Unpacking Masculinity in Treatment: Supporting Male Youth and Their Families

Course Description:

Male youth entering treatment have already been exposed to a lifetime of spoken and unspoken messaging about gender roles and how to “be a man”, impacting everything from emotional coping and well-being to navigating social and intimate relationships.  With terms like “toxic masculinity” occasionally being used to describe male gender expression, clinicians can find themselves experiencing client defensiveness when attempting to approach this important area in treatment. This training will explore how to respectfully and critically unpack the concept of masculinity with male youth clients and their families, providing participants with strategies to support their male clients and caregivers to all expand their understanding of masculinity and how it influences their lives and relationships. 

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize how societal and cultural messages about masculinity shape male youths’ emotional coping, behaviour, and relationships.

2. Identify strategies to engage male youth…