Feminist Theory for Mental Health 

Join this BETA program and receive TWO bonuses:

Bonus #1: Two 45-minute Q&A calls for program participants, hosted by Kara on January 7 at 3 p.m. ET, and February 11 at 1 p.m. ET (replays available).

This bonus disappears after November 7.

Bonus #2:  Unlock an exclusive selection of our most advanced feminist coaching tools to use directly with clients and for your clients to use between sessions.

This bonus disappears after November 15.

Have questions about the program? 

Join Kara’s program Q&A call on November 6 at 5 p.m. ET.

In exchange for access to this deeply reduced BETA pricing, you must be willing to provide detailed feedback on the materials through weekly surveys. 

Proof of therapeutic license will be required, whether or not you are currently offering therapy. 

Your therapeutic education taught you so many valuable things.

But the one thing it may not have taught you was the massive impact that socialization — specifically gender-based socialization —  has on your clients’ brains. 

Because nature, nurture, and personal experiences aren’t the only thing that shape our internal worlds — and how we interact with the external one around us.

The way that society teaches us to think about ourselves because of who we are has a huge impact on our minds and lives as well. 

Feminist thought work brought an entirely new layer to my therapeutic practice. 

I specialize in addictions & trauma & I found it extremely beneficial to incorporate the feminist lens for post-traumatic growth. This work transformed my relationship with myself & empowered me to facilitate deeper transformation with my patients.

– Sasia

You can’t truly help your clients empower themselves unless you understand what is making them feel disempowered. 

And when it comes to women, it’s not just evolutionary biology or cognitive psychology or their family histories at play.

It’s what they believe they are allowed.

It’s what they believe they can accomplish.

It’s what they believe they are worth.

It’s not just who they believe they are — it’s who society taught them to be.

Almost every woman in the world grows up in a patriarchal society.

Almost every woman in the world grows up in a white supremacist society, or in a society impacted by the white supremacism colonialist powers have exported around the globe.

Almost every woman in the world grows up exposed not only to sexism, but to racism, sizeism, ableism, and a host of other intersecting structures of oppression and marginalization.

These powerful cultural narratives shape our brains from infancy on.

This is especially challenging because as a human in society, you have also received all of this same socialization! So you’re swimming around in the same pool. 

So when you try to help a woman with therapeutic tools that don’t take this deeply into account?

You’re bringing a butter knife to a sword fight.

Women crowded together over a book.

And if you’re coaching a woman of color, or a fat woman, or a woman living with a disability, or an LGBTQIA+ woman, or a woman who lives across multiple marginalized identities?

And you don’t understand the history, theory, and impacts of the social forces that have shaped their experiences, minds, and lives?

You’re doing them a disservice. And you’re doing yourself one too.

Because no matter how many intersecting identities you live in or forms of marginalization you’ve experienced, there are others you don’t know about first-hand. This certification will teach you about your blind spots, and will deepen your experience of yourself as a multi-faceted therapist and human being as well.

This isn’t a luxury, or a bonus.

It’s a necessity.

After I started implementing this perspective a client said to me: “Where did you learn how to be a therapist? Because I’ve been in and out of therapy and I’ve never done it like this … “

– Katy

Unfortunately, this socialization-based perspective isn’t included in therapeutic education.

Even if you went to a great school.

And while practice brings you lots of experience and insight, it won’t ever fill a gap in conceptual and theoretical understanding.

Even if you’ve been practicing a long time.

Which means that your practice is likely missing a key frame for understanding and supporting your women clients.

Even if you’re a feminist yourself.

The bottom line is that regardless of your education, experience, or personal affinities …

If you haven’t been trained in the theory and practice of feminist-specific mental health, you’re probably still missing a key part of the picture when it comes to understanding why your women clients struggle with so many similar thought patterns.

Which means you’re missing crucial knowledge that would make it easier to help them shift those thought patterns faster, with less distress, and with less self-blame. 

What you need is a holistic social, political, historical, and intellectual lens on women’s minds, personal change, and social progress.

And you can’t truly understand what is happening in women’s brains and how to help them change their lives without it.

“What I loved most about [this work] is that I was seen.”

As a woman that belongs to a number of marginalized groups it was amazing to see myself reflected back in this curriculum and have acknowledgement of my experience in the world! If you are thinking about enrolling the only question should be when. And I suggest that the answer should be as soon as possible!

– Sonia

Whether you consider yourself a feminist through and through ...


Or the word ‘feminist’ conjures up images of burning bras and hating men …

… It doesn’t matter.

(I know, not what you expected me to say!)

Because if your clients have absorbed social messaging about women, then their brains have been impacted by it. Full stop.

And that means if you want to help them effectively, then you have to understand these impacts so you can help undo them.

And strangely, whether you identify as a feminist or not doesn’t have anything to do with having this skill set.

Because even understanding political theory doesn’t mean you know how to apply it to create a consensual, collaborative, and transformative therapeutic container that helps your clients rewire their brains at the deepest level.

And this is the only place to learn it.

BECAUSE THE REVOLUTION STARTS WITHIN.

Once you have completed Feminist Theory for Mental Health, you will:

  • Understand the social, historical, and ideological forces that shape the way women think about themselves and the world.
  • Have mastery of the impacts of women’s socialization in areas like body image, sex, eating + exercise, social relationships, family + parenting, romantic relationships + dating, money, work, self-confidence and self-care.
  • Develop your capacity to expand your own approach in deeper and more feminist-informed directions.

