Men’s Therapy Podcast

Walk into a CrossFit box at 6 a.m. and you'll see men doing more than chasing a workout PR. According to men's coach and ex-pastor Jason Lyle, they're doing therapy without calling it that. On this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Jason, who spent ten years owning a CrossFit gym and now runs Sacred Grit, a men's coaching practice built around retreats, nervous system work, and one very cold morning ritual.The conversation unpacks why modern comfort has left men's nervous systems overloaded and under-challenged, and why hard physical practices like CrossFit, cold water immersion, and breathwork aren't really about fitness at all, they're about teaching the body how to stay regulated under stress. Jason walks through the biology of the amygdala hijack, why men can run a hundred-mile trail race but freeze up in a hard conversation with their partner, and why regulation without honest self-examination just becomes another way to avoid the real work. It closes with Jason's take on where masculinity goes from here, and why he thinks accountability and honesty, not apology, are what get men there.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.Connect with JasonWebsite: https://thesacredgrit.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lyle.jason/ Resources MentionedThe Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter: https://www.amazon.com/Comfort-Crisis-Embrace-Discomfort-Reclaim/dp/0593138767 Wild at Heart by John Eldredge: https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Heart-Revised-Updated-Discovering/dp/1400200393 Individual Therapy: https://menstherapy.online/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Service&utm_campaign=Individual_TherapyMen’s group: https://menstherapy.online/mens-groups/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Service&utm_campaign=Mens_GroupsMTO Slack: https://menstherapy.online/slack/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Slack_CTA&utm_campaign=MTO_SlackWebsite: https://menstherapy.online/

Every time a testosterone clinic pops up along the highway, third-generation chiropractor Dr. Kyle Hulsebus gets the same question from patients: "Doc, is it low testosterone?" After years of testing men from their 20s to their 80s, his answer is almost always no. On this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Dr. Kyle to unpack why testosterone myths have become the default explanation for a much deeper problem: the existential crisis that quietly hits men around 40, when the life they built no longer feels like a fit.Dr. Kyle created the 40 Over 40 program, a scattered mix of physical, mental, spiritual, and somatic practices for men entering midlife, deliberately unorganized because he doesn't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. The conversation covers the two archetypes he sees most in his practice (the man who feels behind in life, and the man who did everything "right" yet still feels hollow), why he's skeptical of the term toxic masculinity, and why breathwork, not bloodwork, is where he tells almost everyone to start. It closes with a personal story about a friend who appeared to have it all and died by suicide, and what that taught Dr. Kyle about chasing an objective versus chasing a fantasy.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

There's a pattern Coach Kevin Voisin keeps running into with his highest-performing clients: guys who can build a hundred-million-dollar business without blinking, then go home and have no idea how to navigate a conversation with their wife. The gap between those two skill sets, he says, comes down to the male ego, the same mental tool that sharpens ambition and decision-making early in life, but which, left unexamined, quietly hardens into a kind of prison most successful men don't even know they're living inside.On this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down with Kevin Voisin, who coaches high-performing men and executives through his Live Legend system. He's spoken on five continents about helping driven men get out of their own way, and he's currently building an app to bring that work to more people at scale. The conversation ranges from psychology to biology to a few unconventional teachers along the way, a study on cuttlefish mating behaviour, a season of the Netflix survival show Alone, a story about pushing his son's shoulder instead of spanking him, but it keeps circling back to one idea: ego, in the beginning, is what lets a man become someone. Left unchecked, it's what keeps him from becoming anyone else.Voisin breaks a man's life down into five areas: fitness, faith, family, finance, and fun and pictures each one as either an engine pushing him forward or an anchor dragging him down. Most high-achieving men, he's found, have three strong engines and two anchors quietly sitting on the bottom, and their instinct when life slows down is almost always to add more engines instead of lifting the anchor. He also argues that "decision velocity is greater than decision accuracy," that perfectionism works like a horizon line the mind invents to help it navigate useful, but never something you can actually reach and that anger isn't an emotion men should starve into submission. It's energy that needs a healthy outlet, or it eventually finds an unhealthy one.This isn't a takedown of ambition or a call to soften up. It's a look at why so many capable, accomplished men feel quietly stuck, and a practical map for getting the parts of their life that aren't working back in motion without blowing up the parts that are.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In 2025, Americans legally wagered more than $165 billion on sports, money moving through an industry that, outside of Nevada, didn't legally exist until 2018. Somewhere inside that number is a much harder one to see: how much of it isn't entertainment at all, but sports betting addiction quietly working its way through a generation of men who never thought they had a gambling problem. That's where this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast begins.Marc Azoulay sits down with Dr. Michael Zhang. He is a psychologist who spent years treating gambling-related harm clinically before founding Incumental, a digital recovery support app built specifically for people in the thick of a gambling problem. The conversation moves fast, because the landscape it's describing is moving fast. Since the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, the activity has expanded from a Nevada-only market capped at roughly $5 billion a year to nationwide legal wagering near $167 billion last year alone about $150 billion of which gets paid back out, leaving roughly $17 billion in industry revenue, on top of another $18 billion or so collected annually in state gambling taxes.This isn't just casinos and sportsbooks anymore, either. Dr. Zhang walks through how the same psychological mechanics now show up in prediction markets, cryptocurrency and CFD trading, and loot boxes built into video games aimed at kids, an entire ecosystem, as he puts it, that increasingly looks "set up to turn most people into gamblers."The episode works through some of the key realities he's seen firsthand:An estimated one in three men under 30 bet on sports, and roughly one in three of those men show signs of a real problem with it.The actual test for a problem isn't whether someone wins or loses on a given night. It's whether, tracked over time, they're net negative, chasing those losses, and unable to stop even when they want to.Across the hundreds of clients Dr. Zhang has treated, average lifetime gambling losses run well over $100,000, with some in the hundreds of thousands and a few in the millions.Most of those clients also carried a comorbid depression or anxiety diagnosis that was largely driven by the gambling itself. When the gambling resolved, so did much of the mental health burden.At its root, problem gambling is rarely about the money. It's about self-worth. Gambling supplies a fast, fake "boost," when what a person actually needs is steady, internal "worth."There's a saying that's common in recovery communities that Marc brings up midway through the conversation: addiction is sexy, and recovery is ugly. The gambling industry has spent a decade building frictionless, personalized, endlessly accessible products. Recovery support, by comparison, has often been clunky, stigmatized, and reactive, something you find only after you've already hit bottom, then found a lower bottom underneath that. Dr. Zhang's bet with Incumental is that recovery has to borrow the same tech-forward playbook the betting industry uses, just pointed in the opposite direction: short, guided audio sessions built to interrupt an urge in the moment it's happening, and an anonymous peer community partly staffed by people with lived experience who want to give back.This episode isn't about shaming men who place a bet on a Sunday afternoon. It's about naming what happens when an entire industry is built on the premise that a casual bettor becomes a lifelong customer and giving men a real, accessible off-ramp before the losses end up defining the next decade of their lives.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

