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Counselling MaleMilitary Personnel and Veterans: Addressing Challenges and Enhancing Engagement

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The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology and Mental Health

Abstract

Models for therapy have not been fully developed that contextualize delivery to the unique challenges presented by traditional masculine socialization generally, and the hyper-masculine “warrior” culture of the military specifically. This disconnect between the culture of therapy and the culture of the military inadvertently reinforces service avoidance and fear of stigmatization for those with war related stress injuries or other mental health challenges. In order to sensitize professionals for practice with this population, questions for individual work and a group case example are presented in order to contrast military masculine gender role norms with how mental health challenges are framed as disorder, and to consider how traditional masculine role narratives may influence the experience of mental health challenges, and treatment uptake and engagement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Duncan Shields & Marvin Westwood

Authors
  1. Duncan Shields
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  2. Marvin Westwood
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UCL, London, UK

    John A. Barry

  2. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Wymondham, UK

    Roger Kingerlee

  3. Change, Grow, Live, Dagenham/Southend, Essex, UK

    Martin Seager

  4. Community Interest Company, Men’s Minds Matter, London, UK

    Luke Sullivan

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Shields, D., Westwood, M. (2019). Counselling MaleMilitary Personnel and Veterans: Addressing Challenges and Enhancing Engagement. In: Barry, J.A., Kingerlee, R., Seager, M., Sullivan, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology and Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04384-1_21

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