Reflections on Black feminism, womanism and therapy

Psychotherapist and researcher Claudia Coussins (she/her) reflects on her relationship to Black feminism, womanism and therapy and on the FTN's upcoming course which she is curating and facilitating, starting on May 6th 2025.

The more I immerse myself in Black feminist and womanist literature and ideas, the more I become aware of its absence in mainstream therapeutic training and reading lists. Author, activist and Black feminist Toni Cade Bambara’s classic book The Salt Eaters (1980) encapsulates many of the themes that will be explored in this new introductory course Black Feminism and womanism: therapeutic perspectives, such as explorations of agency in one’s wellness, the impact of historical and social structures on illness and the role of community in healing. 

Preparing this course has been full of pleasure as it has meant doing some of my favourite things - reading, reminiscing and learning. And, it has also been a source of frustration and loss as I have been imagining what it could have felt like if some of these thinkers and therapists were not on the margins but core learning for everyone. One of the Feminist Therapy Network principles is feminist understandings are not solely theoretical but are lived and this course will be an opportunity, not only for learning from Black feminist and womanist thought, but also from the lived experiences of the group and the knowledge we’ll create together in real time.  

Going back to The Salt Eaters, which was not a straightforward read at all (which I suspect was the intention), it opens with a healer called Minnie Ransom, asking the question “are you sure sweetheart that you want to be well?”. The question is directed at the book’s protagonist Velma Henry who is struggling with her mental health. My immediate response to Minnie’s question was “of course Velma wants to be well. Doesn’t everybody?”. But immediately after that, multiple memories of taking comfort in familiar grooves - despite knowing they were at odds with my wellbeing - came to mind. Without judging myself, I can see how both circumstances and choice contributed to this. 

Black feminist scholar and therapist Lani V Jones interprets the opening line as Bambara preparing Women of Colour for the difficulties of healing work and extending an invitation to use Black feminism as an approach (1997). Another Black feminist academic Patricia Hill Collins, in her article Black Women and Wellness (2022), responds to Bambara’s question by wondering if wellness is even possible in an unwell society and explores the paradoxical pain that comes with wellness because it requires an acceptance of reality. This idea of wellness being painful provides a nuanced perspective on what it means to be well and also resonates with Minnie’s comments later on in the book “just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re well”.

As a psychotherapist and researcher, this book and other Black feminist and womanist works have challenged me to revisit and reconsider the meaning of some seemingly basic words I can take for granted such as “well”, “care”, “healing”, “mental health” and even “therapy”.  One thread that runs through the various strands of my work is viewing wellbeing as existing in a socio-economic, political, historical and cultural context. For me, this means that therapy cannot only remain in a clinical space, normative notions of mental health must be critiqued, and addressing structural barriers to wellbeing is crucial. In my own clinical practice, I see many practitioners of colour and we spend time detangling issues such as burnout, self-care and stereotypical narratives of being the carer. Drawing on the wisdom from Black feminist and womanist thinkers helps me to honour the intrapsychic and interpersonal process of my clients (as well as my own) while recognising the impact of complex and intersecting systems of oppression on being well.    

This Black Feminism and womanism: therapeutic perspectives introductory course and will be full of opportunities to delve into the richness of Black feminist and womanist knowledge. This course centres Back feminist and womanist thought (and prioritises people of colour in terms of spaces) but is open to everyone irrespective of race and ethnicity. Together, as we honour, respect, critique, cite, imagine and celebrate Black feminist and womanist thinkers, the hope is our practices will develop and grow. 

Course overview 

Every week, there will be a theme and we will consider some theory (including non-academic resources) in the context of our own practice, the wider psy-disciplines and society. Everyone will be invited to work towards developing their own therapeutic ethos in a written or other creative format. There will be reflective prompts to support this process. I have put some thoughts and quotes below as a taster to some of the resources and questions we’ll be exploring.

Week 1: introducing Black feminisms, womanisms and each other 

As we set the scene for the course together, we will look at some of the core Black feminist and womanist ideas and ways of being such as Black Feminist Therapy, Africana womanism and intersectionality. We will time travel back to meet Black women such as Anna Julia Cooper, whose activism in the 1800s paved the way for many of today’s Black feminists and womanists. We will reflect on applying different models to our own practice and ask “what do we even mean by therapy, healing, wellbeing and care?”

