Empowerment Theory

With the revival of the feminist movement in the 1960 's many women started to renounce traditional theories of psychotherapy, arguing that these theories were sexist, oppressive, and ultimately detrimental to the psychological and emotional well-being of women. Feminist advocates highlighted the limiting nature of socialized gender roles and the damaging effects of the various levels of oppression experienced by women. In response to the recognition of these perceived injustices, feminist support groups formed and eventually a feminist approach to therapy was collaboratively developed. Feminist therapists practice with an awareness of how gender socialization and systemic

Theoretical frameworks in counselling offer guiding perspectives and direction informing professional practice. As a practitioner I am drawn to post-modernist approaches that position the human experience as a social construction, and reality as a result of perception, language and culture ( ). Embedded however within that social construction for me is the necessity to consider the broader social and political climate and issues of power that may play a role in the human experience. As a counsellor, I would like to align with a therapeutic approach that values the diversity and experience of multiple realities, and that supports clients in finding their power both within and outside the counselling session. Embracing the client-counsellor

For me, power is an ability to influence, inspire and mobilize individuals or groups to achieve their goals and objectives while maintaining dignity, moral and mutual respect. Empowerment, however, is giving or sharing power with others to enable their creativity, contribution and participation in collective power and it should come not only from others but also from within individuals. Empowerment is a new style of power that requires participatory management and shared responsibility.

Women who are being abused and controlled by their partners are generally not allowed to engage in the kind of open dialogue that counseling promotes. In fact, a woman who does speak openly to a social worker in the presence of an abusive partner may, in reality, be in serious danger when she returns home. (Golden, 1994) The fear that is created through the abuse makes it difficult for the victim to admit they are being mistreated.

Power is a complex multifaceted notion and people can experience or wield it in different ways. It can have negative connotations, especially when it is abused. People of course can also experience a sense of powerlessness for a variety of reasons. The poem Drifters by Bruce Dawe explores the helplessness of a family who are forced to move from place to place in search of work. This causes great distress and angst among the family. A sense of powerlessness of course can come in many forms and in the poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney we witness the extraordinary grief and anguish of a family who are mourning the death of a son and brother. The film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, explores the sense of powerlessness

The essence of power and control lies in the belief that an individual is capable of possessing authority over a given group of people. Power can be given directly to an individual; albeit, there exist certain circumstances in which a label of power is denoted more indirectly to an individual. In most instances, an individual can decide whether or not they have such capabilities in a situation. Because holding power within a group is such a large undertaking, however, some individuals presume that they have no potential to possess such power and surrender any possibility of holding such. In a quote, writer Alice Walker asserts, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Essentially, she implies that all individuals are capable of employing power, but there are pre-existing factors, such as the fear of uncertainty, that prevent them from doing such. These factors and others are evident also in literature

The quantity of power "impact[s] how we know our- selves as subjects through these systems of meaning and control- the ways we understand our own bodies, the things we believe about ourselves and our relationships with other people and with institutions, and the ways we imagine change and transformation" (Spade, 6). The amount of power one obtains indicates to themselves, and to others, how much control and worth they have within society. It also influences how situations are interpreted, formation of personal beliefs, and

As such, the work of feminist counseling is to conceptualize and explain some of the common experiences and difficulties associated with the social roles women endure (cite). From gendered violence to limited economic resources and opportunities to unrealistic media portrayal, immigrant women are at risk of developing and suffering from emotional and psychological trauma. Women are forced to ingest the stereotypical demands of society, they become burdened and are averted from living self-defined and meaningful lives (Yahushko and Morgan-Consoli, 2013). Feminist practitioners see many of the experiences and difficulties expressed by women to be associated with the societal roles that women (and men) play and find that they can be limiting to their

In his article, Ruiz discusses the empowerment and lack of empowerment that exists in communities made up of language-minority students and how one can differentiate between “language” and “voice”. He makes connections to the “Decision making/social action” approach to multicultural education through his explanation of putting empowerment in the hands of the students and communities; a teacher can’t simply hand over empowerment like a lesson, it must be something that the affected community takes and manifests within itself. Political awareness is also touched on in the manner of how the voices of Spanish speakers is lost to the formal lessons and teachers policing them.

Some think that people empowering you is better than empowering yourself. But I think empowering yourself is better. Because you can have much more thoughts in your mind and everyone has a different way to empower themselves. One person can say the wrong thing. For example, in the text “I Survived A Bully” she empowered herself because she made a website and wrote about how she got bullied.

Discussion Group #2: Is it possible to give power to someone else? If so, how might this happen? When is it okay to give power to someone else, and when is it not a good idea? Offer some examples to support your discussion. What implications might giving power away have for your work environment?

In this essay I will focus my discussion on who should counsel others in feminist family therapy. I will answer if a man can be a feminist family therapist, if a therapist can do feminist family therapy with an individual and what gender should the counsellor be, and can a therapist do family therapy with both adults and children either in groups or individually.

Intro: This essay will thoroughly explore feminist counselling and take into consideration the theoretical ideas and practice skills that will include the following issues The key figures (founders) and major focus, philosophy and basic assumptions, key concepts, therapeutic goals, techniques and procedures, applications, contributions, and the limitations and criticisms of feminist counselling. To develop a better understanding of the feminist counselling approach, the next few paragraphs will look at the forms feminist counselling uses to address these issues and inequities within individuals that have been affected.

This article focus on the definition of power what is power, examining the phenomenon of powerful and the powerless. This will help my essay in explaining that power is not owned, one can’t simply own power but it is rather given.

In the recent years, the issue of empowering women has become a major topic in the world. This has been motivated by the fact that most of the societies in the world are patriarchal and therefore subject women to male dominance. Sex workers form one of the groups that have been facing the full wrath of discrimination from the society. There are various reasons why people in the society fear sex workers. The first reason is based on the fact that the political systems in various countries view commercial sex as an illegal job. No matter the political direction that one embraces, the themes of sexual abuse, prostitution and sex trafficking are still viewed as abominations in the society. According to Agustin (2008), the word commercial sex is neither a specific job description nor a description of unequivocal actions but rather a notion that is loaded with uncertainties and negative moral judgments. The society views the prostitutes as rebels of the societal norms and therefore oppress them. The society also tend to associate commercial sex with sexually transmitted diseases such HIV and people are therefore afraid of associating with commercial sex workers. The stigmatization of the sex workers has been increasing considerably leading to a need for empowering women who especially operate as sex workers. This paper seeks to explain the issue of women empowerment in a conservative society by discussing why we are afraid of sex workers. Two