An Overview of Feminist Counseling
Course #76884 - $30 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Classical studies indicate that mental health clinicians are more likely to attribute traits associated with healthy adults to men rather than women. Many feminist scholars assert that these biases permeate throughout the fields of psychology and mental health. These gender-biases may affect the therapeutic relationship between the client and counselor/therapist. The therapist is viewed as the authority figure or the gatekeeper of knowledge, and the client takes in the therapist's insights. However, this knowledge can reflect androcentric biases. Feminist therapy or counseling adheres to three basic assumptions. First, the personal is political. Second, egalitarian therapeutic relationships should be paramount, and clinical processes should not mimic the differential power relationships that exist in society. Finally, women's experiences should be valued and privileged. This course will provide an overview of how gender influences cognitive scripts and behavior. This will set the context in understanding the gender biases that exist in clinical practices, such as diagnosing, assessment, the development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and social constructions of "abnormality." Finally, the principles, interventions, and therapeutic goals of feminist counseling will be introduced.
- INTRODUCTION
- WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES: SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
- SEX AND GENDER
- HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT OF THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT AND FEMINIST THERAPY
- PSYCHOLOGY, COUNSELING, AND SOCIAL WORK: FOCUS ON WOMEN'S CONCERNS
- TYPES OF FEMINISM
- GENDER BIASES
- BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FEMINIST THERAPY
- FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS AND STRATEGIES
- ETHICAL ISSUES
- KEY CONTROVERSIES AND TRENDS
- CONCLUSION
- RESOURCES
- Works Cited
This course is designed for social workers, psychologists, therapists, and mental health counselors of the interdisciplinary team who want to gain an overview of feminist therapy/counseling.
The purpose of this course is to increase the level of awareness and knowledge base of clinicians about the role of gender bias in construction of abnormality and the diagnostic and therapeutic process. Principles of feminist therapy/counseling, interventions, and ethics will be reviewed.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Discuss the demographic landscape of the United States as it pertains to gender.
- Analyze how sex and gender influence cognitive scripts and behaviors.
- Describe the historical context of feminism.
- Identify and define the different types of feminism.
- Discuss the role of gender biases in mental health diagnosis, assessment, and clinical practice.
- Identify the premises of feminist counseling.
- Outline interventions and therapy goals based on feminist counseling.
- Discuss ethical implications within the context of feminist counseling.
- Explain key controversies and future directions of feminist counseling.
Alice Yick Flanagan, PhD, MSW, received her Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University, School of Social Work. She has clinical experience in mental health in correctional settings, psychiatric hospitals, and community health centers. In 1997, she received her PhD from UCLA, School of Public Policy and Social Research. Dr. Yick Flanagan completed a year-long post-doctoral fellowship at Hunter College, School of Social Work in 1999. In that year she taught the course Research Methods and Violence Against Women to Masters degree students, as well as conducting qualitative research studies on death and dying in Chinese American families.
Previously acting as a faculty member at Capella University and Northcentral University, Dr. Yick Flanagan is currently a contributing faculty member at Walden University, School of Social Work, and a dissertation chair at Grand Canyon University, College of Doctoral Studies, working with Industrial Organizational Psychology doctoral students. She also serves as a consultant/subject matter expert for the New York City Board of Education and publishing companies for online curriculum development, developing practice MCAT questions in the area of psychology and sociology. Her research focus is on the area of culture and mental health in ethnic minority communities.
Contributing faculty, Alice Yick Flanagan, PhD, MSW, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
Supported browsers for Windows include Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 and up, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Supported browsers for Macintosh include Safari, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Other operating systems and browsers that include complete implementations of ECMAScript edition 3 and CSS 2.0 may work, but are not supported. Supported browsers must utilize the TLS encryption protocol v1.1 or v1.2 in order to connect to pages that require a secured HTTPS connection. TLS v1.0 is not supported.
The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.