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messages she would like to change.

      4 Lastly, work with your client to co-construct a plan that will move her forward to make the changes she feels necessary for her well-being.

      For women who have grown up in homes in which women were expected to forgo careers in order to care for their families, imagining a different life can create both excitement and anxiety. By helping a client break down her own gender/family-instilled psychological limitations, therapists can help her begin to imagine a life path of her own choosing. It is also important for counselors to validate a client’s fears related to breaking new ground as well as the courage exhibited in her desire to do so.

      Related to the gender role analysis is the gender role intervention (Brown, 2018; Worell & Remer, 2003). This involves a more general, less personal exploration of the ways gender role or social identity expectations play out. The goal is to help clients recognize the strengths and abilities they possess that can be used to confront or contradict the negative stereotypes they might face. This type of analysis may be especially useful for clients who are currently experiencing a sense of failure or shame related to past decisions that were made based on societal gender role expectations. For example, a midlife client longing for a career in engineering after a life spent caring for others may feel ashamed of her earlier decision to drop out of college when she chose to get married before the end of her senior year. By inviting the client to reflect on the ways society downplays or disregards women’s scientific expertise, she can discuss the variety of ways gender informs cultural norms. Counselors can help clients recognize their lives are microcosms of the greater cultural macrocosm. This intervention allows a client to externalize problems they have experienced, which moves the “problem” outside of themselves and frees them up to begin to develop a workable solution to their problematic situation.

      Power Analysis

      The purpose of this intervention is to raise a client’s awareness of the ways access to power and resources can vary according to gender and identity and to explore how the client’s own reality is affected by this circumstance. Facilitating a client’s identification of the power differentials that influence her goals, lived experience, and well-being provides the opportunity for her to develop plans for overcoming and maneuvering around these obstacles. This intervention is similar to the gender role analysis, but it moves beyond gender to include multiple factors that determine to whom and under what circumstances power is conferred.

      Bibliotherapy

      Bibliotherapy is the integration of books, stories, and other printed matter into therapy. It can be extremely helpful in normalizing the issues a woman is facing as well as educating her on ways to overcome challenges or understand the reasons she might feel as she does. In addition to printed materials, relevant documentaries or movies are potential resources that might be recommended to clients. Many clients feel that they are the only ones who have feelings like they do, and some may struggle to imagine how to conquer the challenges they are confronting. Reading about or in the case of films seeing another person face and overcome similar obstacles can often empower clients to tackle their own hurdles or misconceptions. Bibliotherapy frequently provides illustrations of ways women successfully integrate the practice of other interventions. For instance, viewing a film about a successful and assertive woman (e.g., Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich) offers a model of the ways assertiveness skills can positively influence greater change.

      Conclusion

      Although times have changed immeasurably since the birth of the feminist movement, women and other marginalized populations continue to face the institutionalized barriers that feminism aimed to diminish. With an emphasis on the individual experiences of the client as a product of the cultural landscape that surrounds her, feminist therapy is a vehicle that can lead to change at multiple levels. Feminist therapists support and engage in active involvement in advocacy for their clients, self-examination to address their own potential shortcomings, and awareness of the power they wield in their roles as helpers. Integrating the core beliefs of feminist therapy can be effective with diverse clients, including men and boys. To be a feminist practitioner is to be aware of the multiple realities in which people must function and to be committed to the client’s ability to effect personal change and development even in a world in which unfair boundaries have been created that limit the available opportunities based on gender, race, sexual orientation, birthplace, and numerous other factors over which individuals have no control.

      References

      Alberti, R., & Emmons, M. (1970). Your perfect right: A guide to assertive behavior. San Luis Obispo, CA: Impact Press.

      Brown, L. S. (1994). Subversive dialogues: Theory in feminist therapy. New York: Basic Books.

      Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

      Carr, E. R., & McKernan, L. C. (2015). “Keep your chin up”: Treating male veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder from an integrative feminist theoretical perspective. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 25(4), 253–66.

      Corey, G. (2015). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

      Enns, C. Z., & Byars-Winston, A. (2010). Multicultural feminist therapy. In H. Landrine & N. F. Russo (Eds.), Handbook of diversity in feminist psychology (pp. 367–88). New York, NY: Springer.

      Hannam, J. (2012). Feminism. New York, NY: Routledge.

      Israeli, A. L., & Santor, D. A. (2000). Reviewing effective components of feminist therapy. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 13(3), 233–47.

      Proctor, G., & Napier, M. (2004). Encountering feminism: Intersections between feminism and the person-centered approach. Ross-on-Wye, UK: PCCS Books.

      Root, M. P. P. (2000). Rethinking racial identity development: An ecological framework. In P. Spickard & J. Burroughs (Eds.), We are a people: Narrative in the construction and deconstruction of ethnic identity (pp. 237–47). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

      Silver, K. E., Levant, R. F., & Gonzalez, A. (2018). What does the psychology of men and masculinities offer the practitioner? Practical guidance for the feminist, culturally sensitive treatment of traditional men. Practice Innovations, 3(2), 94–106.

      Speed, B. C., Goldstein, B. L., & Goldfried, M. R. (2017). Assertiveness training: A forgotten evidence-based treatment. Clinical Psychological Science Practice, 25, 1–20.

      Walker, Lenore E. A. (1990). A feminist therapist views the case. In Dorothy W. Cantor (Ed.), Women as therapists (pp. 78–79). New York, NY: Springer.

      Wolf, J., Williams, E. N., Darby, M., Herald, J., & Schultz, C. (2018). Just for women? Feminist multicultural therapy with male clients. Sex Roles, 78(5–6), 439–50. doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0819-y

      Wolter-Gustafson, C. (2004). Towards convergence: Client-centered and feminist assumptions about epistemology and power. In G. Proctor & M. B. Napier (Eds.), Encountering feminism: Intersections between feminism and the person-centered approach (pp. 97–115). Ross-on-Wye, UK: PCCS Books.

      Wooley, S. G. (1995). Feminist influences on the treatment of eating disorders. In K. D. Brownell & C. G. Fairburn (Eds.), Eating disorders and obesity: A comprehensive handbook (pp. 294–98). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

      Worell, J. (1993, November). What do we really know about feminist therapies: Approaches to research on process and outcome. Invited presentation to the Texas Psychological Association, Austin, Texas.

      Worell, J., & Remer, P. (2003). Feminist perspectives in therapy: Empowering diverse women (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

      Chapter 3

      Integrating Relational-Cultural

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