The numbers are hard to sit with. In the most recent year for which data were available, 53% of men who died in the United States did so before the age of 75. Not in a developing country. Not a century ago. Right now, in one of the wealthiest nations on earth, the majority of men are dying before they should. And a significant portion of those deaths are preventable.That is where this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast begins. Marc Azoulay sits down with Peter Fisher and Brian P. Heilman. They are researchers and co-authors of Movember's landmark report, The Real Face of Men's Health. It is the most comprehensive examination of men's health in the United States in recent memory. The report draws on national health data, a survey of over 4,000 men about their primary care experiences, and a separate survey of informal caregivers, spouses, family members, and close friends, who quietly manage the health of the men in their lives. What it uncovers is a picture that is equal parts alarming and clarifying.The male loneliness epidemic is not just a talking point. It is a measurable health crisis. The number of men who report having even one close friend has fallen so sharply over the past two decades that today, only one in eight men would say they have a close friend at all. Not many friends. Any close friend. And that isolation does not stay emotional. It gets physical. It becomes fatal.The episode works through the key findings from the report:Suicide ranks fourth as a cause of premature death for men in the US, with men dying by suicide four times more often than women.White men show a uniquely persistent suicide risk that does not decline with age the way it does for every other racial and ethnic groupAccidental deaths, substance use, and risky behavior connect directly back to masculine norms that discourage men from seeking help before they hit a wall.Black men face a disproportionately higher lifetime risk of prostate cancer, with community-level outreach still failing to reach them early enough.But the conversation does not stop at what is going wrong. It also challenges a framing that has dominated the field for years.The phrase "toxic masculinity" was meant to open a door. For a lot of men, it shut one. When 80% of the research tools used to study masculinity measure it as a deficit, where scoring higher means worse health outcomes, it creates a research environment, and eventually a cultural one, where being a man is framed almost entirely as a problem to manage. Men feel lectured, not engaged. They disengage from care rather than move toward it.Peter and Brian are working to change that. Their team at Movember is currently developing the Healthy Manhood Index. It is a new measurement tool built around strength-based, aspirational ideas of what it means to be a man, not just a catalogue of behaviors to avoid. The goal is simple but significant: higher scores should mean better health. Masculinity should point toward something worth becoming, not just something to dismantle.The episode closes with concrete, actionable steps — for men themselves, for the people who love them, and for anyone paying attention to what is quietly happening at the community and policy level. The ALEC method. The 988 crisis line. The Men and Mind clinical training program launching in California. The Men Sheds model. State-level task forces in Florida, Utah, and Tennessee doing real work that national conversation has not yet caught up to.This episode is not about shaming men for being men. It is about taking seriously what it costs when men's health is treated as an afterthought. And what becomes possible when we finally stop accepting early death as inevitable.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Something is off for Gen Z men right now. It can look like confidence on the surface, online presence, gym routines, and a few matches on the apps. But underneath all of that, there is often a young man who does not know who he is, who feels invisible in his own friendships, and who is watching his dating life go nowhere without understanding why.If you have a question for Marc you can email us at [email protected] and we'll include it in a future episode.That is where this conversation goes.In this episode of Men's Therapy Online, Marc Azoulay answers real questions from gen z men about the things therapists rarely address directly: what kind of therapy actually works for a man who already overthinks everything, why dating apps are engineered to keep you failing, how to stop doom scrolling and start building something real, and what it actually takes to go deeper in male friendships without it feeling forced.The episode makes one thing clear quickly: Gen Z men are not struggling because they are weak or broken. They are struggling because they are being pulled in too many directions at once. They are being told to be emotionally aware but not soft, vulnerable but not needy, a leader but never dominant. And most of the answers being served to them online are either designed to monetize their pain or to sell them an identity that was never theirs to begin with.It shows up when a man:Spends hours online every day but feels more isolated every weekGets matches and responses on the apps, but keeps getting ghosted before anything real developsWants closer friendships but cannot figure out how to move past jokes, memes, and sports talkTries to figure out what kind of man he wants to be and ends up more confused than when he startedNot because he is doing something wrong, but because he has been trying to build himself from the outside in, following the loudest voices instead of the quietest, most honest one he has.That is the deeper problem here. When your sense of self is built on what you consume instead of what you do, when your relationships mostly live in comment sections and DMs, and when the friction and difficulty that actually build character have been engineered out of your daily life, you end up feeling empty without being able to name exactly why.Marc walks through what it looks like to start changing that. He covers how to find the right type of therapy for a mind that already knows everything but still cannot change, the mechanics behind dating app design and why it is built to keep you swiping, what actually creates attraction versus what kills it, the evolutionary reason men need to do things together before they can go deep emotionally, and what gen z men specifically need to start doing to build a life they are proud of.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Anger. Rage. Aggression. Modern psychology has spent decades telling men these are problems to fix. That is exactly where this conversation pushes back.In this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down with Mike LeBlanc. He is a Marine veteran, Harvard graduate, founder of a humanoid robotics company, and author of What If Anger Is the Answer. He challenges the cultural narrative that has pathologized male anger and makes the case that suppressing it is not the solution. It is the source of the problem.The episode makes one thing clear early on. Anger is not the same as violence. A man who feels rage is not dangerous by default. And a culture that conditions men to swallow every difficult emotion is not producing calmer, healthier men. It is producing depressed ones.What LeBlanc describes draws directly from the ancient Greeks. Unlike modern psychology, which splits the human soul into two parts: the rational and the impulsive, the Greeks identified a third. They called it thymos. It is the seat of drive, ambition, and command. It is where masculine purpose actually lives. And stripping it out does not make a man more civilized. It makes him directionless.This shows up when a man in your life, or when you yourself:Feels constantly told to calm down, breathe through it, or take a bubble bathHas been dismissed the moment emotion showed up, even when the emotion was justifiedDrifts into cynicism, isolation, or numbness and cannot identify whySenses something is being wasted but cannot name what it isHas never had a mentor, a rite of passage, or a moment that moved him from boy to manThis is not a character flaw. This is a generation of men handed a framework that was never built for them.Marc and LeBlanc trace the full arc, from the Marine Corps training that transforms raw anger into leadership, to the entrepreneurial initiation that demands the same reckoning, to the practical discipline of consistency that LeBlanc argues is the only thing that actually changes a life. They also go deep on parenting, on what healthy discipline looks like when chronic resentment is the far more dangerous alternative, and on why getting angry, truly, honestly angry, may be the first real step out of depression that many men have never been permitted to take.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Narcissist. Psychopath. Sociopath. These words are everywhere right now, and most of the time, they are being used incorrectly. That is where this conversation starts.In this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down with Dr. Peter Salerno. He is a clinical expert and author of The Nature and Nurture of Narcissism. He cuts through the noise of social media diagnosis culture and gets to what these personality disorders actually look like. He highlights how they operate and why they are so hard to identify and treat.The episode makes one thing clear early on. A narcissist is not just someone with a big ego. A sociopath is not just someone cold or distant. And a psychopath is not a movie villain. These are real clinical conditions with distinct traits, and conflating them does real damage to the people trying to make sense of what they experienced.What Dr. Salerno describes is something more unsettling than most people expect. Many of these individuals are not suffering in the way we assume. They possess superiority and victim mentality. Some of them genuinely like who they are. The manipulation is not a coping mechanism. For many, it is a strategy, and it is working. That realization changes everything about how you understand narcissistic abuse.It shows up when someone in your life:Makes you question what you saw, heard, or feltShows you with affection early on, then slowly pulls it awayPresents as charming to everyone else while making you feel like you are losing your mindReacts with rage or cold contempt the moment you push backThey consistently position themselves as the victim while causing harmThis is not emotional immaturity. This is a pattern. And according to Dr. Salerno, that pattern has biological and genetic roots that traditional talk therapy was never designed to reach.Marc and Dr. Salerno explore the future of the field, the limits of current treatment, and why integrating brain-based research with the traditional trauma model may be the only way forward for clinicians who are tired of referring these patients out and calling it a day.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Masculine energy in relationships is something most men have never been properly taught. They’ve been handed two versions, one that’s domineering and one that’s completely hollowed out. Neither works. The first drives his partner away. The second bores her. What actually works is something most men have never been taught: how to embody masculine energy in a way that is grounded, leading, and genuinely connective.That's what this episode is about.In this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay talks with GS Youngblood, men's coach, relationship expert, and author of The Masculine in Relationship, about what positive masculinity looks like inside a real partnership and why so many men are getting it wrong without realizing it.GS built his Masculine Blueprint after his own marriage fell apart. What he found was that the failure wasn’t about being a bad person. It was about not being grounded, not leading, and not knowing how to build real emotional connection with his partner. His framework is the answer he wishes he had then.The blueprint has three pillars:• Respond vs react: Stay grounded when she is emotional. Stop being reactive.• Provide structure: Lead in the relationship. Know your needs and act on them.• Create safety: Build emotional connection and emotional safety so she can actually relax into the relationship.GS and Marc also get into nice guy syndrome, polarity in relationships, nervous system regulation, sexual leadership, and what emotional leadership actually looks like the morning after a fight. This isn’t theory. It’s a practical, honest conversation about what it takes to be the man a relationship needs.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Modern masculinity has a missing piece, and most men feel it without being able to name it. They pay the bills, hold down big jobs, do everything they’re supposed to do as adults. But when they look in the mirror, they don’t see a man. They see a boy in a man’s costume.In this solo episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host and therapist Marc Azoulay is making the case that what most men are missing is initiation. For hundreds of thousands of years, cultures marked the transition from boyhood to manhood through structured trials led by older men. That tradition stopped about 50 years ago, and nothing’s replaced it.Without genuine challenge, the nervous system starts treating ordinary social pressures like survival threats. Marc’s arguing that life has become too easy from a survival standpoint, not painless, but too comfortable to trigger real growth. The result’s a generation of men who’re anxious, isolated, and quietly waiting for permission to feel like they’ve arrived.This episode covers how to identify the one core insecurity driving that imposter feeling, how to design the right level of challenge for self-improvement for men, what the fairytale Iron John reveals about masculine identity and breaking free from comfort, and why men bond through doing rather than talking. It’s a direct and practical look at how to build mental toughness and what becoming a man actually requires in the modern world.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Addiction is one of the most misunderstood forces in men's lives. It doesn’t always look like rock bottom. It can look like a high-functioning executive who has a spotless professional record. It can look like the life of the party who stays for the after-party when everyone else goes home. It can look like a college student pulling straight A's while quietly unraveling in private.That’s exactly what this conversation is about.In this April Roundtable episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay, himself in recovery from polysubstance use, sits down with three therapists who specialize in addiction recovery: Jack Lambert, a New York-based therapist trained at the Addiction Institute; Dr. Michael Zang, a gambling psychologist and founder of Incumental, a gambling recovery support platform; and Tim Mullins, a substance abuse therapist who entered the field after his own long recovery journey and 11 years in Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (ACA).Together, they cover the full landscape: what the signs of addiction actually look like, how isolation and deceit function as warning signals, what role shame vs. guilt plays in the recovery process, how spirituality in addiction recovery fits in (even for men who resist it), and what sobriety really feels like in those early, unvarnished months.This isn’t a polished, clinical overview. It’s a candid, experienced, and sometimes raw conversation from people who’ve seen addiction from both the inside and the outside. And it’s a conversation that could genuinely change the way a man looks at his own relationship with substances, gambling, gaming, porn, social media, or any pattern he’s been quietly defending.For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online.Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.Individual Therapy: https://menstherapy.online/Men’s grouphttps://menstherapy.online/mens-groups/MTO Slackhttps://menstherapy.online/slack/

