Feminist therapy that puts your voice at the centre
Feminist psychotherapy in New York that takes your lived experience seriously, including the social and political forces that shape how you feel.
Feminist therapy starts from a simple idea: personal pain rarely happens in a vacuum. Gender, sexuality, race, class, culture and power all shape what we are taught to feel, want and tolerate. In our work together, your autonomy, your voice and your own understanding of your life come first. We explore identity, relationships and wellbeing without judgement, and without asking you to shrink to fit someone else's idea of normal.
“You are not too much, too sensitive or too difficult. Often you are responding reasonably to a world that asked you to carry more than your share.”
Feminist psychotherapy helps separate what is genuinely yours to work on from what was placed on you by expectation, inequality or harm.
What feminist psychotherapy means here
Feminist psychotherapy is an approach rather than a single technique. It shapes how I listen, how we share power in the room, and how we make sense of distress.
Feminist therapy emerged from the recognition that many traditional models of mental health treated women's anger, grief, sexuality and exhaustion as symptoms, while overlooking the conditions that produced them. Today it is not only for women. It is for anyone whose experience has been shaped by gender, by power or by being told their perspective counts for less, including men questioning narrow ideas of masculinity, and trans and non-binary people navigating systems that were not built for them.
My feminist practice draws on study in gender theory and feminist philosophy, years as an LGBTQIA+ primary care provider and HIV specialist, and a broader curiosity about culture, faith and art. That background helps me hear the wider context in a personal story: how expectations about caregiving, appearance, productivity or desire may be living inside you as guilt, anxiety or self-criticism.
Feminist psychotherapy does not mean I will tell you what to think or push a political agenda. It means I will respect your right to define your own life, name injustice when it is relevant, and help you build choices that genuinely belong to you.
Shared power in the therapy room
Therapy can unintentionally reproduce the hierarchies people are trying to heal from, with the clinician cast as expert and the client as problem. In feminist therapy I aim for a more collaborative relationship. I am transparent about how I work, I invite you to question me, and decisions about goals, pacing and treatment are made together. You are the authority on your own experience; I bring training, perspective and care.
Context, not just symptoms
When we look at anxiety, low mood, burnout or body discomfort, we also look at the circumstances around them: unequal labour at home or work, experiences of harassment or discrimination, the pressures of racism, homophobia or transphobia, financial precarity, and cultural scripts about how you should be. Seeing the bigger picture can ease self-blame, which often makes change more possible rather than less.
Body autonomy and consent
Respect for bodily autonomy runs through my work, from how we approach somatic exploration to how we discuss medication. Nothing is done to you without understanding and consent. This matters especially for people whose bodies have been policed, judged or harmed, including survivors of violence, sex workers, reproductive health advocates and people whose sexuality or gender has been treated as a problem.
Feminist therapy may be right for you if you are
People come to feminist therapy with all kinds of concerns. What they tend to share is a sense that their experience has been minimised, misunderstood or framed only as an individual failing. If you want a therapist who will take your context seriously and respect your choices, this way of working may fit.
- Carrying invisible emotional labour
- Exploring gender identity or expression
- Recovering from controlling relationships
- Feeling silenced at work
- Questioning sexuality or relationship structures
- Struggling with body image and shame
- Processing harassment or discrimination
- Navigating reproductive decisions
- Burnt out from advocacy work
- Rebuilding trust in your own judgement
Feminist values in every session
Feminist psychotherapy here is woven into an integrative practice. It informs how I bring in psychoanalytic depth, somatic work, practical tools and psychiatric care, so that every part of treatment respects your agency and your lived reality.
Your words first
We start with how you describe your experience, not how a diagnostic manual might. Diagnoses can be useful tools, and I can provide them when they help, but they never replace your own understanding of what is happening and why.
Power and context
We look at how gender, race, sexuality, class, migration and culture have shaped your options and your inner voice. Naming these forces can loosen shame and open a more compassionate, realistic view of what you have been navigating.
Consent and boundaries
You set the pace and can always say no, including to a question, an exercise or a suggestion. Practising boundaries in therapy can be quietly powerful, especially if your limits have been ignored elsewhere in your life.
Embodied awareness
Social pressure is often held in the body as tension, numbness or disconnection. With your consent, gentle somatic attention can help you notice and reclaim sensations, preferences and signals that you may have learned to override.
Strengths and resistance
Feminist therapy honours the ways you have survived and pushed back, even when they looked like stubbornness, withdrawal or anger. We treat these as intelligent responses and explore how to use that energy in ways that serve you now.
Informed medication choices
If psychiatric medication might help, I explain options, benefits and side effects clearly so you can make an informed decision. Your preferences about your body and mind lead, and any changes are gradual, monitored and collaborative.
