Counselling for Men

Men can experience different feelings and attitudes about the thought of coming to talk to someone professionally than women. Having worked with many men, on all sorts of issues, I feel that men may wait longer before seeking help than women and try and cope by themselves for quite some time.

For any of us to admit we have a problem, can be one of the most difficult and stressful things we have to do. It may be that for men in particular, talking to someone about this, brings a fear of not being strong, or somehow feeling they are failing. Our culture's views about gender and what it is to 'be a man', can weigh heavily and have an impact on self-esteem.

Men bring a whole range of issues to therapy.  These include depression, relationship worries, anxiety, anger, jealousy, grief and stress.

In my Counselling Practice, I have noticed that for men, anger and frustration can be a common emotion that causes difficulty. Counselling can focus on understanding anger, seeing it’s protective function, looking at triggers and practicing techniques to change and control it.

When dealing with loss, sadness and grief, a good Counsellor can act as a valuable sounding board.  Counselling can help you to feel less alone with your problems and encourage a sense of confidence and emotional self-knowledge to grow, which in turn often benefits relationships in all aspects of a man’s life.

It can also be a tendency for men to use logic to try and rationalise their behaviour and to work out what’s wrong. In situations when this isn’t successful, feeling stuck and frustrated can become a problem.  Through counselling, getting to know your emotions, whilst also becoming more aware of your body’s physical messages about stress, can provide important new information, alongside logic. This broader base of information can offer fresh perspectives on your needs for happiness and lead to different choices - freeing up stuckness.

Counselling can allow you to learn about stress, how it affects you, and what helps to reduce this. Work related stress, stress within family life and stress in relationships with partners is a common theme. It can be empowering to learn more about yourself, and to feel greater control and more ability to consciously relax. Sometimes, things like drinking alcohol, may be masking underlying difficulties. With new understanding, dependency on old coping strategies can change, allowing space for positive new life experiences.