Introduction: A Primer on Counseling Men

Counseling Men: Treatment Recommendations From Australian Men’s Therapists

“…The third theme focused more on enabling men to be challenged and stretched toward growth. These included skillful confrontation (O'Neil, 2015), psychoeducation (Englar-Carlson, 2014), client self-review (Englar-Carlson, 2014;O'Neil, 2015), the use of strengths (Blundo, 2010), and facilitating deeper insight with men (Rabinowitz & Cochran, 2002). The recommendations from these Australian therapists appear congruent with established literature.…”

“…A second can be found in the scholarly literature, including books, book chapters, and journal articles. These are commonly written by authors who are both researchers and practitioners (Brooks, 2010;Englar-Carlson, 2014;Pollack & Levant, 1998), with most produced from a North American context (Beel, Jeffries, Brownlow, Winterbotham, & du Preez, 2018). Another source of recommendations and practice wisdom is from therapists (Brewer & Tidy, 2017).…”

The Integrity Model

“…Nahon and Lander (1998) have referred to this pessimistic and pejorative view of men in the literature with respect to men's capacity for emotional relatedness and their likelihood to seek psychological help when needed as the myth of the "emotionally defective male" (p. 16; Nahon & Lander, 2008). Nahon and Lander's (2008, 2010, 2014 reviews of the literature indicate that a number of empirical studies have pointed to the presence of a negative bias in the attitudes of therapists with respect to male clients. Englar-Carlson, Evans, and Duffey (2014a) suggested that a counselor's bias in working with men .…”

“…Mowrer's early community-based Integrity groups from the 1950s to the mid-1980s with men grappling with addictions and relational crises, as well as with impaired male physicians revealed that men were profoundly self-aware, expressive, and insightful (Mowrer, 1964). Beginning with Lander's group work with boys in the late 1960s (Lander, 1986), results of empirical and clinical research have indicated that the Integrity model provides a viable approach in working with boys and men in community practice, tertiary care, and academic settings through individual (Nahon & Lander, 2014), couple (Lander & Nahon, 2000a), and group psychotherapy (e.g., Lander, 1986;, 2010, 2013 in addressing a number of issues including relationship issues and marital breakdown, post-traumatic stress, work-related stress, severe mental illness and addictions, sexual identity, sexual dysfunction, spirituality, end of life issues, cultural diversity, and health promotion for men (e.g., Lander & Nahon, 2000b, 2008a, 2008b, 2010a, 2010b, 2015Nahon, 1986Nahon, , 1993, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014.…”

“…These adjustments include changing the way counseling is presented to men by altering the therapeutic language and modifying the way counseling is conducted” (p. xxiv). Englar-Carlson (2014) suggested that because of the prohibition against strong emotional expression and the difficulty many men may have identifying and expressing vulnerable and caring emotions (Brooks, 2010; Levant & Kopecky, 1995), some men may believe that feelings are better left unexplored (Mahalik et al, 1998). (p. 20)…”