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What Makes Feminist Counselling Feminist?
Abstract
Feminist counselling is often characterized as a belief system. Described broadly in this way it has been difficult to clearly articulate its boundaries. The aims of this study were to provide clarification by exploring understandings of feminism among feminist practitioners and implications of these definitions for the rhetoric and practice of feminist counselling. Descriptions of feminism and feminist counselling were collected, via self-administered questionnaire, from 140 Australian feminists who were counsellors. Definitional categories were compared with previous North American research. Although comparisons across time and continent revealed few differences, inconsistencies emerged within the sample. These discrepancies underscored the need for a stronger theoretical base within feminist counselling in Australia.
... In a study conducted by Chester and Bretherton (2001), 140 Australian feminist counsellors were surveyed to identify descriptions of feminism and feminist counselling. The descriptions offered by respondents aligned with existing conceptualisations of feminist counselling being a philosophical framework or worldview (Chester & Bretherton, 2001). ...
... In a study conducted by Chester and Bretherton (2001), 140 Australian feminist counsellors were surveyed to identify descriptions of feminism and feminist counselling. The descriptions offered by respondents aligned with existing conceptualisations of feminist counselling being a philosophical framework or worldview (Chester & Bretherton, 2001). Participants had a particular emphasis on womencentred beliefs being a cornerstone to their feminist practice, encompassing an acknowledgement, respect and analysis of the structural nature of women's oppression (Chester & Bretherton, 2001). ...
... The descriptions offered by respondents aligned with existing conceptualisations of feminist counselling being a philosophical framework or worldview (Chester & Bretherton, 2001). Participants had a particular emphasis on womencentred beliefs being a cornerstone to their feminist practice, encompassing an acknowledgement, respect and analysis of the structural nature of women's oppression (Chester & Bretherton, 2001). This supports the very essence of feminist counselling as being a radical alternative to traditional psychotherapy which through its practice, whether consciously or unconsciously, serves to maintain the patriarchal status quo (McLellan, 1999). ...
Research examining feminist counselling in Australia is exceedingly limited, even though feminism has a central place in the development and delivery of sexual assault services and domestic violence intervention. This study aimed to offer a contemporary understanding of how feminist counselling is being practiced in Australia. A convergent mixed methods design was applied between June–August 2020 with mental health practitioners Australia-wide, whereby the FTB-R scale was utilised through an online survey (n = 62) and semi-structured in-depth interviews (n = 8) were conducted. Survey results indicate that whilst feminist counselling is still being practiced predominantly by women and for women, an intersectional framework is being applied with broader populations. Emergent themes of practice include advocacy and education, attending to power and client-centred practice. Results highlight the need for a model of feminist counselling in Australia to ensure its practice can continue within a system that seeks to suppress its efficacy.
... Over the last three decades there has been a prosperity of critical approaches in social work and psychology including feminist (Chester and Bretherton, 2001;Morley and Macfarlane, 2012) and critical psychology (Parker, 1999), political sensitive therapy (Avissar, 2009;Sucharov, 2013), and radical, anti-oppressive, and human right-based social work (Fook, 2003). There is a debate in the literature whether these approaches should be grouped together (Fook, 2003;Morley and Macfarlane, 2012); yet, for the purpose of this paper, we identified common aspects shared by many of these new approaches toward the shaping of a critical discourse in psychotherapy. ...
... Standpoint discourse. Critical discourse's challenge to universality is often based on a feminist standpoint (Morley and Macfarlane, 2012), which highlights the importance of multiple and diverse perspectives, particularly, those of marginal groups in society (Chester and Bretherton, 2001;Fook, 2003;Parker, 1999). Working from this position, the therapist should honor the knowledge of the client, assume that the client is the one that has solutions to his/her difficulties, and critically reflect on the inherent power relations between the therapist and the client (Sakamoto and Pitner, 2005). ...
... Political discourse. A political discourse to psychotherapy includes an ongoing social critique of social exclusion and oppression (Avissar, 2013;Chester and Bretherton, 2001;Fook, 1993;Prilleltensky et al., 2008), and an acknowledgment of the political context of psychotherapy (Fook, 1993;Morley, 2012;Prilleltensky et al., 2008). The basic assumption is that it is not possible to properly understand and address wellbeing and suffering without looking at the context of the power relationships in which suffering occurs (Totton, 2006). ...
