Feminist Therapy

My therapy is always sensitive to issues of power, privilege, and oppression along many dimensions, not just gender. I approach feminism from an intersectional perspective, and am mindful of my own privileged identities as well. I take a collaborative, curious approach with all clients and recognize clients' expertise on their own lives.

I aim to provide clients with a safe and non-judgmental space to explore our identities, interpersonal relationships, hardships, and experiences in this life. I am hella good at creating space to deep dive into the ways you have been shaped by systems of oppression and cultural experiences. Together, we can unlearn damaging and false narratives and heal the pain they have caused you.

People have a lot of assumptions about what it means to be a feminist therapist. In reality, it means being curious about power dynamics (e.g., between partners, between cultures) and creating a new, preferred way of being in relationships with others and with ourselves. In sessions, I am often curious about who makes decisions, who takes on more of the work, and about my client's preferred values such as equity, love, compassion, and accountability.

My practice and approach are deeply rooted in Feminist Therapy theory. I believe that transparency, shared power, awareness of oppression, and intersectionality are non-negotiables.

I am an intersectional feminist, and this anti-oppressive approach guides my work. My clients are the experts of their lives; my role is not to provide expertise or to tell people how to live, but instead to support clients in becoming comfortable and confident in building and working from that place of self-knowledge. This also means considering the power structures that exist in the lives of my clients, in their families, communities, and cultures, and recognizing the impact of that backdrop.

Feminist therapy isn't just for women! It is a modality that focuses on client issues through the lens of the client's experience and context, both personal and social/political/cultural; therefore it works well for clients of all kinds of identities! Diverse perspectives are encouraged/supported and the therapy relationship is more egalitarian to minimize the power differential. In other words, I work alongside my clients to help them work through their difficulties in a strengths-based way.

Feminist therapy takes into account the ways in which the cultural systems and structures we live under influence our mental health. Anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions can be caused not just by individual differences in brain chemistry but also by the material conditions we find ourselves living within.

Feminist Therapy is a meta-theory more than a specific modality. In my own work with it, I find that its purpose is to inform my overall practice with clients in a way that emphasizes empowerment and an egalitarian working relationship, among other things. One of its driving principles is to make marginalized viewpoints central, often addressing the concerns of people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with special needs, immigrants and refugees, and others.

In my work, I focus on reworking gendered power dynamics with individuals and couples and addressing social inequities that keep partners form being collaborative with one another.

I am able to discuss and process systems of oppression that we all live in and how to change the systems. I will not discount your lived experience and will provide a safe space for you to tell your story.

Our society was founded by and built for Straight, White, Christian, Men. Our society is slowly evolving to be more inclusive of women, POC, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized populations. Empowering women involves deconstructing the toxic patriarchal culture that oppresses those that threaten the beneficiaries. Sessions are structured to identify personal strengths and build assertiveness by confronting social norms and gender roles.

I received my training in feminist studies from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

My approach to feminist therapy involves integrating my own identity with the realities of living in society as a woman. I am passionate about working through the discrimination that women face, as well as exploring the intersectional identities that oftentimes compound the discrimination. I value social justice as a therapist, and actively incorporate it in all of my sessions.

I love feminist therapy because it is for all genders and all people: It analyzes power structures and their effects upon people. Each person's intersectional identity, along with their unique lived experience, is differently affected by the current politics and systemic structures. This model helps frame issues to show that they are likely externally caused, which can remove the feeling of self-blame. It also uses education, advocacy, and strength-building to encourage self empowerment.

Nova Mental Health Services creates a unique treatment plan for our clients but use these three treatments often. Feminists' therapy is loosely used as a way to explain how society and it being built for cis, white AMAB (assigned male at birth) people, effects us in our daily lives. We use it to question our perspectives and explore new ways of navigating life that is not as based in outdated and often harmful thinking. We do this in a way that all genders can be responsive to.

I work from a feminist and social justice framework to hold clients up as the expert in their own experience and to acknowledge the relevance of social, environmental, and generational context.