APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boys and Men

Boys and men are diverse with respect to their race, ethnicity, culture, migration status, age, socio-economic status, ability status, sexual orientation, gender identity and religious affiliation.  Each of these social identities contribute uniquely and in intersecting ways to shape how men experience and perform their masculinities which, in turn, contribute to relational, psychological, and behavioural health outcomes in both positive and negative ways.  Although boys and men, as a group, tend to hold privilege and power based on gender, they also demonstrate disproportionate rates of receiving harsh discipline, academic challenges, mental health issues, physical health problems, substance abuse, incarceration and early mortality - as well as a wide variety of other quality-of-life issues.  Additionally, many men do not seek help when they need it, and many report distinctive barriers to receiving gender-sensitive psychological treatment.  To meet this challenge, the American Psychological Association has issued guidelines to help psychologists to work with men and boys.  You can see these at: www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf   Dr John Barry - from the Male Psychology Network - offers some alternatives to the new APA guidelines at: https://malepsychology.org.uk/2019/01/10/is-there-an-alternative-to-the-new-apa-guidelines-for-working-with-men-and-boys