Critical approaches in psychology and social work criticizing the current mainstream psychotherapy discourse have been gaining more ground in recent decades. Yet, little empirical research has, to date, explored therapy in regular practice to identify the discursive resources employed during the clinical encounter and the way such discourses create and maintain power differences and the boundaries of the therapeutic interaction. This paper is rooted within a post-structural perspective based on Foucauldian analysis which sees power as dispersed throughout the social field and emphasizes the multiple ways in which power differences are created and maintained through accepted forms of discourse and knowledge. Data were drawn from a large study of mental health intakes in clinics in Israel working with culturally diverse populations. We conducted critical discourse analysis on a single dyad including transcription of a recorded intake session and post-intake interviews with the client and the therapist. Based on existing critique of psychotherapeutic discourse for its individualistic and apolitical view, we explored how the hegemonic psychotherapy discourse is negotiated in real practice, the ideology it carries, and the power differences it perpetuates. We shed light on the way this discourse conceals social injustice and contributes to the disempowerment of the client and ultimately to a poorer quality of services.
... To respondentce otevřelo možnosti dále se dotazovat a v jedné fázi výzkumu reflektuje roli výzkumnice jako odlišnou od typického "take and run", tedy "vezme si a uteče" postoje, který upozorňuje na to, že proces výzkumu je často přínosem pro výzkumníka či výzkumnici, ale méně již pro osobu poskytující informace. Otázkou samozřejmě je nejenom to, jak feminismus ovlivňuje podobu terapeutické či poradenské praxe, ale i jak zkušenosti s terapií zpětně ovlivňují pojímání feminismu (Chester, Bretherton, 2001). Znovu připomeňme, že feministické myšlení má mnoho podob, které se odrážejí i v psychologické praxi. ...
... Ve výzkumu Gehart a Lyleho (2001) Zařazení tématu veřejné angažovanosti poukazuje na živé dilema, které naznačuje řada feministicky orientovaných psycholožek -je vůbec reálné věnovat se ještě aktivismu nad rámec terapie (Chester, Bretherton, 2001)? Není toto právě na úkor konkrétních osob, které čekají na podporu svého terapeuta či terapeutky? ...
... Edell, Brown & Tolman, 25 describe feminist counselling as definable by how the counsellor 'thinks' about what she does. 26 This definition could be considered appealing for its flexibility and capacity to accommodate a plethora of orientations and techniques. However, there are unanswered questions as to what exactly feminist values and ways of thinking are. ...
Many counsellors/psychotherapists working with victims of domestic violence (DV) encounter substance use disorders (SUDs), whether directly or indirectly, and yet an understanding of how to address these co-occurring issues in practice appears lacking. A qualitative design using semi-structured interviews and IPA captured the individual experiences and perceptions of 6 female BACP registered counsellors/psychotherapists who counsel victims of DV based in DV ‘specific’ organisations. Four super-ordinate themes emerged and included a ‘feminist perspective’, ‘addiction: symptom of trauma’, ‘skills development in substance misuse’ and ‘feelings of exclusion in the workplace’. This study offers an initial understanding of how DV counsellors view SUDs and the impact this had in their practice. It further provided insight into how supported and involved they felt in their workplace when counselling this group. These findings are discussed in terms of strategy development and training aimed at improving the experience of counsellors/psychotherapists working in DV counselling organisations when they encounter SUDs in order to support counsellors and service-users well-being.
Keywords: counselling, IPA, substance use, domestic violence, feminism
... The proposal of this reduced measure of the questionnaire will serve for use in research where the aim is to incorporate the gender perspective in studies by evaluating women's conformity to the female gender role. The 45-items CFNI versions offers clinicians an abbreviated tool that can be used in psychological therapy or counseling following the APA's Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women (2007) and the theory and practice of feminist therapy (e.g., Chester and Bretherton 2001;Parent and Moradi 2010;Worrell 2001) that emphasize the importance of assessing the impact of gender roles in women's lives. It is an important instrument in lines of research where not only differences between the sexes are posited, but where there is an attempt to ascertain how the allocation of roles made to women by society and conformity or otherwise to this allocation may affect other variables such as health, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, etc. ...
This study extends the previous research on the structure of the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory (CFNI-84) by applying the bifactor model. The CFNI was administered to a large sample of Spanish women. The Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) study in Spain supported the results obtained in the USA. A brief measure of the instrument (the CFNI-45r) is developed by eliminating the items which have a content overlap or non-salient factorial loading. With this brief version a competition took place among theoretically plausible models (the one-dimensional model, the one for independent factors, the one for correlated factors, the second-order one and the bifactor), and it was seen that the best fit was obtained from the bifactor model, that is, the existence of a general factor where the construct measured is developed. There is a discussion on the theoretical implications of this bifactor model which would support the original structure of the instrument with facets of the conformity to feminine norms which contribute to a general factor.
