Counselling in Victoria, BC

Jerome’s Approach to Counselling: *******TITLE NEEDED HERE

Although I also work with women and couples, my practice leans toward working with adolescent boys and men on the challenges they face.

• I support them in areas such as finding meaning in masculinity, identity, purpose and direction, challenges with self-worth, emotional expression, anger, shame, and the pressures of social and cultural expectations around being a man.

• I help them develop healthy sexual expression and improve intimacy, form or sustain close relationships, and deal with loss, grief, and loneliness. 

• I also support clients who are navigating life transitions (fatherhood, aging, physical decline, divorce, death).

Why boys and men?

I know many wonderful, kind, creative, generous men. So the short answer is that I like men and believe in their goodness and potential. 

That said, as a man shaped by certain forms of privilege - gendered, cultural, and socio-economic - I’m aware of the ways some men have used their privilege to harm others and the world around us. Naming that matters to me, and it’s part of why I believe change is necessary.

At the same time, I also see the quieter, often overlooked struggles many boys and men carry. Adolescents and men today are challenged with a changing world while still confined by old definitions of what it means to be a man, to be masculine, to live a meaningful life.

It starts at an early age: boys are often given a narrow range for how they’re allowed to be. Strength and self-reliance are emphasized, while emotional responsiveness and relational sensitivity are secondary at best. Over time, this can create an internal split - a diminished or narrowed experience of masculinity - where parts of the self are constrained, and life becomes more about holding it together than feeling fully alive and living one’s potential.

Many men live with these tensions. They may sense the limits of traditional roles, yet find it difficult to step outside of them. Opening up doesn’t always feel safe or rewarding, and so much of what’s carried stays unspoken.

And yet, in this I see opportunity. The world is asking for men who are fully alive. Given the space, men are capable of deep reflection, growth, and change - and often want it. When they begin to reconnect with the parts of themselves that have been set aside, the benefits are significant - not just for them, but in their relationships and communities as well.

This is the work I care about: supporting men as they expand their way of being and contribute in their full capacity to a more humane, balanced, and connected world.