Emotional numbness does not always look like a crisis. For many men, it is quieter, a steady flatness, a sense of static that will not lift no matter how much they push. In this solo episode of the Men's Therapy Online Podcast, Marc Azoulay, therapist, coach, and founder of Men's Therapy Online, is breaking down one of the most common yet least understood struggles facing modern men: the feeling of being emotionally switched off. Marc argues that what most men are experiencing is not a mindset problem, not laziness, and not something that will pass if they keep grinding harder. It’s a neurological issue rooted in a depleted opioid system, the part of the brain responsible for deep satisfaction, contentment, and enoughness. When that system goes quiet, a man stops feeling alive. He covers anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure), and alexithymia symptoms (difficulty identifying and naming emotions),  that quietly accumulate when a man is always seeking but never arriving. He also walks through the mental fog causes that keep men stuck, chronic overstimulation, dopamine hijacking, and the fear of slowing down. "Before I got into therapy and coaching and self-improvement, I was dead," Marc says. "I was doing all the things right,  the gym, dating, building a business, but I just felt completely empty." The fix, he explains, requires going inward: starving the dopamine system through deliberate stillness, then learning to feel the body again through somatic awareness. On the other side of the discomfort — the fear, the pain, the noise — is what Marc calls enoughness. A felt sense of safety. Of being present on the earth. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

The fawn response is one of the most misunderstood patterns in men’s psychology. It doesn’t look like weakness. It looks like generosity, agreeableness, and keeping the peace. But underneath it, there’s usually a man who is terrified of being rejected, disconnected from his own needs, and slowly building resentment he has no healthy outlet for. That’s exactly where this conversation goes. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Nima Rahmany — ex-chiropractor turned men’s coach and founder of the Becoming Trigger Proof framework — to unpack why so many high-performing men are secretly running a fawn response in their relationships, and why no amount of mindset work or personal development fixes it. The episode is honest, direct, and at times uncomfortable, exactly the kind of conversation most men have never had. Nima opens with a personal story of becoming physically violent in a relationship, tracing it back not to anger, but to years of fawning: people-pleasing, self-abandoning, and suppressing his truth out of fear. That moment of violence, he explains, was the explosion that follows years of suffocation. “Fawning is saying yes when the body is saying no.” And for many men, it is so ingrained it doesn’t even register as a choice. The episode covers: How the fawn response develops as a childhood survival strategy Why nice guy syndrome is not about being kind, it’s about avoiding guilt and rejection How trauma is stored in the body and what nervous system regulation actually looks like The role of shadow work and attachment theory in breaking the cycle How to stop people pleasing without overcorrecting into dominance or detachment What it means to become the “loving patriarch” — boundaried, grounded, and open-hearted Nima is direct, personal, and deeply knowledgeable. He isn’t offering a theory. He lived it. And the result is a framework that’s changing how men relate to themselves and the people they love. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Divorce recovery is rarely just about legal paperwork and splitting assets. For most men, it’s one of the most disorienting experiences of their adult lives, and for those going through a high-conflict divorce, the chaos can stretch on for years. That’s exactly what this episode unpacks. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay talks with Karen McMahon, a divorce coach, host of the Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast, and author of Stepping Out of Chaos: Turning Pain Into Possibility. Karen has fifteen years of coaching experience and a three-and-a-half-year high-conflict divorce behind her. This conversation is equal parts honest and practical. “Death is first, divorce is second,” she says, before noting that many of her clients would argue the order should be flipped. Grief is one thing. Divorce is something else. You’re dealing with your own emotions, your ex’s reactions, your children’s confusion, money, and where everyone is going to live, often all at the same time. Karen describes her own divorce as “an absolute living hell”, and the greatest gift she’s ever received. What the pain gave her was a mirror. What causes divorce, she argues, is rarely one dramatic event. It’s a slow breakdown of respect and communication in relationships, small problems swept under the rug until there is, as she puts it, “a mountain in the middle of the living room.” Every upset, she tells her clients, is a setup: a chance to look inward rather than blame the other person. Codependency in relationships, the martyr dynamic, self-abandonment dressed up as love, these are the patterns she helps men work through. And most of them go back to childhood. Her core message on how to survive divorce and how to cope with divorce is the same: use the pain. If you get through the legal process without doing the inner work, you’ll re-create the same relationship with a different face. The episode covers the key terrain of real divorce recovery:     Divorce advice for men on co-parenting: Protect children from adult conflict, say nothing negative about the other parent, and stay available as they grow, because the divorce impact on children plays out over years, not weeks.     How to tell kids about divorce: No universal script, but clear principles — tell them together when possible, keep it age-appropriate, and let their needs, not adult emotion, guide the conversation.     Dating after divorce: Get emotionally naked before you get physically naked. Know your non-negotiables. Date by design, not by default. The episode closes on generational trauma. “Addiction stops here. Abuse stops here. Codependence stops here.” Real divorce recovery, Karen argues, isn’t just a fresh start for one person, it’s a chance to break a cycle that may have run for generations. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Workaholics rarely see themselves coming. The long hours feel necessary. The grind feels justified. And the people closest to them - a spouse, a child, a close friend — are left standing at the edge of a life that keeps getting smaller while the work keeps getting bigger. That’s where this conversation begins. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay is sitting down with performance coach and therapist Michael Ceely, who specializes in working with high-achieving men, workaholics, and driven professionals. Together, they’re unpacking why so many successful men are using work not as a tool, but as a drug, and what it’s actually costing them. The episode is making one thing very clear: workaholism is not about ambition. It’s about avoidance. Michael is explaining that the modern workaholic is not grinding because he loves the work. He is grinding because stopping feels unbearable. The work is serving as a coping mechanism, a way to self-soothe anxiety, sidestep difficult emotions, and outrun an inner critic that is never satisfied. “You know that you’re a workaholic if you are really actually addicted to work, you’re using it as a way to self-soothe. Maybe you had an argument with your spouse. What do you do? You go work for five hours and you feel better.” It is showing up when a man:     Escapes conflict at home by disappearing into his laptop     Measures his worth entirely by his output and income     Can’t take a day off without spiraling into guilt or anxiety     Closes a seven-figure deal and feels absolutely nothing Hustle culture is making all of it worse. The relentless glorification of overwork on social media is creating an environment where being a workaholic is not just accepted, it’s celebrated. Comparison syndrome is doing the rest of the damage, turning a highlight reel of other people’s success into a personal failure narrative that keeps men chained to their desks. Marc and Michael are walking through what it looks like to break the cycle, covering perfectionism and anxiety, the ROI framework for real-life decisions, the psychology of fear-driven productivity, and what active recovery looks like for men who can’t sit still. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Writing a book is one of the most revealing things a man can do. It forces you to sit with yourself, confront your insecurities, and commit to a process with no guaranteed payoff. For most men, that is exactly where the growth is, and it’s exactly where this conversation begins. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down with Magnus Johnson. He’s a former Green Beret, founder of Mission 22, and author of The Men We Make. Magnus talks about what writing a book taught him about men’s mental health, healthy masculinity, emotional intelligence, and what it really means to raise a son today. Magnus grew up in a van, was homeschooled on the road, and struggled with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Writing was never supposed to be his thing. But at 44, something shifted. He stopped caring what people thought and started writing anyway. The result is a novel told twice: the same story, two different outcomes. It explores how the small choices of the people around us shape the course of a life. The conversation covers:     What writing a book reveals about ego, vulnerability, and mastery     How empathy becomes a creative and entrepreneurial superpower     The male loneliness epidemic and why so many men are stuck on an outdated model     What healthy masculinity actually looks like beyond fake alpha culture     Fatherhood, discipline, and raising a son with intention     Why men need spiritual orientation, not just self-improvement hacks Writing a book, Magnus argues, forces a man out of strategy and into honesty. You can’t fake your way through 500 words a day for four months. You either show up or you don’t. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Therapy for men has a problem, and it starts long before a man ever walks into a session. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay is sitting down with Timothy Wienecke. Tim is a therapist, educator, air force veteran, and host of the American Masculinity Podcast. Together, they dig into how the mental health industry’s falling short when it comes to serving men, what counselor training’s missing, and what better care actually looks like. Tim’s drawing on years of clinical work and guest lecturing in graduate programs to make the case that men are not simply harder to reach, they’re a demographic the system hasn’t been properly trained to serve. The conversation is covering: Why counselor training still relies on modalities that are three or four generations old How the shortage of male clinicians is affecting the quality of care men receive What emotional intelligence and emotional expression look like in therapy for men  How to find the right therapist for men  “The field in general is almost always 10 years behind,” Tim’s explaining. “And if you put in men’s issues, tack another generation on that.” For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Spirituality is not the first word most men reach for when they are trying to fix their lives. But according to Dr. Dain Heer, it might be the most important one. That’s the question Dr. Dain Heer is bringing to this episode of the Men's Therapy Podcast. Dr. Heer is the co-creator of Access Consciousness, author of Being You, Changing the World and Return of the Gentleman. He’s one of the most compelling voices at the intersection of spirituality and modern masculinity. In his conversation with Marc Azoulay, he’s presenting a fundamentally different way for men to navigate their lives — one built on energetic awareness, intuition, and spiritual practice rather than judgment and control. The episode’s covering a lot: why men's emotional intelligence gets suppressed early, how people-pleasing and control are two sides of the same coin, what the access consciousness clearing statement actually does, and why the most powerful move a man can make is to stop trying to be right. "Energy is our first language," Dr. Heer is explaining. "It's the one that we've been so far distanced from because we've grown up in a world where we value thinking, we value judgments." The result, he’s arguing, is a generation of men who have done everything right on paper and still feel profoundly empty. Not because something is wrong with them. But because they are living inside a framework of judgment that has no room for what is actually true. That’s what this conversation is trying to change.

