Our History

OUR HISTORY

Womankind began September 1977 as a feminist collective that was

created to meet the counseling needs primarily of women. From its

inception, it has been a place where women, men, couples, children and

families have addressed the central concerns of their lives. During the

Second Wave Feminist Movement in the U.S., women and their allies

mobilized for greater gender equality and reproductive rights. Women

formed consciousness raising groups, book groups, and woman-owned

businesses. There was an explosion of research across academic domains

on all aspects of women’s lives. Research was re-written to include

women’s perspectives, uncover forgotten histories and ‘speak about the

unspeakable’ such as prevalent violence against women, lesbian

existence, workplace and pay discrimination, and mothering concerns.

Women began numerous professional organizations to mentor each other.

The field of psychology of women was born with enormous ramifications

for analyzing the assumptions and treatment of women in psychotherapy.

The first offices for Womankind were located at 15 Warren Street in

Concord, NH. Rent was $230.00 per month for a space with five

counseling offices. The founding mothers were Pat Wilczynski of Concord,

Carol Moore of Contoocook, Marilyn Patterson of Warner, and Paula

Bacher of Henniker. Pat, Carol, and Marilyn had all worked for the NH

Women’s Health Services in Concord. From its beginning, the focus of

Womankind was on feminist informed research and clinical treatment of

women, an egalitarian, shared power workplace model, and attention to

the personal lives of staff as a significant influence on clinical work.

Womankind believed then, as it does still, that “the Personal is the Political

is the Clinical”.

Womankind has employed more than 40 multidisciplinary staff in its

history-social workers, psychologists, nurse practitioners, mental health

counselors, office managers, a minister and a psychiatrist. Early decades

were marked by community activism and brown bag discussions open to

the community. The practice was concerned about the various forms of

violence against girls and women, gender discrimination in law ands the

workplace, sexual orientation diversity, and sustaining the growing

practice through numerous grants.