The War on Men

My Practice

Hello, my name is Austin Pohevitz, LAC and I am a Licensed Associate Counselor currently working in a school counseling/therapy setting. I have experience in family and child counseling, men in incarceration, and specialize in working with boys and men.

As I went through school, I noticed there was a problem within the mental health world, and the education we receive from it. There is a serious deficit in therapeutic modalities and approaches when it comes to men and male mental health. I plan to change that. In my opinion, men are at war with the world...a world that sees them as subordinate, second-class, and told to handle all of their problems on their own. Fatherhood seems less important than it ever has been, and coming from an incarceration background, one of the leading factors to perpetration of crime, violence, anger, and purposelessness altogether. It seems like we don't even have the proper role models anymore, and if we do, they are few and far between.

Masculinity and men are not a problem, they are equilibrium for the world.

So what's the point? Do men really not like counseling/therapy, or is the way men get treated in world by its inhabitants and by psychology as a whole doing a disservice to half of its population? Feminist theory seems to drive psychology, and researchers still question why most men are against it. It's not that men don't have feelings, it's that men are not safe (or don't have a safe environment) to express themselves without the fear of being seen lesser than by their peers or romantic partners as a whole. Just take a look at social media. Body positivity, empowerment, mental health advocacy, and encouragement are mostly driven by women, for women, with mostly women in mind.

Men need a space where this can be different.

It is my firm belief that if men continue to hide behind a fake face, and continue to drown their emotions in work, substances, and other negative habits, we are doomed as a species. You can't rub dirt on your mental health...we've been doing it for years and our prize is the highest rate of completed suicides, majority of victims and perpetrators of violent crimes, and a close relationship with alcohol and other drugs. Men are important, but we have been sleeping. It's time to wake up, wipe the cold out our eyes, and start to see that we need help...the right help.

It's time to man up, get a grip, and take your mental health seriously.

Experiences

Now that you have read a little bit of a background of the inspiration for my practice and the challenges that men face within the world, here are some of my experiences that have fueled the fire. Feel free to reach out with questions you might have.

Children and Families

During my work with children and their families, I got to see first-hand the effects parents have on their children, and what a lack of structure and stability does to a family as a whole. For a time, I worked with mostly kids on the Autism Spectrum, focusing on training these kids and their parents to communicate more effectively and work better as a team. The lack of fathers in these scenarios seemed to be in the majority, and the majority of those boys I worked with showed a higher tendency for violent outbursts, drug-use, and self-doubt/a lack of self-confidence. These boys and young men craved a positive male-figure within their lives, and attached to me to help them understand themselves better. The fathers I did work with also craved the ability to speak more effectively to their partners, their children, and by proxy, their jobs/bosses. I took pride in helping these young men (and some girls) strive to be better every day, and learn from their fails to create positive outcomes. It was during this work where my hypothesis in school came to fruition. I felt boys and men would seek out male therapists when they could, feeling more comfortable with someone who "understands them." Once it was known there was a male therapist at my company, I was asked for specifically.

Incarceration

When people would ask me what I did for a living, I loved responding "I am in prison" without much other context. For a while I worked within a jail, then prison setting, mostly with populations deemed severely mentally ill. Before this experience I knew of incarceration through music, television, and movies...but nothing really prepares you for prison as an inmate or a worker. I saw a lot of cases and a plethora of mental health diagnoses during this time, (and enough bloodshed to make the Saw franchise seem like light fantasy). The men I worked with here were some of the sickest, messed-up, broken, but open people I have worked with to date. I also worked with me who made some horrible choices, but were good men through and through. The men who wanted to change themselves gave it their all, and the ones who didn't still received the support they needed. I've worked close with active suicidal individuals, and learned to weave my way around pepper gas to support my clients. These men also craved positive male role-models, but either ruined their lives with drugs and other addictions, or were never really given a fair shot from the start. I saw a connection to my clients in the prison and my younger clients before, sometimes thinking, "this is where these kids can end up if they/their families don't put in the work. Every day leaving work was like being released from prison myself. This line of work toughened me a bit more than I expected, but gave me opportunity to talk about some of the most disturbing actions someone could muster and how to "find the light" thereafter. I loved working with my clients in the prison and jail, and hope that the ones who have been released (or will be), have found their peace and learned how to become productive forces in society once again.

Men in General

Throughout my schooling and career, as explained before, I wanted to make it a point to work with men and boys on their mental health issues they felt they couldn't tell anyone else. With children, their families, and those men in incarcerated settings, I found the majority sought for a male therapist. My career aspirations became more validated during these times, and continue to as I progress into the future. This practice serves as a testament to this notion, and a pledge to men and boys that they have somewhere they can run to. My goal for my work as a therapist is to add some much needed equilibrium to the mental health world, and do my part to make men stronger for themselves an their families. One less man in the the ground, and one more man serving for his higher purpose.