When this program was taught as an advanced certification for coaches, it was a $15,000 investment.

But to help get this work into the hands of more mental health professionals, we're offering a self-study version of the course to a very limited group of therapist program testers for $1,497 (with payment plans available).

NOTE: Because this is the initial round of the program, this is the lowest this price will ever be.

In exchange for access to this pricing, you must be willing to provide detailed feedback on the materials through weekly surveys. Proof of therapeutic license will be required, whether or not you are currently offering therapy. 

I’m Kara Loewentheil, the creator of The School of New Feminist Thought, host of the internationally top-ranked podcast “UnF*ck Your Brain,” and the author of the New York Times-Bestseller, “Take Back Your Brain: How a Sexist Society gets in Your Head — and How to Get It Out.”

After graduating from Yale University, I worked as a media writer for Planned Parenthood before enrolling in Harvard Law School, where I was the President of the board of directors of the national organization, Law Students for Reproductive Justice. I clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then litigated at the Center for Reproductive Rights. After that I held academic fellowships at Yale and Columbia, before leaving the law to become a coach. I pioneered feminist life coaching, and now more than fifteen thousand women have participated in my flagship program, The Feminist Self-Help Society. 

After years of having therapists join my programs and tell me how much they learned that was missing from their education and clinical training, I decided it was time to reach therapists directly. From 2021-2023 I ran a successful advanced certification in feminist coaching for other coaches, and now my goal is to expand this program to include other mental health professionals. 

Because coaching and therapy were both created mostly by straight, white, Christian men. And it’s time the rest of us had a say.

Portrait of Kara Loewentheil

Here is what is included in the program: ​​

  • Feminist Coaching Curriculum: With 16 modules on the impacts of socialization on women’s brains, you’ll be able to progress through the curriculum at your own speed. After completing a feedback survey at the end of each lesson, you’ll unlock the next one, helping you stay engaged and reflective as you move forward. This curriculum builds a strong foundation in feminist theory and the impact of socialization on women’s thoughts about themselves, equipping you with the tools to apply directly to your work with clients.
  • Audio Version of the Curriculum: We’ve made the content available to listen to via private podcast, so you can easily absorb the lessons while driving, walking, or multitasking.
  • Full Published Textbook (PDF Version): A comprehensive PDF textbook is included, providing a reliable reference you can access digitally as you work through the course. Perfect to use in tandem with the audio lessons as well.
  • 40 Hours of Kara’s Teaching, Coaching, Practicum, and Q&A Call Replays: Dive into 40 hours of recorded live teaching, real client coaching sessions, and Q&A calls from previous cohorts, so you can see feminist coaching in action.
  • Feminist Coaching Skill Evaluation Tools: These specialized evaluation tools will allow you to track your growth and ensure your practice is grounded in feminist values.
  • Self-Evaluation: Use these guided self-assessments to reflect on your development so you can identify strengths and areas for further growth.
  • Feminist Coaching Rubric: This clear and structured rubric will help you measure your progress and mastery of key feminist skills.
  • Practicum Call Learning Guide: Enhance your experience with this guide to help you capture insights and apply what you learn effectively as you watch the practicum calls.
  • Optional Written Test and Certificate of Completion: If you’d like to formalize your learning, you have the option to take a written test and earn a certificate of completion.

“I never thought of myself as a feminist. This course is more than that label.”

It is about being a powerful woman on earth and understanding all the ways society has set up systems to remove women’s power. And all the ways we can support ourselves and our clients to reclaim and cultivate and magnify our power and use it for good. So whether you actively think about yourself as a feminist or not, do not let that stop you from signing up. You will learn so much more than you can imagine right now.

– Maggie

Program Content Modules

Module 1: Compassionate Self-Inquiry

Module 2: Feminist Practice Principles 

Module 3: Intersectional Feminist Theory

Module 4: Intersectional Integration and Self-Reflection 

Module 5: Work and Professional Life 

Module 6: Money

Module 7: Body Image 

Module 8: Health, Food, and Movement

 

Module 9: Friendship and Social Relationships 

Module 10: Dating and Romantic Relationships 

Module 11: Sex

Module 12: Family, Parenting, and Household 

Module 13: Religion

Module 14: Aging

Module 15: Relationship with self, Confidence, and Self-Improvement 

Module 16: Social Justice

 

Your Investment: $1497

(You can pay in full or in three monthly installments of $499.)

Join this BETA program and receive TWO bonuses:

Bonus #1: Two 45-minute Q&A calls for program participants, hosted by Kara on January 7 at 3 p.m. ET, and February 11 at 1 p.m. ET (replays available).

This bonus disappears after November 7.

Bonus #2:  Unlock an exclusive selection of our most advanced feminist coaching tools to use directly with clients and for your clients to use between sessions.

This bonus disappears after November 15.

(Curious to know more about the certification, and speak with Kara Loewentheil?

Join our Open House and Q&A call on November 6 at 5 p.m. ET. Add this call to your calendar here.)

Feminism started as a social movement. But movements are created, organized, and executed by human beings with human minds.

WE CAN’T BUILD A NEW WORLD UNTIL WE CAN DREAM IT.

And we can’t dream it until our minds are free.

Your job as a therapist is to help your clients free their minds.

And to do that, you have to educate and free your own.

All the rest will follow.

The most valuable part of this work was learning about why we think the way we think.

 I finally have the words and explanations for what I’ve been experiencing and witnessing. It all makes sense now.

—Brig Johson