Austin Pohevitz

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

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

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

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

Men need a space where this can be different.

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

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