My therapist seems politically opposed to my feminist views

My Facebook is for people who know me not for clients.

And presumably the settings reflect that and a random client would not be able to see your posts?

You do not have to make your home address public on Companies House if it is not the registered office.

I personally think it depends on the context. If you're viewing someone’s professional profiles, I think that’s generally fine. Similarly, if you happen to come across a personal profile online while doing this, that's also understandable. However, actively searching for someone’s personal profile on platforms like Facebook and then looking through their photos, posts, and other content feels different to me. I would classify that as snooping.
I’ve had people look me up in the past, and I found it quite odd. My Facebook is for people who know me not for clients. One of my colleagues even had to move house because her personal details were listed on Companies House, which someone had used to find her address. It raises real concerns about privacy and boundaries.

What an awful dilemma. OP you have done nothing wrong. Anything in the public domain is fair game and it is not wrong to be curious. I say that as a therapist myself. You could try and discuss it with him and see where it gets you. There could be therapeutic benefit in dealing with a huge rupture like this however he still has the views he has and he has let them be known so it might be a dealbreaker.

I don't think snooping is the right word , it make it seem as if you are the one who did something wrong . Whereas your therapist is at fault for being public . I could not continue with someone who clearly thinks that women's rights are secondary to men's. As I hate confrontation I'd probably just send him an email telling him his views make it impossible to continue . As you are a lawyer I'm guessing that you are paying him quite a lot for these sessions. The loss of income will hurt him more than your words. I actually feel quite queasy at the thought of you sitting there with him baring your soul whilst he's thinking... I don't know what is he thinking.

Very nicely put. I agree with all that. OP will make her own decision, but in her shoes I would now be despising him, and changing therapist.

I would be changing therapist, smartish. Not only was he on that march, he is proud enough about it to put it on his social media. He's also stupid enough not to have his social media locked down.

As you have found what you have discussed during your therapy changing, now it might be time to find a therapist more specialised in that area. And, personally, I would be choosing a female therapist.

And would a person who has published social media posts about their strong feelings pro- or anti- either of these be acting professionally if they purported to be a safe and non judgemental counselling/therapy service to support someone who is struggling with their own issues and where it becomes relevant and important that the client's beliefs are in direct opposition to their own? The professional thing to do would be that when the client started talking about issues that the therapist couldn't possibly be neutral and non-judgemental about, they should immediately initiate a process to identify a colleague to refer the client on to who has the capacity to provide the service needed.

It's different for the liberal side of the abortion or gay marriage issues though because if you are anti-abortion you simply don't have an abortion and don't need to affect anyone else's rights, and if you are anti-gay-marriage you simply don't marry anyone of the same sex as you. So a therapist or counsellor can campain for abortion to be freely available and for marriage rights to be universal and can still provide a nonjudgemental service to someone who wouldn't choose to do these things themselves. Obviously if a therapist or counsellor was a campaigner for the opposite view and was actively trying to remove rights from other people then the previous paragraph applies as soon as such rights become relevant to the topics under duscussion. The OP's therapist is in the same situation because protesting against the Supreme Court judgement is campaigning to abolish women's rights altogether and it's not possible to campaign against the existence of women's rights and also provide any kind of counselling or therapy to a woman who believes she should be entitled to such rights, when the topics being discussed in their sessions are related to this issue. In the opposite scenario, a therapist or counsellor with strong views in support of sex-based rights would be able to help clients with the opposite beliefs if the topic was something unrelated like helping someone to stop smoking or to understand and overcome an unhealthy attitude to food, and could probably provide neutral and non-judgemental services on most topics to a woman who doesn't believe she is entitled to any sex-based rights, but could find themselves unable to provide their services to some clients if there is too deep a chasm between the underlying beliefs of themselves and the client in an area directly related to the topic being discussed.

The level of gaslighting against the OP on this thread is off the scale. Let's just clarify a few things:

1. Looking at someone's publicly available social media is not "snooping".
2. Gender ideology is profoundly misogynistic and homophobic. I would no more want a therapist who supported gender ideology than I would want one who was a racist.
3. Moreover, this man has publicly made it clear, both by going on a demonstration, and then posting pictures of himself at the demonstration, where he stands: that he does not believe that women like the OP who have been raped or sexually assaulted should have the right to spaces free of men.
4. This man, despite being in a profession that ought to require some intelligence and sensitivity, is committed to an ideology that is wholly irrational, anti-science and viciously authoritarian in its insistence on silencing anyone who expresses dissenting views.

