Challenges facing the developing feminist psychotherapist in training

Graduate student therapists who self-identified as feminist were asked about challenges they experienced in their training. Therapist responses were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis, represented in content clusters, to provide a rich description of therapists' training experiences. Findings highlight the ways therapists contend with challenges in therapy as influenced largely by their own beliefs about gender. Therapist distress in dealing with prejudicial attitudes from colleagues within their training environments also was reflected in the content themes. This study serves as a framework from which researchers can further examine the training needs of feminist therapists in training.