Voices of Feminist Therapy

Feminist therapy was created in the late 1960s, concurrent with the founding of The Association for Women in Psychology. Its early practitioners had diverse lifestyles, backgrounds, and often unconventional training, but all had a common and radical goal of providing an alternative therapy for women whose mental health was still defined in terms of male-pleasing behaviours and rigid social roles. Originally published in 1995, the contributors share the personal experiences and reflections that helped them revolutionize therapy for women, particularly poignant and instructive at the time, as psychotherapy evolved from client-centred and individualistic to bureaucratic and socially and politically conservative.

Elizabeth Friar Williams

Introduction. Acknowledgments. List of Contributors. Part 1: Radical Roots 1. The Radical Edge: Feminist Therapy as Political Activism Sarah F. Pearlman 2. From Chicago to Rainbow Bridge: In Search of Changing Woman Joan Saks Berman 3. Looking Backward, Moving Forward Jeanne Adleman Part 2: Feminist Therapists and Their Organizations 4. Going Around in Circles and Coming Out in the Same Place and Different Places Barbara E. Sang 5. Finding a Home in Feminist Therapy Doris K. Howard Part 3: The Early Experiences of Feminist Therapists 6. Making Changes Joan Hamerman Robbins 7. My Story as a Feminist Therapist Elizabeth Friar Williams 8. How I Became a Feminist Therapist Ida P. Truscott Part 4: Being Our Own Models and Inventing the Therapy Our Clients Need 9. Feminist Therapy Lee Johnson-Kaufmann 10. Feminist and Multi-Cultural Therapy Maria Fadli 11. A View from the Prairie Ann McClenhan Part 5: Transitions 12. My Symphony Kayla Weiner 13. The Natural History of a Feminist Therapist Adrienne J. Smith 14. The Paradox of One-to-One Therapy: A Personal Feminist History Journal Polly E. Taylor. Epilogue