Feminist therapy and conventional models
Many good therapists share some of these values. Feminist psychotherapy makes them explicit and central.
Feminist psychotherapy
- Distress seen in social context
- Collaborative, transparent relationship
- Your definitions of wellbeing lead
- Power and identity openly discussed
- Anger and protest treated as meaningful
Narrowly conventional models
- Distress located only in individual
- Clinician as sole expert
- Normality defined from outside
- Context often left unspoken
- Strong emotion seen mainly as symptom
Beginning feminist therapy with me
Each step is shaped with you, starting with a short conversation and no commitment.
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1
Free consultation 15 minutes
We talk about what you are looking for and what feminist therapy means to you. You can ask how I think about gender, power, identity and relationships, so you can judge whether my approach feels right before committing to anything further.
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2
Getting to know your story 60 or 90 minutes
In early sessions we explore your history, relationships, identity and the pressures you are living with. If psychiatric symptoms are part of the picture, I can include an assessment. You decide what to share and when, and nothing is rushed.
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3
Agreeing a direction
Together we name what you want from therapy, in your own terms. That might be healing from a particular experience, building confidence, exploring identity, or simply having a space to think. We also choose which tools to bring in, from depth work to somatic practice.
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4
Working and reviewing
We continue at a rhythm that suits you, checking in regularly about what is helping and what is not. You are encouraged to give honest feedback, including disagreement, because that feedback shapes the work and models the equal relationship at its heart.
Francesca Rome-Marie, PMHNP-BC
I bring together psychiatry, psychotherapy, somatic work and whole-body health, informed by years in primary care and further study in gender theory, feminist thought, culture and visual art.
I keep a deliberately small caseload so that every client receives consistent, unhurried and genuinely attentive care, held within one relationship rather than split across several providers.
Clear, upfront rates
I don't accept insurance. Modern Holistic Psychiatry is an out-of-network provider, so sessions are paid for directly. Depending on your plan, you may be able to claim reimbursement through your out-of-network benefits.
Find out how much your insurance may coverNeed urgent support? If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.
Feminist Psychotherapy FAQs
What is feminist therapy?
Feminist therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that understands mental health in its social and political context. It pays attention to how gender, power, sexuality, race, class and culture shape our experiences and our distress. It emphasises a collaborative, transparent relationship between therapist and client, respect for autonomy, and a focus on strengths. In my New York practice it sits within an integrative approach that can also include psychoanalytic, somatic and psychiatric care.
Is feminist psychotherapy only for women?
No. Feminist therapy is for anyone who wants their context and autonomy taken seriously. I work with women, men, trans and non-binary people, and people of all sexualities and relationship structures. Men often find it helpful for exploring the costs of rigid masculinity, emotional isolation or expectations around providing. What matters is an interest in understanding yourself within your wider world, not your gender.
Will you impose political views on me?
No. Feminist therapy is not about telling you what to believe. It is about recognising that power and social context affect wellbeing, and respecting your right to decide how to live. If you hold different views from mine, that is welcome in the room. I aim to help you clarify your own values and choices, not to recruit you to mine.
Is feminist therapy LGBTQIA+ and kink affirming?
Yes. Having worked as an LGBTQIA+ primary care provider and HIV specialist, and studied gender theory, I bring an affirming, informed stance to sexuality, gender identity and relationship diversity. Kink, BDSM, consensual non-monogamy and polyamory are approached without judgement or pathologising, and we focus on what you want to explore rather than on justifying how you live.
Can feminist therapy help with trauma and harassment?
It can be a supportive framework for processing experiences of sexual harassment, assault, coercive relationships or discrimination. Feminist therapy places responsibility where it belongs, which can ease the self-blame many survivors carry. I combine this with trauma-informed and somatic approaches, moving at a pace that keeps you within your window of tolerance. If you are ever in immediate danger or crisis, please call 911 or 988.
How does feminist therapy work with psychiatric medication?
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner I can assess, diagnose and prescribe, and I bring feminist values to that role. That means explaining options clearly, listening to your concerns about side effects or how medication may affect your sense of self, and respecting your decisions. Some clients choose medication alongside therapy, others prefer not to; both are respected, and any changes are gradual and carefully monitored.
I have had therapy that felt dismissive. How is this different?
Many people come to me after feeling unheard, judged or reduced to a diagnosis. In feminist therapy your account of your experience is the starting point, and I actively invite feedback about how our work feels. Longer sessions and a small caseload give us time to understand you properly. If something I say does not sit right, I want to know, and we will talk about it.
Start feminist therapy in New York
If you want a therapist who respects your autonomy and understands the bigger picture, book a free 15-minute consultation and let us talk.