How to become a mentor? What does it take to go from a self-described adrenaline junkie who sought his masculine identity in war zones and deadly mountain climbs, to one of the most thoughtful mentors for young men alive today? That is the question at the heart of this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast. That is where this conversation goes. In this episode, Marc Azoulay talks with John Graham, former US Foreign Service diplomat, founder of the Giraffe Heroes Project, and creator of the wildly popular Badass Granddad video series, about what it really means to be a man, and how older men can step up and lead younger ones. The episode makes clear that for much of Graham’s early life, redefining masculinity was the last thing on his mind. He was too busy living what he thought manhood looked like: freighter ships in the Far East, hitchhiking through an active war in Algeria, climbing the deadly north face of Denali, and filing dispatches from the early days of Vietnam. John Wayne was his idol. Danger was his compass. “I became an adrenaline junkie. The meaning of my life was to become a man, and I found that in violent adventure.” And that strategy got expensive. It shows up when a man:     Mistakes recklessness for strength     Suppresses compassion to appear tough     Chases adrenaline instead of meaning     And then finds himself, at nearly 30, ordering executions in a war he didn’t believe in, and finally weeping at the emptiness of it all Not because he lacked courage, but because he had built his whole identity around being feared instead of being known. That is the deeper problem here. When your whole sense of self is anchored in physical dominance and risk-taking, you lose contact with the rest of yourself. You stop feeling. You stop connecting. You start expecting the world to reward your self-abandonment. And when it doesn’t, something breaks. Marc and John talk through what it looks like to break that pattern, touching on emotional risk-taking, mentorship for young men, masculine identity, the power of small acts of service, and what it truly means to ask: what is a real man? One kind of strength is about proving yourself. The other is about giving yourself. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Nice guy syndrome is at the center of a quiet crisis in modern masculinity. It is shaping how men date, relate, suppress their needs, and carry resentment into adulthood. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay is sitting down with Kelvin Davis. He is a men’s therapist and coach specializing in male emotional development and relational health. He's the author of the book "Be a Good Man, Not a Nice Guy". His work is focusing on helping men move from approval-seeking patterns into grounded integrity. Kelvin approaches nice guy syndrome not as a flaw to shame. He is seeing it as a learned survival strategy, one many men adopt early in life to avoid rejection and conflict. Rather than asking what is a nice guy in superficial terms, he is exploring the deeper emotional drivers behind the behavior. “A lot of men confuse niceness with goodness,” Kelvin explains. “But niceness is often a strategy. It’s about trying to control how you’re perceived.” He is describing men who overextend in dating, struggle with porn addiction, and feel chronically misunderstood in relationships. Kelvin is emphasizing that the issue is not effort. It is authenticity. Marc is guiding the discussion toward solutions, examining how men’s therapy, boundaries, and emotional resilience are reshaping modern masculinity. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Most relationship advice for men sticks to basic tips on communication or attraction. But it misses the deeper problems. In this roundtable episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay leads a straightforward talk. They discuss why relationships fail. They cover what men truly need in a relationship. They explain how avoidant and anxious attachment patterns shape men and their relationships. Guests include Shana James, a relationship coach and author. There's also Melissa Ryan, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in couples therapy. Jack Lambert joins too. He is a licensed mental health counselor focused on men’s therapy.  The group looks at emotional intimacy in relationships. They show how unconscious attachment dynamics can strengthen it or tear it down. This includes avoidant men who struggle to balance independence and closeness. Shana stresses that real connection needs visibility. "You can’t have deep connection without being seen," she says. She adds that vulnerability is not weakness. It is a strength in relationships. Melissa describes how relationships break down slowly. It is not always explosive. Small ruptures happen. They often go unrepaired. Over time, distance grows where closeness once was. Jack points out male loneliness and men’s mental health. Many men want intimacy. But they fear rejection or humiliation. Marc keeps the talk focused on growth, not blame. The episode skips quick fixes. Instead, it offers relationship advice for men. It centers on emotional awareness. It covers interdependence versus codependence. It builds courage for intimacy that lasts. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

