Therapy and Counseling for Women in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Twin Cities.

SPECIALTIES

Women's Therapy

Home > Women's Therapy

Are You A Woman Looking For Effective And Empathetic Mental Health Support?

Have you encountered women-specific challenges that have impacted your mental health? Are gender roles creating self-limiting expectations in your world? Or are questions concerning your career, partnership, self-worth, or identity as a mother causing you to feel lost or dissatisfied with certain aspects of life?

Maybe you struggle with your self-esteem. It’s possible that years of conditioning by an appearance-obsessed culture have caused you to have a complicated relationship with your body. Or maybe the comparison culture perpetuated by social media has made you feel less adequate than your coworkers, friends, and peers.

Perhaps you’ve encountered sexism or discrimination as a result of your gender. If this is the case, it’s likely that you worry that you don’t receive the same treatment as your male counterparts, or you may have started to feel pigeonholed into certain roles either at work or at home. Maybe you’ve been stereotyped or taken less seriously because of the way you speak, look, or behave as a woman.

Alternatively, you may be struggling with certain aspects of motherhood or the responsibilities that come with childrearing. Maybe you’re starting to wonder if you should have a baby or having troubles with infertility. Perhaps you’ve already had kids but are coming up against obstacles in creating a balanced future for yourself and your family. If you are pregnant or have recently given birth, you may be struggling with perinatal or postpartum anxiety and depression. Or perhaps you have children that are grown and out of the house and you’re now re-evaluating certain aspects of your identity and purpose in life.

Today’s modern women face all kinds of unique challenges, and the accumulation of distress can contribute to periods of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. With counseling for women at Through Therapy Collective, you can achieve a feeling of acceptance, increased self-worth, and a sense of empowerment.

Women Are Subjected To Many And Unreasonable Gender Norms

As women, we encounter certain issues that are specific to our gender. Even though so much of what constitutes “womanhood” is a societal construct, such gender norms can ultimately hinder our progress as individuals.

Take, for instance, the standards and responsibilities that accompany motherhood. It’s assumed that women will be the predominant caretakers of their children, often resulting in career delays and imbalanced romantic and familial relationships. If a woman continues to work after having children, for example, she’s likely to encounter challenges in her work-life balance and will often take on more of an emotional and domestic burden than a male partner. And if a woman expresses any ambivalence toward her identity as a mother, it is automatically assumed that she is unloving, irresponsible, and unfit to parent.

But of course, the cultural limitations imposed on women are not only related to caregiving and motherhood. Women are more likely to experience harassment, abuse, and assault in general, and we are also the gender that is expected to take things on the chin while hiding away our pain and anger. The patriarchy does not create a whole lot of space for women to work through our trauma and we do not get very much permission from the world at large to express our emotions.

Moreover, so much of our experience as women has been stigmatized, dissected, and dictated by society at large. From the moment we approach adolescence, our bodies are put under the microscope of the male gaze. We are at once sexual objects, vessels for pregnancy, and biological systems whose organic innerworkings (such as menstruation or the natural aging process) have become taboo.

With all these signals being crossed, it’s no wonder that if you’re a woman, you have struggled to identify and express your needs. In counseling for women, however, you can be given an opportunity to address your authentic inner being while creating meaningful boundaries in the name of self-care.

Therapy Gives Women Permission To Feel And Explore Their Emotions

The world can often be an unkind and uncaring place when it comes to the issues that affect women in particular. You may not feel like you have permission to explore your adversities and if you do, you’re probably worried that you’ll be judged. But in therapy, you can have the chance to feel accepted and normalized in your experiences as you learn the skills to overcome the women-specific obstacles you face.

Beginning with an initial session that is meant to serve as a diagnostic assessment, your therapist will gather relevant information about your present symptoms and concerns, mental health history, and develop a treatment plan. Our clinicians customize therapy sessions to meet the needs of each client and can help you to develop individualized tools that will improve your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Depending on your needs, your therapist may draw from a wide range of evidence-based approaches that allow you to target specific issues and draw on your individual strengths. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), for example, can help you to adjust the relationship you have to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, while Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) can aid in distress tolerance. Internal Family Systems (IFS) and other attachment-based approaches can allow you to better understand your history and influences. And finally, Trauma-Focused CBT and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) are particularly useful for women who have survived instances of neglect, abuse, assault, or other acute distress.

Using these methods, you can increase your awareness of yourself and your needs, have a better understanding of your role within your life’s unique systems, and identify your values. As you become fluent in these values, you will be able to communicate your needs more effectively and establish essential boundaries. In doing so, counseling can be your pathway to healing and self-empowerment.

At Through Therapy Collective, our team of compassionate and culturally competent therapists has decades of experience helping women to live in alignment with their values in a way that extends beyond societal expectations and norms.

It’s possible to come out the other side of your hardship, grief, and personal transformation—and we will be your guides on the journey Through.

Maybe you’re interested in trying therapy for women, but you have some concerns…

I have everything I need—I shouldn’t feel this way and I shouldn’t need therapy.

Our culture is extremely good at minimizing women’s issues, especially when it comes to matters of mental health. That voice in your head that is telling you how you should feel is just another instance of patriarchal oppression trying to keep you from feeling empowered and expressing yourself authentically. If you are struggling with symptoms of anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma—no matter how mild those symptoms might seem—you deserve the kind of self-care, reflection, and unpacking of emotions that counseling can provide.

I’m struggling with fertility issues in particular—how can I trust that my clinician will be able to relate to me?

The path to pregnancy is a long and winding road for so many women, and we are so sorry that your journey has not gone as expected. We recognize that there will always be limitations when it comes to any one person fully understanding the challenges that another person experiences, however, we are committed to achieving the utmost degree of cultural competence at our practice. Many of our therapists are women themselves and have struggled on their own journey to motherhood. We are constantly learning from our clients and each other about how to be more empathetic and effective support systems. No matter what your fertility struggle may be, we are confident that therapy for women can provide you with the perspective and healing you’ve been looking for.

I have so much going on in my life—I don’t have time for therapy.

We understand that you are probably juggling all sorts of demands in your life. However, we want you to view counseling as an opportunity to build up your resources and better manage your time rather than an opportunity to deplete those things. Our clinicians are available for online therapy according to your scheduling preferences and aim to make treatment as accessible as possible. If there is something we can do to make therapy better aligned with your busy schedule, let us know.

You Can Be Empowered To Live Authentically & Unapologetically

If gender-specific issues have caused mental or emotional distress in your life, counseling for women at Through Therapy Collective can provide you with individualized insights and tools for healing.

To schedule a free, 15-minute consultation or to learn more about how we can help, email us.