How to be a more feminist therapist

Therapy is premised on the notion that everyone is equal. But not everyone has equal power. Here are tips to mitigate harm, better support clients, and avoid reinforcing oppressive norms.

Therapy is one of the most potent tools we have as a culture for self-transformation. And when you transform yourself, you can change the world. Therapists can lay the foundation of a more just and peaceful world, one client at a time.

Too often, though, therapists end up reinforcing hierarchies, empowering abusers, and replicating cycles of generational trauma. In couples counseling and family therapy in particular, therapists can do immense harm.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Your therapy practice can upend harmful hierarchies and liberate individuals. It all begins with seeing what oppressive systems have made invisible.

Before I dig into where therapists so often go wrong, I want to affirm how important your job is, and how hard I know it can be. You’re forced to hold an overwhelming amount of trauma every day, on top of your own trauma, in a world that can feel like entirely too much. You do not need to be perfect. Being present and aware is incredibly valuable. A willingness to improve matters. Thank you for undertaking one of the most stressful and thankless jobs.