For many men, business resiliency doesn’t begin with strategy or spreadsheets. It begins with pressure, uncertainty, and the slow realization that working harder is no longer enough. It often arrives alongside emotional exhaustion, strained relationships, and the sense that something beneath the surface is asking to be addressed. It is not in the market, but within the man himself. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay is guiding a grounded and revealing conversation with Joe Kavanagh. He is a veteran entrepreneur. His career spans more than forty years across real estate, valuation, and leadership development. Joe is speaking openly about a life chapter that reshaped his understanding of success. After decades of professional momentum, the 2008 real estate crash upended not only his portfolio but his sense of identity. “I owned and managed nineteen properties,” Joe explains, “and when the crash hit, I lost nearly half of them.” What followed was not just financial stress. There was emotional unraveling that exposed deeper patterns around control, avoidance, and overwork. At the same time, Joe was navigating family struggles and an eventual divorce. He doesn't frame these events as isolated failures. He describes them as interconnected signals that something fundamental needed to change. “I realized I was living the life I thought I was supposed to live,” he says, “not the one that was actually aligned with who I was.” Through this reckoning, Joe begins shifting from external achievement toward self-discovery. Coaching, meditation, and men’s therapy are becoming central to his personal development. As Marc guides the discussion, Joe’s story unfolds as a case study in business resiliency. Not as grit or hustle, but as emotional intelligence, honest communication, and the willingness to rebuild from the inside out. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Rites of Passage have quietly faded from many modern communities. This leaves boys to navigate adulthood by themselves. Without clear markers of growth, responsibility, or belonging. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay speaks with Paul Marcinkowski. Paul is a counselor with the Becoming a Man Program working inside Chicago public schools. Paul brings decades of experience in youth mentorship, men’s work, and school-based intervention. Together, they explore what masculinity and mental health really look like on the ground. Paul explains that the Becoming a Man Program is not built around lectures or discipline. Instead, it is structured around consistent group circles, experiential activities, and emotional skill-building. It meets boys where they are. Weekly sessions are embedded into the school day. These sessions help young men learn how to recognize emotions, regulate anger, and take accountability for their actions. Paul describes how many students initially attend for social reasons. Gradually, the group becomes something deeper. It becomes a place of support and reflection. Drawing from his background in camp leadership and men’s initiation work, Paul sees masculinity as a process, not a performance. Rites are not about proving toughness. They are about guiding boys into responsibility with the support of a community. Marc broadens the conversation to the bigger picture. What happens to men’s mental health when we leave boys without initiation? What does leadership look like when no one teaches young men how to grow into it? For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Social media addiction sits at the center of a growing mental health crisis among young men. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay is joined by Peter Lear. He is a licensed clinical social worker and addiction counselor based in Boulder, Colorado. Lear has spent decades working with men and adolescents. His work navigates addiction, trauma, and identity development in an increasingly digital world. Peter speaks from lived experience, not just theory. He grew up without stable male role models. Addiction surrounded him. He searched for guidance early on. Therapy introduced him to a man who was emotionally present. This man showed genuine curiosity. “I remember being 15 and thinking, what’s this guy’s angle? Why does he care what I think and feel?” Lear recalls. That experience shaped his understanding of masculinity. It guides his work today with Gen Z men. Men who are deeply skeptical of authority, disconnected from real-world relationships, and heavily influenced by technology and social media. Throughout the episode, Marc and Peter discuss key issues. Social media addiction, marijuana addiction, and lost mentorship converge. This creates a masculinity crisis. It starts in adolescence but lingers into adulthood as anxiety, disengagement, and lost purpose.  For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Masculine energy isn’t about dominance or detachment. It’s about how men face loss, responsibility, and the slow work of becoming whole. It is at the centre of Josh Tomeoni’s work, who is our guest today. Josh is a men’s coach specializing in divorce recovery and the host of The Derelict Podcast. In his podcast, he speaks candidly about men’s mental health, emotional growth, and the challenges men face when navigating relationships, addiction, and identity. His perspective is shaped not by abstract theory. It is years of lived experience mentoring men, participating in recovery communities, and walking through his own divorce. From an early age, Josh demonstrates an instinct to bring men back into connection. One of his earliest memories is noticing a boy being excluded and deliberately pulling him into the group. That same instinct, to see men, support them, and challenge them, continues to guide his work today. Yet the model of masculinity he grew up with offers little room for emotional awareness. As Josh recalls, men are expected to “figure it out,” push forward, and avoid talking about feelings altogether. Therapy, he says, is viewed as “a complete waste of time” for men. Divorce becomes a turning point that forces a deeper reckoning. Josh begins to see how suppressed emotion, unresolved attachment, and unexamined masculine identity quietly shape men’s lives. “Having somebody that could coach me through these things just made a world of difference,” he explains. Through coaching, recovery work, and self-reflection, Josh develops a vision of masculine energy. It is grounded, accountable, and emotionally intelligent. It is the one that aligns strength with calm rather than avoidance or aggression. This conversation explores how men can move beyond outdated models of manhood and step into healthy masculinity—a form of masculine energy that supports growth, purpose, and connection. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Learn what it means to be a man in 2025, as ideas around masculinity, emotional intelligence, and personal growth continue to evolve in today’s world. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Brett Zachman to explore these shifts in depth. Zachman is the founder of BeMen. It is a Colorado-based nonprofit dedicated to men’s wellness, personal growth, and brotherhood. Zachman is not a therapist by trade. But his work comes from real life, especially after divorce, emotional breakdown, and searching for meaning. Zachman says his journey starts with pain. “Out of pain comes purpose,” he shares. After divorce, career changes, and feeling alone, he asks a key question. Many men carry it silently: What happens when life falls apart? He finds a sad truth. Men often turn inward. Or they have nowhere to go. “Most men don’t talk about what they’re going through, we isolate, we bury it, we try to muscle through.” Zachman explains. That silence, he notes, often leads to anxiety, broken relationships, and disconnection from self and others. From this, BeMen is born. It’s not a business. It’s a brotherhood. Men can speak honestly here. They grow emotionally. They healthily redefine masculinity. Through summits, gatherings, and talks, Zachman helps men learn how to be a man today. No shame. No ego. No old expectations. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.  

Neurodiversity is at the heart of a growing crisis in modern education. It is the one that is shaping how young men learn, struggle, and carry their mental health challenges into adulthood. In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Jake Noonan. He is an academic neurodiversity coach at the Neurodiversity Collective. His work focuses on young men and boys navigating the modern education system. Jake approaches neurodiversity not as a deficit to be corrected. He sees it as a fundamental difference in how individuals experience learning, creativity, and mental health. Jake reflects on his own journey through gifted education and late ADHD diagnosis. He sheds light on years spent teaching in public education, private education, and alternative school models. He explains that for many boys, especially those with neurodiversity, school is not failing because they lack intelligence or motivation. It is failing because the system itself is outdated. “I was diagnosed with ADHD at 29,” Jake shares. “When that happened, my entire life suddenly made sense.” Jake describes how neurodiversity often goes unnoticed or misunderstood. Particularly in boys who are labelled as “gifted” but struggle emotionally, socially, or behaviorally. He emphasizes that modern education still operates on an industrial-era model. It is the one that values compliance over curiosity and standardization over individuality. Marc guides listeners through a broader examination of the education system. He focuses on teacher burnout and the mental health consequences young men are carrying into adulthood. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

