your trauma, your deepest fears and insecurities, and maybe even your wildest thoughts. There is a deep level of intimacy and trust that has to be built and maintained.
Though it is entirely professional, it is still a relationship that can be incredibly impactful and profound on your life. Sometimes it can feel like trying to pick your soulmate without even meeting them. And we’ve all seen those shows on Netflix… that sh*t does NOT always work so well.
A great starting point for determining the right feminist therapist for you is looking for a therapist with similar lived experience.
What is lived experience?
Lived experience is...well...exactly that! It is the life experiences your therapist has gone through as a human being which can impact what they personally bring to your sessions.
I know, it may be hard to believe, but therapists are real live humans with personal lives, families, hobbies, dysfunctional families, mental diagnoses, and traumas just like the rest of us.
While it is your therapist’s job to remain professional in your work together, there will always be a lens of personal experience through which they’ll come to the table. If your therapist can relate to where you’ve been, or the path you’ve taken, it can reduce a lot of the explaining you might have to do.
It can also feel more intuitively comfortable knowing you have a commonality.
Sharing your coming out experience with a queer person or expressing anger towards racial injustice you’ve experienced can feel safer when your therapist can relate. In my therapy practice, we focus on the queer and trans community as well as the bicultural/first-generation community because we are a part of those communities too.
However, we believe lived experience is not all it takes. Especially since it can work against us too. It can be much harder to share emotions around people you already feel connected to. We don’t want to cry or discuss topics we’re ashamed of in front of someone we identify with.
It can feel like you have to compare your experience to theirs. If we’re not used to discussing our sex life with anyone in our community, it can feel like you have “put a face on” with a therapist who is also in that community.
We combine our lived experience with high quality, affirming training and education. In fact, all of our therapists complete double the amount of required training each year. And we’re all in our own personal therapy as well. These are all efforts we make to ensure we don’t perpetuate harm toward the people we serve.
Want to explore feminist therapy?
At Prospect Therapy, we unapologetically celebrate the full spectrum of human being and human kindness. Our approach is guided by a shared thread of honoring growth, discovery, and a natural progression of care.
Prospect Therapy is a queer + trans affirming therapy practice based in Long Beach, CA, with a focus on mental health for first-generation, immigrant, and bicultural communities. We continue to provide online therapy for a variety of mental wellness and relationship concerns to clients throughout the state of California. Learn more about how we bring lived experience to our work with people of all ages in our communities by requesting a consultation below.