At this engaging and cutting-edge seminar, Dr Beattie explores how men and boys come to understand what it means to be a man and the psychological dilemmas many of them experience as they negotiate the challenge that vulnerability presents. There’s never been a more important time to support men and boys in improving the quality of their mental health, especially given the challenges that orthodox ways of being masculine present to help-seeking and the kind of emotional openness and vulnerability that therapy can require.

During the interactive seminar we will focus on two main areas:

Masculine gender norms and the problem of vulnerability

Although it is acknowledged that there are multiple ways of being masculine and performing masculinity, the way in which men in Western culture understand their gender role is influenced by certain norms. We explore these core norms and the ways they influence how boys and men gain acceptance into and maintain their position within the masculine tribe. In particular, we will focus on gender role socialisation and how the dominant ways of demonstrating masculinity and maintaining male privilege in our culture are created, acknowledging that these dynamics are often used as a means of disconnecting from others. We also consider the ways these stereotypical behaviours can lead to particular kinds of male unhappiness, poor mental and physical health and avoidant ways of coping.

Conducting therapy with men

If avoidance of vulnerability is part of the way in which men and boys try to access power and privilege within the organisation of traditional masculinity, how might this affect our work as mental health professionals supporting men? And how might the various powers and privileges inherent in gender role positions be transacted in the therapeutic space? In the second half of this seminar, we look specifically at ways of working with shame-prone male clients who may be trying to avoid vulnerability and who may be extremely sensitive to power dynamics in the therapeutic relationship.

By seeing overly harsh and rigid male gender role socialisation as a form of relational trauma, we hope to unlock new ways of working with vulnerability and shame. The seminar will reference to two modalities: Compassion Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems Therapy, considering case vignettes as we do so. The aim is to build an affirmative therapeutic practice, both for working with men as well as with clients dealing with issues that affect the men in their lives.

Open Discussion and Q&A

At the end of each section the seminar will be opened up to a wider discussion with questions from the floor exploring and commenting on the themes arising and highlighting concerns for further study and exploration.

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