For many men, the midlife crisis doesn’t arrive as a quiet reflection. It arrives as relationship tension and emotional shutdown. It comes with the unsettling realization that something deeper is demanding attention.  In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay speaks with Mark J. Platten. He is the founder of the Integral Human Initiative. He is also a longtime men’s work facilitator and teacher of sacred masculinity. Platten draws from Jungian psychology, mythology and indigenous wisdom traditions. He focuses on decades of lived experience to explore what the midlife crisis is really asking of men. Rather than framing midlife as a breakdown, Platten describes it as a summons. “If I am the same man at 50 that I was at 25,” he explains, “that means there has been 25 years of no growth.” In his view, the second half of life is not about preserving youth, status, or achievement. It is about emotional growth, responsibility, and inner work. Platten’s story is deeply personal. He shares how navigating his wife’s menopause alongside his own andropause nearly unravelled their marriage. “Had I known then what I know now,” he reflects, “we could have walked that journey in a sacred way, side by side.” Instead, unresolved triggers, shadow work left untouched, and generational trauma surfaced with force. Now in his late 50s, Platten is returning to men’s work with renewed clarity. He is calling this phase the King’s Return. It is a movement from the prince’s unconscious patterns into mature masculine leadership. As Azoulay guides the conversation, the episode becomes less about crisis management and more about meaning, responsibility, and the spiritual journey of becoming whole. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Ever wonder why so many men find themselves stuck in the same romantic patterns? Marc highlights the psychology behind working with men struggling with anxious attachment. He focuses on emotionally unavailable partners and recurring relationship breakdowns in this episode. Early in the conversation, Marc sets the tone with a statement that captures the heart of the episode: “You’re not choosing her. You’re choosing your wound.” He explains that many men believe they are unlucky in love. When in reality, they are unconsciously repeating familiar emotional patterns. These are rooted in childhood trauma and early attachment experiences. Marc describes how the brain prioritizes familiarity over well-being. Even when a relationship is painful or chaotic, the nervous system gravitates toward what feels known. “The brain doesn’t care if something is good or bad,” he says. “It cares if it’s familiar.” This dynamic plays out most clearly in adult relationships. It occurs especially for men with anxious attachment who are drawn to emotionally unavailable partners. Throughout the episode, Marc blends attachment theory, psychoanalysis, and real-world clinical examples. He does so to help men understand how childhood wounds continue shaping their dating lives. The conversation is not about blaming parents or past partners. It is about building awareness so men can finally choose differently. Get your free worksheet here: https://bit.ly/thepatterntest For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Midlife is often framed as a crisis, but is it really? In this roundtable episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay is guiding the conversation toward a deeper and more accurate question. What happens when a man’s identity no longer fits the life he has built? Joining the discussion are Shana James and Silvan Summers. Shana is a relationship and intimacy coach known for her work on love and sex after 40.  Silvan is a somatic psychotherapist and therapeutic coach at Men’s Therapy Online. Together, they examine the midlife crisis. It is less about impulsive decisions and more about a profound reckoning with emotional truth and meaning. Shana is describing midlife as a moment when “most of our dreams and fantasies have shattered”. But at the same time, it’s an opportunity to create incredible love and sex beyond anything we could create when we’re younger. She is emphasizing that identity is shifting, from who men were taught to be to who they actually are. Silvan is approaching the topic through the body. “We experience emotion through sensation,” he explains. “If we don’t understand what’s happening in the body, we lose control over where our emotional life goes.” For many men, this disconnection shows up as numbness, emotional shutdown, and a growing sense of feeling lost. Marc frames the discussion by naming what many men quietly experience: success on paper, but confusion internally. Careers, marriages, and responsibilities remain intact, yet something essential feels missing. This episode is examining that missing piece, not as failure, but as initiation. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Marc Azoulay unpacks a pattern he is seeing repeatedly in high-performing men. Success is increasing, but fulfilment is disappearing. Drawing on over a decade of clinical experience, Marc explains that many men are not actually chasing success. They are running from shame. “You think making more money will finally make you feel secure,” Marc explains, “but every time you level up, you feel worse.” He describes men whose bank accounts are growing, yet whose inner lives feel hollow. Rather than feeling proud of achievement, they are experiencing numbness, burnout, and an ongoing identity crisis. Marc notices that self-worth is becoming dangerously entangled with productivity, income, and performance in a capitalist culture that rewards output above all else. Men are being conditioned to equate value with work. “There’s no upper limit,” he says. “You can always do more, produce more, make more money. And there’s never a moment of enoughness.” This episode focuses on how external validation quietly replaces identity, creating what Marc calls an “achievement addiction.” Promotions, praise, and financial wins temporarily soothe anxiety. They never resolve the deeper fear of failure or unlovability. Over time, this leads to workaholism, emotional disconnection, and eventually burnout. Marc is guiding listeners through the invisible beliefs driving this cycle, while also offering practical ways to rebuild identity beyond career, income, and constant performance. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online. Get your free worksheet: bit.ly/provider-trap-worksheet

Ya'Ron Brown is approaching men’s mental health from a place of lived experience, clinical insight, and cultural awareness. He is a licensed counsellor, clinical supervisor, trainer, and host of the Resilient Kings Podcast. Brown unpacks one of the most difficult yet essential topics facing men today: male vulnerability and why it is so deeply resisted. Brown is speaking candidly about how patriarchy shapes men long before they enter therapy. “No matter who we are,” he explains, “to some degree, we are baked into patriarchy.” This conditioning quietly influences how men define strength, suppress emotion, and measure self-worth. Many men are never taught how to explore identity development beyond narrow expectations of toughness, performance, and endurance. Throughout the conversation, Brown is sharing personal stories. He illustrates how emotional repression becomes normalized. He describes how men often grow up learning that masculinity exists in a single lane. This leaves little room for curiosity, softness, or emotional expression. As a result, many men are arriving in adulthood disconnected from themselves. They are caught in cycles of seeking validation through work, relationships, or external success. This episode does not position vulnerability as weakness. Instead, Brown is reframing vulnerability as a missing developmental skill. One that directly affects male identity, relationships, and mental health. As Marc Azoulay guides the discussion, the focus remains on helping men understand why they feel empty, restless, or angry. It highlights how reconnecting with vulnerability can change everything. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Ralph Brewer is the founder of the “Help for Men Brotherhood” and the creator of the “Dad Starting Over” community. Today, he is sharing a story that is becoming increasingly common among men. Yet still, it is rarely talked about openly. He is speaking as someone who has lived the full weight of divorce, rebuilding life, and single fatherhood. His story begins over a decade ago when he was navigating what he describes as “a giant holy-poop moment”. It was one defined by infidelity, uncertainty, and the sudden responsibility of raising three young children alone. He reflected on the emotional upheaval men often face. “I can’t think of anything more emotional than the disintegration of a long-term relationship,” he says. Brewer has noticed that divorce is putting a mirror in front of men’s lives. It is forcing them to confront not just the loss of a partner, but the collapse of routines, identity, and stability. Brewer explained how he begins coping by returning to the passions he abandons during marriage: guitars, writing, and creative expression. “It was part of my therapy,” he notes. Brewer described how rekindling old interests becomes his lifeline. This personal journey evolved into a platform that is now supporting thousands of men worldwide. Through YouTube, books, coaching, and the Brotherhood, Brewer is building a community for men who are facing divorce, breakup, co-parenting conflicts, and emotional rebuilding. His message remains consistent: every great man he knows has a turning point. “Enough is enough,” he says. “This could be a big turning point for you.” For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Joe Hehn is living through a story that many men fear, and few ever speak about. Joe not only shared a personal narrative; he also revealed a blueprint for reclaiming purpose after unimaginable loss. He is a mentor, corporate speaker, and mindset coach. Joe is guiding men toward self-awareness and emotional resilience. He does so by openly describing how his own world collapsed and rebuilt itself. Before his wife’s cancer diagnosis, Joe explains that “everything on paper looked perfect”. Yet, internally, he was constantly stressed, anxious, and disconnected. His life changed dramatically one afternoon in Chicago. It was when a routine meditation on a park bench became his first spiritual awakening. “Everything is alive,” he recalls. “It’s like I’m stepping into a painting.” But that brief moment of illumination was only the beginning. After losing his wife to cancer, Joe plunged into an emotional wilderness. “I didn’t want to die,” he admitted, “but I didn’t want to live either.” This became the lowest point of his life and also the turning point. He began the long process of grief recovery and rebuilding his identity. He did so when he was travelling through South America. He volunteered and reconnected with spirituality. What makes Joe’s journey distinct is not only the scale of his grief, but his relentless pursuit of meaning. “Is this the life I want for myself?” he asked in Bolivia, bedridden and empty. That question became the foundation of his life’s new mission. Helping men cultivate purpose through mindset coaching, emotional healing, and self-awareness. Connect with Joe:  Website: https://joehehn.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvkQI_b9ocQK-Kcabbqjycw TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joe.hehn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joe.hehn For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this episode of The Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay is sitting down with two deeply respected clinicians. Jack Lambert, LMHC, and Ben White, LPC. They explore the emotional landscape men confront during divorce. Their conversation is opening a window into an experience many men are living silently: the grief, confusion, and emotional shutdown that divorce often sparks. Jack is working extensively with gay and queer men navigating major life transitions, including separation, identity loss, and the struggle to rebuild after relationship trauma. He notes that “divorce is often felt as a rock bottom, not because it always is one, but because culturally men are not taught how to handle emotional rupture.” Ben mainly works with straight men across multiple states. He shares a parallel observation: “It’s interesting how often divorce is the event that finally pushes men into therapy. Something really life-shattering happens, and suddenly the wheels that were in motion for years become undeniable.” Together, they shed light on why divorce isn’t just a legal separation. It’s an emotional reckoning. Their clinical insights reveal how men often reach this stage feeling isolated, ashamed, or stuck in anger, and how the process of emotional healing must begin with confronting the grief they have long avoided. This episode isn’t simply about divorce. It’s about reclaiming emotional intelligence, rebuilding identity, and learning what healthier masculinity looks like on the other side of heartbreak. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this powerful episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down to explain the “fixer mentality”. It is a pattern many men fall into when they compulsively help others, avoid emotional intimacy, and ultimately burn out. He explains, “When you’re always fixing, you’re not asking for help. That’s how the cycle begins.” Marc is guiding people to see how these patterns, rooted in dopamine addiction, stress response, and codependency, silently shape one’s identity and your relationships. As the discussion unfolds, he highlights how men can become trapped in what feels like a heroic role. However, it’s actually a mask covering deeper emotional wounds. He says, “The fixer is addicted not just to helping, but to being seen as valuable.” Over the course of the episode, he explores emotional avoidance, the martyr complex, and why many men struggle to form genuine emotional intimacy. With clear, professional, yet compassionate insight, Marc is helping his audience understand these dynamics. He is offering practical steps to break free. Whether you suspect you’re stuck in the fixer loop or you’re feeling chronically stressed and burnt out, this conversation offers clarity, validation, and a roadmap toward healing. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

