MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH
Making space for conversations that haven’t always been easy to have.
Attitudes towards men’s mental health are changing. More men are becoming open to seeking therapy, talking about their mental health and recognising that asking for support is not a sign of weakness.
For many, this can be very different from the messages they grew up with about what it meant to be strong, capable or masculine. Previous generations of men were often encouraged to get on with things, keep difficult experiences to themselves and deal with problems on their own.
While these attitudes are gradually changing, many men still find it difficult to recognise when they are struggling, let alone talk about it.
Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like a mental health issue. You might simply notice anxiety, irritability, anger, difficulty switching off, relationship problems, emotional disconnection, low self-worth or a feeling that you’re never quite good enough.
While my practice is open to everyone, a significant part of my work has involved supporting men with trauma, anxiety, relationships and emotional wellbeing.
Many men become very good at getting on with life.
Working, providing, solving problems, staying busy and appearing capable can all become ways of coping, even when something underneath doesn’t feel right.
You may have learned to push feelings aside, stay in control, keep other people happy, avoid vulnerability, work harder, become fiercely independent or use anger to protect more vulnerable emotions underneath.
These strategies can be incredibly effective. They may help you build a career, support a family and function through difficult circumstances. But they can also come at a cost.
Over time, you might find yourself disconnected from what you feel or need, struggling with intimacy, repeatedly entering similar relationship patterns, becoming overwhelmed by anxiety or anger, or simply feeling exhausted from constantly holding everything together. Therapy doesn’t have to be about endlessly talking about your feelings. It can be about understanding what shaped you, recognising the ways you learned to cope, and working with the patterns that are no longer serving you.
For some men, there may also be experiences of trauma that have rarely, if ever, been spoken about.
This can include childhood sexual abuse, physical or emotional abuse, neglect, bullying, relationship trauma, loss or other experiences that overwhelmed your ability to cope at the time.
For male survivors of childhood sexual abuse in particular, shame and silence can become deeply intertwined with the experience. Questions about masculinity, sexuality, vulnerability, responsibility or why you responded the way you did can make it extremely difficult to speak about what happened.
You may have spent years minimising your experiences, telling yourself that other people had it worse, believing you should simply have moved on, or wondering why something from so long ago can still affect you.
Trauma can continue to influence how you feel about yourself, how safe you feel with other people and how comfortable you are with trust, vulnerability, intimacy and emotional closeness.
Understanding yourself is important, but insight alone does not always change how you feel.
You can know intellectually that something wasn’t your fault, that you’re safe now, or that you don’t need to keep everyone else happy, while your emotions and body continue to respond differently.
My approach goes beyond simply talking about these experiences. Depending on what you need, I draw on EMDR, Attachment-Informed EMDR, somatic psychotherapy, IFS-informed parts work, Resource Therapy and therapeutic breathing techniques to work with the emotional, relational and nervous-system effects of difficult experiences.
The aim is not simply to manage symptoms, but to understand what shaped them, what they may have helped you cope with, and what might now be ready to change.
You don’t need to arrive at therapy knowing exactly what’s wrong or what you want to work on.
Sometimes people come because of a specific experience. Sometimes a relationship has broken down, anxiety has become difficult to manage, anger is affecting the people around them, or something from the past has resurfaced.
And sometimes there is simply a sense of “I don’t want to keep feeling like this.”
We can start there.
Therapy is collaborative. My role isn’t to judge you or tell you how you should live your life. It is to help you understand what is happening, where some of these patterns may have come from, and work with you towards meaningful change.
Strength isn’t about never struggling. Sometimes strength is being willing to understand what you’ve been carrying and why.
MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH THERAPY CAN HELP WITH:
Trauma & Complex Trauma
Childhood Sexual Abuse
Anxiety & Stress
Shame & Self-Worth
Anger & Irritability
Relationships & Attachment
Intimacy & Trust
Emotional Disconnection
People-Pleasing & Boundaries
Major Life Changes & Loss