... A political discourse to psychotherapy includes an ongoing social critique of social exclusion and oppression (Chester & Bretherton, 2001;Prilleltensky et al., 2008) and an acknowledgment of the political context of psychotherapy (Prilleltensky et al., 2008). The basic assumption is that it is not possible to properly understand and address well-being and suffering without looking at the context of the power relationships in which suffering occurs (Totton, 2006). ...
Although identification of main problems is the foundation for treatment planning, limited research has examined reasons for seeking mental health care. We identified reasons for seeking mental health care as reported by clients and therapists upon initial contact with mental health services. We conducted in-depth interviews with clients and their therapists immediately following the intake. We analyzed 117 therapist and 112 client interviews using thematic analysis. Overall interrater reliability among three raters who coded the interviews was high (kappa = 0.72). Our findings suggest that, overall, clients and therapists report similar main area problems that bring clients to care. Emotional distress and other psychiatric symptoms as well as interpersonal problems were most prevalent. Therapists tended to ignore some problem areas that clients highlighted, including physical problems and socioeconomic strains. Raising awareness to potential gaps in perception of main problems that bring clients to care will promote a shared understanding and improve quality of care.
... The above criticism also had important consequences on feminist therapy and counselling. According to Chester and Bretherton (2001) most descriptions conceptualize feminist therapy and counselling as a philosophical orientation and a value system. They also support the view that, in considering what makes feminist counselling feminist, it is possible to argue that the two terms are mutually exclusive, since many researchers believe that combining feminism and counselling is politically problematic. ...
The paper is a reflective summary of my identity as a counselling psychologist. It discusses personal life, work and training experiences. The reason I would like to publish such a work is to encourage students in Greece, where the field of Counselling Psychology is less developed, to consider this kind of specialization, as well as to continuously enhance their professional identity, assimilating both practice and research opportunities, throughout their career paths. The paper focuses on three major influences in my development and training in the field: (a) graduate experiences as a doctoral student, writing a thesis on women's professional development, (b) work experiences in a career center of a large academic institution, and (c) academic and instructional experiences in a School of Psychology, where I teach and supervise research of both undergraduate and graduate students. The above influences delineate three separate, yet integrating identities: the identity of a feminist, the identity of a practitioner, and the identity of a researcher and instructor in the academia–that is, the identity of a scientist. My intention is to show how these three identities have been well integrated all these years, improving continuously my level of work in each and every dimension.
... Being feminist usually requires a lot of immediate explanation; it can repulse people if just expressed as such. Chester and Bretherton (2001) cite participants in their research: ''I am normally careful about the context and the timing of introducing something as feminist'' (p. 537) and it seems to be the case for many subjects I interviewed as well. ...
This article starts with a discussion of how the Czech society welcomed feminism after the collapse of communist regime in the Eastern bloc. It continues with an evaluation of how feminism and gender studies have influenced the Czech psychology and its practice; examples from qualitative research with psychologists and therapists are presented.
Article deals with gender stereotypes in counseling/psychotherapy setting. It illustrates on personality and developmental theories and research results how they support stereotypical view to men and women, defines basic gender related concepts. Authors explain gender related concepts and suggest their links to counseling/therapy context. Obtained research results (101 Slovak psychotherapists and counselors participated in the research) in its quantitative part showed that most of the respondents disagreed with sexist attitudes, but among them there are also those who have quite strong biases and prejudices both towards to men and women. Qualitative part of the research confirmed presence of stereotypical stance among psychotherapists.
This paper considers the potential for advancing power-sensitised practice in counselling. Power-sensitised practice engages with differences in social power, seeing these as significant to therapeutic work. Key to the development of power-sensitised practice is the availability in therapy discourse of arguments based on social responsibility. It has been noted in previous papers that counselling discourse holds resources for arguments based on “social responsibility” as well as the more dominant strand of “individualism”. Power-sensitised practice using social responsibility arguments can therefore be seen to be compatible with existing counselling discourses and can occur where counsellors acknowledge the validity of social responsibility arguments in counselling; a vision of how these arguments may be used; and a willingness to vocalise such arguments, generating a personal engagement with social responsibility in practice. Although this article is written with reference to counselling, the argument is equally applicable to psychotherapy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Counsellor education for working with Aboriginal women must address both culture and gender issues and this may be done by applying feminist theoty within a multicultural counselling petspective. This paper explores these perspectives, theif ap-plication to these women, and specific counsellor education considetations. Issues par-ticular to Aboriginal women are discussed in addition to factors for integrating feminism and multicultural counselling within this context. Once counsellots have an increased awateness of these factors, they may become mote effective cross-cultural and feminist counsellors for Aboriginal women.