For over five decades, Dr. Ronald Johnson has dedicated his career to understanding the emotional lives of men. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a lifelong commitment to men’s psychological development. “I come from a good family,” he recalls, “but you know, typical dysfunctional family as well. And so I have for a long time been interested in just, how do I feel, how do I think, what do I do?”    Interestingly, his focus on men doesn’t start with men at all. In the 1960s and ’70s, therapy was mostly a female space. And it was through working with women that he became captivated by what wasn’t being said. “I saw these women, and what do they talk about? The men in their lives… I thought, I need to meet these guys.” When he eventually did, the revelation surprised him: “What do you know? They weren’t awful. I liked them.”    From there, a practice was born. He famously placed a Yellow Pages ad that read, “Practice limited to men,” unintentionally pioneering one of the earliest male-specific therapy practices. Over the years, he has seen patterns repeat: anxiety, addiction, avoidance, grief, emotional shutdown, the father wound, and the profound hunger for emotional intimacy and male connection. His decades of work culminate in his book Balls: Men Finding Courage. In this episode, he is sharing raw, timely insights for men navigating emotional intelligence, healing, and growth today. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Many men describe themselves as “chill,” unbothered, or simply “fine.” But as Marc Azoulay explains in this episode, fine is not always peace. It is often an emotional shutdown. Marc reflects on the quiet epidemic of emotional numbness shaping men’s lives today. “What if your fine is not peace? It’s shut down. What if it’s an emotional shutdown? It’s not strength, it’s numbness. And the cost is everything.” Marc is guiding listeners through one of the most misunderstood emotional states men experience: numbness. Through relatable examples from his clinical experience, he tells the story of men who lose touch with their emotional worlds without even realizing it. One client, for example, comes in reporting low intimacy in his marriage only to realize that the issue is not desire. But a complete emotional flatline “across the board, not just in his relationship, but in workouts, hobbies, friendships and everything.” This episode tells the story of how numbness develops, how it disguises itself as composure, and why so many men mistake shutdown for resilience. Marc shares how cultural conditioning trains boys to “man up”. It sheds light on how men often push emotions away, allowing the nervous system to slip into detachment and dissociation. He also describes the moment many men can pinpoint as the beginning of their emotional shutdown. Such as the client who realized he “stopped feeling” the day his father was diagnosed with cancer. In this unfolding narrative, Marc is guiding men back to themselves. He is helping them understand numbness not as a flaw, but as a protective strategy that has simply worn out its usefulness. And more importantly, he is showing listeners how to feel again. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In today’s fast-paced world, burnout is becoming the silent epidemic among men. Whether it’s the pressure to excel at work, maintain relationships, or keep up with physical fitness, the weight of “doing it all” often leaves men emotionally drained and disconnected. Today’s Men’s Therapy Podcast roundtable hosts a variety of competent guests. Marc welcomes Desmond Cohen. He is a psychotherapist and coach. Aidan Lee and Silvan Erb-Summers also join. Aidan Lee is the founder of FitRoots and Silvan is a somatic therapist. They unpack what work-life balance truly means for modern men. “Most of the men I see are looking for relief from fear,” says Desmond Cohen. “And that fear isn’t about dying physically. It’s about social death. It’s the fear of losing connection, status, or belonging.” This profound insight captures the essence of how deeply emotional wellness is tied to identity and social perception for men today. For Aidan Lee, balance begins with the body. “The first thing men let go of is their health,” he explains. “It’s not about becoming an athlete. It’s about having the energy to go from AM to PM without crashing.” Meanwhile, Silvan Silvan emphasizes the mind-body connection: “We can’t think our way out of imbalance. We have to feel it, in the body, to release it.” Together, they present a holistic framework that blends psychology, fitness, and community to help men rebuild resilience and redefine strength in an age of relentless productivity. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this episode of The Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Jayson Gaddis. He is the founder of The Relationship School and a pioneer in men’s emotional health and relationship education. Gaddis opens up about his own journey, one marked by pain, disconnection, and a hard-earned path toward self-awareness. “Pain got me into finally getting my own shit together,” Gaddis admits. At 29, after another breakup in a Whole Foods parking lot, he experiences a profound moment of clarity: “Maybe I’m the problem.” That realization sparks a turning point that led him to graduate school in psychology, a move that changed the trajectory of his life and career. Gaddies suggests that most men interpret success as money, status, or control. It is often masked by deep-seated insecurity. “I was chasing validation on social media, chasing money, chasing approval,” he says. “And that outside-in approach was killing me.” His reflections form the foundation for an honest conversation about modern masculinity. It sheds light on the urgent need for men to confront their inner worlds. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.  

