Therapy with Men and Boys: A Guide for Clinicians
Every mental health provider who works with men and/or boys knows how challenging it can be. Therapy requires our male clients to be vulnerable and admit their need for help. That's pretty terrifying for a lot of men and boys. The good news is that there are clinicians and researchers who have devoted their careers to learning how to overcome these challenges. In this podcast, we will try to fill the gap in your clinical knowledge, with the help of the leading experts in working with boys and men, who will share their wisdom and tools with all of us.
About your co-hosts:
Dr. Erica Liebman is a clinical psychologist based in Philadelphia who splits her time between her private practice working with individuals and couples, performing assessments of military veterans and working on various projects that further the awareness of issues facing men and boys. She is a board member of the Society for the Psychology of Men & Masculinities, a division of the American Psychological Association. Her two main foci in this realm is advocating for increased education about boys and men in APA psychology programs as well as helping to bridge the divide between men and women through compassion and understanding. Dr. Liebman can be reached via her website www.ericaliebmanpsyd.com
Dr. David Shepard is a practicing Los Angeles-based psychologist with over 30 years of experience specializing in working with men, both individually and as the male parter in couple therapy. Dr. Shepard is a member of the Society for Psychology of Men & Masculinities, a division of the American Psychological Association, and a past-president of the division. He is Professor Emeritus in Counseling at California State University, Fullerton, and the author of numerous publications about working with men and making couple therapy work for male partners. He can be reached at drdavidshepard@gmail.com. His website is drdavidshepard.com
Therapy with Men and Boys: A Guide for Clinicians
Episode 05: Straight Therapist/Gay Male Client: What Heterosexual Clinicians Need to Know
If you’re a heterosexual therapist working with adult men, chances are you'll also be working with gay men. But how prepared do you really feel? Most graduate programs and internships offer little guidance on how to navigate the unique clinical and cultural nuances of working with gay male clients. So as you sit with your gay client, questions may arise: Will they feel safe with me? Do I really understand their lived experience? What if they ask about my own sexuality?
In this episode, Drs. Erica Liebman and David Shepard sit down with Dr. Will Elder, psychologist at the South Texas VA and expert in therapy with gay men. Dr. Elder shares practical strategies, clarifies common misconceptions, and offers insights that help heterosexual clinicians feel more competent, attuned, and confident in their work with gay men.