This article summarizes the history and current status of feminist counseling and psychotherapy. It describes the formation and development of feminist therapy during the 1970s, compares early commitments with aspects of change and maturation during the second decade, and reviews areas of agreement and disagreement during the 1980s and early 1990s. Initial feminist efforts resulted in the creation of an overarching philosophical framework for feminist psychotherapy. The second decade was marked by rapid expansion and the application of feminist therapy to diverse populations and problems as well as the integration of feminist philosophy with mainstream psychotherapeutic systems. Feminist therapists developed more complex models of personality, diagnosis, and ethical behavior and engaged in the examination and revision of early commitments. This review draws on the literatures of both social work and psychology and discusses the contribution of counseling psychologists to feminist therapy. It also addresses theoretical issues, research, training needs, and the role of advocacy and activism in feminist therapy.
As both a feminist therapist and a survivor of incest, moving myself beyond therapeutic issues into an area of public education has been crucial to my own healing process. Receiving positive responses to my workshops and discussion groups, it became apparent that using a similar approach with clients who were survivors might be beneficial to their healing. As a member of The Counseling Center for Women, a feminist therapy collective in Israel, I suggested we sponsor a public exhibition and a series of programs of the topic of incest and abuse. The Municipality of Tel Aviv was approached to be its governmental sponsor. Entitled "Silent No More," the program moved therapists and clients from working in the privacy of therapy to a public forum. What began as an uncomplicated educational program became an emotional process and a politicizing of individuals to help others as well as themselves. Moving from a feeling of shame to a sense of empowerment, the exhibition gave us a new sense of self-esteem and strength in our own abilities and our recovery process.
Afrocentrism and feminism, ideologies born from resistance to racist and sexist oppression, spawned psychological theories that identify emotional and behavioral patterns of African Americans and women. Afrocentric psychology and feminist psychologies, however, have presented theoretical frameworks limited in their applicability to African American women. Problems include dualistic notions of race and gender, implicit norms for “correct” behavior and assumptions of universality in regard to personality traits. In this article, these problems and their impact on African American women are explored. Recent Black feminist, or “womanist” models, offering integrative approaches to working with African American women are discussed and implications for psychotherapy are considered.
Contemporary feminists have been concerned to address the impact of psychoanalysis on the social construction of femininity. By contrast, the work of humanistic psychologists has received relatively little in the way of feminist scrutiny. This is apparent within person-centred counselling which can be regarded as a rapidly developing social movement in contemporary Britain. The person-centred approach has been adopted not only by `mainstream' agencies but by many feminist agencies and women `s self-help groups. Drawing on the insights of feminist philosophy this article attempts to subject the key concepts of Rogerian counselling to gender analysis. The so-called `core conditions' are addressed from a feminist perspective and the principles of `responsibility' and `authenticity' examined from a woman-centred viewpoint. The problems of adopting Rogerian principles in the context of Rape Crisis counselling are addressed. A consideration is made of the extent to which humanism and the counselling practices informed by this tradition have failed to address the specific problems encountered by women in their search for personhood and agency.
This article presents a model of feminist identity development for women. The model is derived, in part, from Cross's (1971) theory of Black identity development and is based on the premise that women who live in contemporary society must first acknowledge, then struggle with, and repeatedly work through their feelings about the prejudice and discrimination they experience as women in order to achieve authentic and positive feminist identity. The stages in this process include passive acceptance, revelation, embeddedness-emanation, synthesis, and active commitment. Implications of the model are outlined for women, nonsexist and feminist psychotherapies and contemporary society.
This article presents a brief review showing that feminist therapy has been a political act in North America historically, theoretically, and practically. Within this framework, the author gives the history and the cultural context of Japanese feminist counseling in relation to Eastern thought and to women's liberation movements with a focus on three key concepts, "independence," "dependence," and "maternity." She provides information about the Japanese Association of Feminist Counseling Practices and Studies as a political turning point for Japanese feminist counselors. Their definitions and implementations of an essential feminist belief that "the personal is political" are examined and then are illustrated through consciousness-raising groups. networking, attempts at influencing public policy, and challenges to professionalism.