Patrick Sperry is bringing a new depth to conversations about modern masculinity and personal growth. He is the founder of Flourish. It is a wellness retreat company focused on transformational experiences for men and women. He is guiding men toward emotional healing and spiritual growth through the power of community, yoga, and mindful living. In his conversation with host Marc Azoulay, Patrick reflects on his own evolution. From a competitive athlete to a teacher of spiritual practice. “I was a national-level soccer player,” he shares. “But when I found yoga, it was like I had finally found that part of myself I had been looking for all along.” That awakening led Patrick to a lifelong exploration of mindfulness, self-awareness, and what it means to be truly alive. He brings this passion into Flourish Retreats. They blend self-work with adventure, connection, and reflection. His philosophy is simple yet profound: “Men need to be challenged. But they also need to feel safe enough to be vulnerable.” For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In today’s fast-paced, hyperconnected world, more men are quietly struggling with a deep sense of emptiness. They wake up, go to work, scroll through their phones, and repeat the cycle, day after day, without any real sense of purpose or meaning. “A lot of men say that they’re stressed out or overworked,” says Marc. “But when I really listen to their stories, I see that they’re bored, existentially bored. They’re not just tired; they’re starved for meaning.” Marc describes this as a boredom epidemic as a silent crisis that’s eroding men’s motivation, relationships, and sense of self. Beneath the surface of this modern masculinity dilemma lies something more profound: a hunger for depth and direction. In his words, “We’re talking about chronic existential boredom, cold boredom. It’s a lack of feeling, a lack of meaning, a sense that nothing matters.” Through this conversation, Marc unpacks the root causes of this masculinity crisis and provides practical steps for men to reclaim their energy, rediscover purpose and meaning, and build more real connections in their lives. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

Sam Peterson’s story begins in the heart of conflict zones. Serving as a bomb technician in the U.S. Army, Sam disarmed explosives in Afghanistan. “I was the guy in the big green suit cutting wires on IEDs,” he recalls. But when the combat ended, another war began. This time, within his own mind. Returning home, Sam faces relentless panic attacks, emotional numbness, and a darkness that nearly costs him his life. Traditional methods fail him. “I’d been on SSRIs, beta-blockers, and tried talk therapy. Nothing worked,” Sam shares. One night, at his lowest point, a phone call from a friend interrupts his suicide attempt. That call becomes a turning point. What follows is a journey of self-discovery and scientific exploration. It transforms not only his life but the lives of countless veterans battling PTSD. Now, as co-founder of Mind Spa Denver, Sam is pioneering a multidimensional approach to trauma recovery. He is combining different therapies to treat PTSD, anxiety, and depression. These include psychedelic therapy, ketamine infusions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. His mission is clear: to bring these life-saving tools to veterans and first responders who have run out of options. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this episode of Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc highlights the importance of shadow work for men. “You think you’re the nice guy. You never raise your voice, you always say yes, you avoid conflict. But behind that politeness is often a man full of anger, resentment, and even self-hatred,” says Marc Azoulay. Drawing from his clinical work with men, Marc reveals how many men wear a mask of agreeableness. They do this to survive chaotic or emotionally unstable childhood environments. “If you grew up in a home with an abusive or narcissistic parent, you learned early that fighting back only made things worse. So you became compliant, you became the nice guy.” This compliance often leads to deep emotional repression. Anger doesn’t disappear but instead festers beneath the surface. “The longer you keep that anger buried,” he warns, “the more it leaks out as resentment, passive aggression, and even self-destruction.” Marc’s insights lay bare a universal truth for men navigating toxic masculinity and a desperate desire to be seen as “good.” The path to healing, he insists, lies not in perfection but in integration, an honest reckoning with the self through shadow work. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this compelling conversation, The Men’s Therapy Podcast host Marc Azoulay welcomes Carlos Davidovich. He is a neuroscientist and executive coach known for bridging neuroscience and personal growth. Carlos has decades of experience coaching leaders across Europe and the Americas. He brings a fresh perspective to modern masculinity. One rooted in understanding the brain, balancing energies, and embracing emotional regulation. “When we talk about masculinity today,” Carlos explains, “we need to understand that every human brain has both a masculine and a feminine side. The key is to balance the two.” His approach is grounded not in cultural stereotypes, but in biology and emotional intelligence. Carlos discusses how both men and women possess a spectrum of emotional and cognitive strengths. And that integration, rather than opposition, is the pathway to authentic manhood. Drawing on his expertise in neuroscience and behaviour change, he emphasizes that true growth begins with self-awareness. “We can’t deny that we have both sides. It’s not about which one is better. It’s about understanding that both are needed.” For men seeking to grow emotionally, Carlos’s insights offer a scientific yet soulful roadmap to becoming more adaptable, mindful, and grounded. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

On this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Geoff Laughton and Mark Johnson. They are the co-founders of The Undaunted Man. It is an organization devoted to helping men reclaim purpose, authenticity, and strength. Their journey into men’s work is deeply personal. For Geoff, it begins as a father seeking connection. “When my son turned fourteen, a friend offered to lead him through a manhood initiation based on King, Warrior, Magician, Lover,” he shares. “It was such an amazing day. His grandfather was there, as were older men, and I realised I had never experienced anything like that. I wanted that too.” That experience propels Geoff into men’s work and eventually to co-founding The Undaunted Man. Mark Johnson’s story unfolds through pain and surrender. “Losing my job was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he recalls. “I curled up on the floor and said, ‘I give up. I’ve done everything I know how to do.’ That moment of surrender opened the door to real spiritual growth.” Mark’s crisis becomes a catalyst for profound transformation, leading him to teach men to find their inner compass —a theme central to his work today. Together, Geoff and Mark are redefining what it means to be a modern man. It is one rooted in healthy masculinity, spiritual balance, and emotional strength. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this episode of The Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay sits down with Anthony Astbury. He is the founder of The Whole Man Academy and author of Ignite. He unpacks what it really takes for men to thrive in a world that rewards productivity but neglects purpose. Astbury’s journey begins in the fast-paced world of finance, where he spends nearly two decades as a trader and broker in London. “I got to my mid-thirties and thought, is this it?” he recalls. “I was successful on paper. A good job, good salary, but I felt empty.” This realization becomes a turning point that drives him toward personal development. After attending Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within and other self-improvement events, Astbury finds himself surrounded by men who “were living life on their terms.” These experiences led him to create The Whole Man Academy. It is a movement designed to help successful men rediscover purpose, confidence, and connection through male mentorship and community. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In this episode of The Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay sits down with Dan Ariely. He is a renowned behavioural economist and the founder of the Centre for Advanced Hindsight. He is known for his pioneering research into human decision-making. Ariely brings a deeply personal and scientific perspective to understanding how we think, feel, and grow through adversity. The conversation begins with a striking visual, a reminder of Ariely's life-changing experience as a burn survivor, as evidenced by his half-beard. “Most of my body is covered with scars,” he shares. “For years, I shaved to look less strange. But when I stopped hiding, I began to heal.” That choice becomes a powerful metaphor for overcoming shame and embracing self-acceptance. These are the themes that echo throughout the episode. Ariely explains how revealing his scars helped others find courage in their own healing. “People thanked me for being open. Stopping the act of hiding was incredibly helpful. It made me feel whole again.” This simple act of authenticity becomes the foundation for a broader discussion on neurodiversity, emotional resilience, and the unseen biases that govern how we perceive ourselves and others. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

When Jeremy Davis was taking an online autism test while researching for a screenplay, he was not expecting his own life to unfold before his eyes. “I thought I was writing a character,” Davis recalls, “but what I was really doing was writing myself.” That moment marks the beginning of his journey into self-discovery and self-advocacy. He was misdiagnosed for years, overlooked by the medical system, and dismissed in the workplace. Davis is now transforming his lived experience into a powerful platform for education and change. A filmmaker turned disability advocate, Davis is navigating both autism and ADHD after a late autism diagnosis at 40. “Autism is a spectrum,” he explains. “My presentation is green, red, and blue. Someone else’s could be yellow, orange, and purple. They’re not more or less autistic than I am.” His story is not just one of struggle, but of reclaiming identity and dignity in the face of misunderstanding and ableism. Through his disability representation consulting and advocacy efforts online, Davis is helping to break the stigma. He is helping others recognize their own experiences and call for systemic change. His voice is reaching thousands across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. He combines storytelling with science to reshape how autism and ADHD are understood. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.

In a recent episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, host Marc Azoulay welcomes Dr. Robert Lufkin. He is a physician, researcher, and author of “The Lies I Taught in Medical School”. He has decades of experience teaching at UCLA and USC. Dr. Lufkin shares a transformative message about how lifestyle changes are reversing chronic diseases. Dr. Lufkin describes how his journey begins not as a medical crusader, but as a patient. “I was minding my own business as a professor when I came down with four chronic diseases,” he recalls. When conventional doctors prescribed pills with no real solutions, he begins asking deeper questions: “What about lifestyle? What about nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress?” His quest for answers leads him to reverse all four conditions through lifestyle medicine. This inspires his mission to share these insights with others. For more podcasts, blogs, and to get involved in the Men's Therapy Online Community, visit www.menstherapy.online. Follow us on social media: https://mtr.bio/mens-therapy-online.