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“There are components unique to Black feminist therapies, including consciousness raising, gender role analysis, and social activism. Black feminist therapeutic strategies of race, gender, sexual identity, and class-role analysis, consciousness raising, exploration of power imbalances, social action, and empowerment are key modes of change in the therapeutic process.” (Lani V. Jones and Beverly Guy-Sheftall (2017)  p207)

Week 2: self and collective care 

Building on the first week’s conversations about what we mean by care, we will unpack the relationship between self-actualisation and self-recovery with collective struggle, social justice work and political resistance. We will look back to bell hooks and Audre Lorde for guidance as well as exploring the seductive wisdom and contradictions of the contemporary Black feminist self-help genre, which promises, as Jennifer Nash describes, that  “you can feel better, and the work of feeling better is politically radical” (p560).

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“Working toward wellness is painful because it means seeing things as they are. But it also means recognizing and, if possible, changing the relationship to power both within oneself and social conditions themselves.” (Patricia Hill Collins (2022) p357)

Week 3: roots and routes

This week is an opportunity to explore Black feminisms and womanisms as therapeutic practices that connect people despite national borders and honour diverse heritages. As Psychoanalyst and Black feminist Gail Lewis says in a podcast hosted by Lola Olufemi, “a feminism that is worth its salt cannot be aligned to ideas about the nation and its sovereignty” (2020). We will consider the relationship between Black and Arab feminisms, Latin American mujeristas and transatlantic womanisms and what this might mean for therapeutic practice. We will explore the tensions between the material realities for people of colour with the fluidity of intersectional identities inside and outside the therapy room. We will explore, but won’t centre, whiteness.

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“Womanist and mujerista psychologies call for the centralizing of intersectional identities and the wholeness of African- and Latina-descendant women globally, as well as all of humanity…In particular, mujeristas differ from dominant feminism as in their focus on location, biculturarism/transculturation, transfrontera/borderlands, and transnational issues. Even more, womanists and mujeristas subscribe to a global vision.” (Thema Bryant-Davis and Lillian Comas-Díaz (2016) p9)

Week 4: creativity and imagination

The final week will be a chance to both bring together different threads from the course and imagine new possibilities within and beyond the psy-disciplines. Black feminisms and womanisms are not just thoughts but stories, art and the creative lifeforce that Audre Lorde describes as the erotic (1984). We will learn from each other as we reflect on some of the literature and art that blur the lines between therapeutic and other disciplines, like The Salt Eaters. The invitation is to storytell together as we design our own practices, articulate our therapeutic ethos, and imagine how therapy in the future could be. 

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“Reading to become a therapist involved two reading lists. One was laid out in the course handbook in neat, fully referenced rows. The other emerged more like a scrapbook - formed in conversations; took the form of playlists, cooked food, and photocopied texts passed between friends and other collaborators.” (Foluke Taylor (2023) p96)

Practicalities 

This course is suitable for those training and working in the psy-disciplines, or a related field, with an interest in Black feminist and womanist approaches to therapy. It will run online over four 3-hour sessions on Tuesdays 6.00pm – 9.00pm GMT. A CPD Certificate of Completion will be provided at the end of the course.

Click here for more information and apply by Tuesday 8th April 2025.

References

Bambara, T.C., 1980. The Salt Eaters. New York: Random House.

Bryant-Davis, T and Comas-Díaz, L  (2016) ‘Introduction: womanist and mujerista psychologies’ in Womanist and mujerita psychologies: Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage. Bryant-Davis, T and Comas-Díaz, L (eds.)

Hill Collins, P (2022) ‘Black Women and Wellness’ in Women & Therapy’ 45(4): 354-368

Lewis, G (2020) in PODCAST: ‘Radicals in Conversation’ ‘Feminism, Interrupted’ with Lola Olufemi, Jade Bentil and Gail Lewis. Available from: https://www.plutobooks.com/blog/podcast-feminism-interrupted/  

Lorde, A., 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Berkeley: Crossing Press.

Jones, L.V., 1997. Black Feminist Therapy. New York: The Feminist Press.

Jones L.V. and Guy-Sheftall, B (2017) ‘Black Feminist Therapy as a Wellness Tool’ in Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability. Evans, S.Y., Bell, K., Burton, N.K. (eds.)

Taylor, F (2023) Unruly Therapeutic: Black Feminist Writings and Practices in Living Room. Norton: London