Many men avoid seeking mental health support through therapy due to traditional social constructions of masculinity that value stoicism, emotional suppression, and self-reliance. These norms create stigma, delay help-seeking, and contribute to a disconnect between men and traditional mental health services, which often feel clinical, distant, or unrelatable.
As an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) and founder of men’s therapy practice Mindful Men, Simon Rinne brings over 30 years of lived experience with mental health conditions (obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, and 25 years of alcohol use) to his therapy service. After burning out in 2020, Simon found support through a lived experience GP and therapist — a turning point that helped him realise that he wasn’t alone. Their authenticity and insight helped Simon to reframe therapy as a courageous and healing act. This experience now shapes how Simon supports men who are hesitant, unsure, or disconnected from traditional mental health services.
This presentation highlights how we can do therapy differently by embedding lived experience into men’s mental health services. Unlike traditional approaches that feel clinical and intimidating, a lived experience approach values authenticity, shared understanding, and genuine connection. Lived experience is more than sharing a personal story; it is increasingly recognised as part of best practice approaches to mental health support. Lived experience therapy is recovery-oriented and person-centred; and helps by breaking down stigma, challenging power imbalances, and promoting hope through shared experiences. Lived experience therapy brings therapeutic tools to life, but showing men how they work through first-hand examples.
By embedding lived experience within service design, therapists can create spaces that feel relatable, emotionally safe, and built for men — rather than requiring men to fit into existing clinical frameworks that can be stigmatising. This approach supports not only deeper engagement but also sustained recovery by addressing the unique barriers men face in mental health support.
Key learnings will include:
Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how lived experience therapists can model emotional openness and offer men a new, relatable way to view therapy — not as weakness, but as strength.