Counseling Male Members of the Canadian Forces

Abstract

The lives of men working in the Canadian Forces (CF) are vastly different from civilian life. The hardships and competition they endure often results in impersonal and alienating feelings. Such a life demands that their personal needs are subsumed by the overarching goals of the institution, necessitating that all men embrace the dictums of the CF. As a result of these unique hardships, the psychological well-being among the regular forces is generally worse compared to civilian workers. Counselors need to attune psychotherapy to the specific psychological and sociocultural adaptation stresses that these men have experienced as part of the military acculturation process that shifts them to embrace a more “militarized” worldview. Counselors should alter their approach to accommodate the traditional masculine ideology that underlies how these military men interface with the world. Lastly, counselors should rely on counseling interventions that promote therapeutic lifestyle changes and build on psychological resilience, such as skills building, therapeutic enactment, and mindfulness-based therapies.