Therapy for Men & Men’s Issues

Do you identify as male and are looking for mental health help? Are you feeling the stigma of reaching out for mental health support? Men experience mental health struggles in many of the same forms that women do. Perhaps you’re experiencing anxiety, depression, stress or relationship struggles. Or, you could be facing other issues like anger, unhealthy coping patterns or communication problems. Our therapy tailored specifically for men offers a very comfortable, relaxed approach that breaks down the barriers that men face with reaching out for mental health help. Our men’s issues therapists have specific experience working with men and understand the unique struggles they face.

If you’re looking for someone to help you through your struggles but don’t know where to find it - you've landed in the right place.

What are Men’s Issues?

Men’s issues don’t necessarily refer to issues that are exclusive to men. Rather, when we discuss men’s issues, we discuss issues that are prevalent amongst men who seek out help with mental health. This could vary from anxiety to sex-related issues, unhealthy coping patterns or anger. Unfortunately, thanks to the negative stigmas associated with men and mental health, men often face unique barriers and challenges in accessing mental health support. In fact, Statistically, men do not typically seek therapy in high numbers, which is why we offer specialties in this area specifically!

 

What is different about therapy for men?

One of the main differences between therapy for men and therapy for women is that frequently, mental health struggles manifest themselves different in men than they do women. This makes it harder to distinguish, identify and treat, unless you know what to look for.

 Therapy for men follows the same format and incorporates the same methods as we use for therapy with all of our clients. Often times, we find that men tend to intellectualize their emotions and work very well from more logical and practical therapeutic modalities like CBT or DBT so if this is you, we’ll often start with these more practical approaches before digging deeper! What makes this one of our areas of specialties is our experience and approach to working with men. We offer an extremely comfortable, down-to-earth and relaxed approach to therapy, breaking the stigma of mental health services. Additionally, our men’s therapy therapists have experience specific to working with men and men’s issues. We strive to understand your unique perspective – both individually and in your relationships.

What happens in a ‘men's therapy’ session?

I know you’ve heard it all before that “it’s different for everyone” and I hate to break to you – it really is different for everyone. But, there are some things you can expect when starting therapy as a man. As is the case with any client, we’ll spend time getting to know you and making sure that  the therapeutic alliance is strong. When working with men we may explore how they’ve been socialized as a man over the years. Spoiler alert – a lot of the time men are socialized to take up physical space in our society, but not emotional space. Well, therapy is the time and space for you to start taking up some emotional space. This doesn’t mean that therapy has to be mushy gushy emotional outpouring, (though it totally can be if you want it to!) but it will involve getting to know your emotions – perhaps even for the first time. We’ll look at how you currently manage emotions – maybe it all looks the same – anger, avoidance, keeping yourself busy and distracted? We’ll look at healthier coping skills that are more in line with the person you want to be. Sometimes folks have topics that they want to discuss that they may feel awkward or uncomfortable discussing. Don’t worry – we’ve heard it all. When you feel comfortable, you’re welcome to discuss any topic you like – whether it be sex, insecurities, unhealthy coping or anger problems, we’re here to support from a nonjudgemental stance.

Some of the most common issues that Men attend therapy for are…

  • Anxiety & Depression

  • Communication Problems

  • Vulnerability & Struggles Connecting with Emotions

  • Anger Management

  • Unhealthy coping patterns

  • Sexual Struggles

  • Toxic Masculinity

  • Infidelity

  • Relationship Issues

  • Feeling Inadequate / Powerlessness

What are some strategies to help support men starting therapy?

Feel the Feelings

Sometimes, men tend to intellectualize their feelings, and struggle to connect to their emotions.

Check out this resource below! Once a day, spend time determining what feeling you’re experiencing and perhaps explore where its coming from. Getting to know your feelings will help support your work in therapy.

Feelings wheel

FPS - Don’t worry, I promise therapy isn’t all mushy gushy ;)

Evaluate your Values

When determining your goals for therapy, it’s important we get to know you - the real you, not the you that’s been influenced by societal expectations of men or skewed gender norms. Who do you want to be in life? Check out this values exercise below!

Values Exercise

How Can We Help You?

With your therapist, you will explore what it is that has brought you here. What happened in your life to lead you to this point? Your therapist will work to understand your perspective and your unique experiences in a judgement free fashion. We will work to provide you with effective day-to-day coping and management skills while simultaneously exploring the reasons why. Perhaps there’s something bigger going on that you’ve been ignoring or that you’re not even aware of. Your therapists’ job is to help you build awareness and understanding for the underlying influencers of your presenting problem so you can learn not just to effectively manage your struggles, but eventually eliminate them altogether.

Men’s Issues on the Bounce Back Blog

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