What the OP decides to do is up to her: perhaps having felt she has made some progress with this man, she wants to continue. I don't personally think that would be wise, but I am not in the OP's shoes and don't have the right to tell her what to do. People who have been berating the OP for her reservations about this man should be ashamed of themselves.

"I don't want to out myself or him but he was holding a banner basically slagging off the Supreme Court."

I think it's up to you to decide whether his political beliefs are a problem for you, taking into account what you have discussed.

However, I would lose respect for any professional who couldn't distinguish between the job the Supreme Court had to do - interpret the law - and the impact of the law.

How will you vet your next therapist? Genuinely curious

Don’t be defensive about looking at his SM. He’s advertised his opinions online for the world to see, that’s on him.

I’d style it out and be entirely unapologetic about looking at it. Loads of people look at people’s SM profiles even if not connected as “friends” - that’s what they are there for!

It would bother me too, OP. If you choose to discuss it with him then you have to mentally prepare yourself to hear that he thinks women’s rights to safety should come second to men’s rights to role play, which may be difficult to hear.

I’m somewhat conflicted about this. On one hand, it seems you've crossed a boundary by snooping on his profile. While it's natural to feel curious, snooping by definition involves secretly gathering information without someone’s knowledge or consent. It can sometimes serve as a maladaptive coping strategy, driven by anxiety, insecurity, or other difficult emotions. Rather than confronting these feelings directly, people may turn to snooping as a way to feel more in control or reassured.

That said, from your description, it sounds like he offered you a safe and containing therapeutic space, and you didn’t notice anything overtly problematic during your sessions. This suggests he was able to maintain appropriate boundaries and keep his personal views separate from the therapeutic process, which is an essential quality in a good therapist.

Personally, I wouldn’t choose a therapist who holds those views, but if I had discovered them, I don’t think I would have had such a strong reaction because, on this issue, I can tolerate a difference in perspective. Perhaps it’s worth exploring why it feels essential for your therapist to share your views and whether this is about safety, validation, or something else entirely.

You've been with your therapist for a year now. Therapy isn't support to last forever, what progress have you made in the time, what have you achieved what are the goals.
Sounds like the trust is broken anyway, you could discuss the social media snooping and the trust if you chose to.

You’re a delight, aren’t you?

This isn't pontificating’ or ‘intellectualising’ etc, the Safe Space is at the heart of this.

OP, your therapist is supposed to be your own safe space.

Your therapist is someone who quite simply does not accept that in certain circumstances, including rape survivor groups, women might need a space free of male bodies persons.

As it happens you have been able to work with him, a man, and make your own good progress, but his political views tell you that outside his room he does not accept your need for that safe space or recognise what it is.

OK, as a professional he might be able to construct a therapeutic safe space for you but that is something he constructs and you trust in. He doesn’t believe you have a right to it outside his carefully constructed professional protocols.

Supervision blah blah… so he gets supervision partly to ensure he remains ok in the face of the trauma he hears. Like your experiences. What protects you, outside his room?

That is my non-expert, no experience take on this.

And I am so sorry that those things happened to you and you have been very brave in going through therapy and writing about it here.

There are individuals who believe that gay marriage and abortion rights are politically contentious topics.

I doubt someone holding a banner protesting against women's rights will ever be able to get your point of view, OP.

I doubt someone holding a banner protesting against women's rights will ever be able to get your point of view, OP.

I don’t think I could continue with a therapist who I knew had those views. You won’t feel that you can be open with him, and that’s obviously a very important part of therapy.

I am also a lawyer OP and I would find the protesting against the SC decision as difficult to process as the TRA views. Nobody questions my boy Hodge and gets away with it.

I'd probably not return. I don't think I'd be strong enough to 'have it out' with him. I'd find myself a new counsellor and possibly with a bit of distance I'd explain to the previous one how I felt. He will write you off as a nasty TERF but realistically he likely views you as one already.

Don't be dismayed, the progress you have made is on YOU. Keep that with you and hold onto it. You have done amazingly well not to drink or smoke for a year (a year!) and you are learning to repair the damage of your youth. Those tools are within you now and you can continue to use them and to grow and learn.

Good luck.

However, he may also work with people who are gender questioning who would feel safer in counselling as a result of his posts - who knows.

Well that, @Lavender14 , in the middle of the rest of your lengthy posts, tells me exactly why the OP feels less safe now.

And would those clients be told off by you for ‘snooping’ ?