Breaking Up with the Patriarchy: Decolonizing Our Lives and Returning to Kinship Worldview

By Susan L. Herrmann

Something in you recognizes that the way we're living isn't working. You're not imagining it.

The anxiety about our children's future, the grief for our dying planet, the exhausting isolation despite being more "connected" than ever-these aren't inevitable. They're symptoms of living under the patriarchy, a worldview that has alienated us from our own wisdom and each other for the last 10,000 years.

In Breaking Up with the Patriarchy, therapist Susan L. Herrmann reveals that the systems causing our collective suffering aren't just political or economic. They live within us, shaping what we believe is possible. We can return to the Kinship Worldview that sustained humanity for 99% of our existence.

Through unflinching personal stories and practical wisdom drawn from three decades of clinical practice and indigenous teachings, you will explore: Why mental health challenges are natural responses to an unnatural systemHow to identify and uproot the patriarchal patterns you've internalizedHow to build authentic community when isolation feels saferWays to reconnect with Earth as a living consciousnessThe freedom that comes from radical surrenderThis book is an invitation to remember who you were before you learned to see yourself as separate from others and from nature. It's a guide to reclaiming your ability to trust your inner wisdom, connect with others as sovereign beings, and to respond with intelligence and heart to what life brings.

...Like having a wise elder at your side encouraging you to trust the inner wisdom that is a human heritage. With insights from her lived experience, she conversationally invites you to take the journey to your full humanity. Reading it is a healing experience
-Darcia Narvaez, co-author of Restoring the Kinship Worldview

A profound guide for those ready to dismantle inherited patterns of domination and reclaim the wisdom of interconnectedness. With clarity, vulnerability, and deep insight, Herrmann leads readers back to a kinship worldview, where both personal and collective healing are not just possible but inevitable... A must-read for anyone longing to restore balance, trust their inner knowing, and participate meaningfully in the dawn of a new way of being.
-David Levine, President, Kinship Intelligence Institute

This remarkable book of journeys made and truths discovered is not for the faint of heart. If we are to repair our planet and create a world where all our relations thrive... we have a duty to return to our roots...this book is a practical guide to healing our fragmentation and returning to wholeness.
-David Blake Willis, Professor of Anthropology and Education, Fielding Graduate University

A must-read for anyone ready to reimagine freedom beyond our current fallible ways of being, not just for themselves, but for us all.
-Mariya Javed-Payne, LICSW, LADC, Somatic Psychotherapist and Educator at Awaken Consulting Services

This book speaks to all who are feeling the massive fear, anxiety and loneliness due to the dominant world view based on individualism, competition, greed, and patriarchy. Susan L Herrmann leads the way through reengaging with our original indigenous view based on community, connection and deep sharing.
-Valerie Malhotra Bentz, author of Deathworlds to Lifeworlds and Transformative Phenomenology.

Through moving personal stories and powerful insights, she reminds us that healing isn't just personal, it's cultural, even global, and that each of us carries the ability to help create communities grounded in care and connection. It's a guide, a mirror, and a call to live in a way that feels more whole, more loving, and more free.
-Marcus Manning, M.A., LPCC, Kind Waters Therapy

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1965101151
• ISBN13: 9781965101155
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Open Spiral
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"