Why Aren’t Men Becoming Therapists Anymore? Curt and Katie chat about the lack of male therapists and the decreasing number of male students in the profession. We look at current statistics and reported experiences of men in the field. We also dig into what needs to change to balance gender representation and increase the number of men becoming therapists.     Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com! In this podcast episode we talk about male therapists Continuing forward within men’s health month, we are looking at the state of the profession for male therapists.   Statistics on men in the mental health profession Depending on license type, mental health professionals are between 60-90% female Men and women have fairly equal parity on compensation (especially when looking at similar roles) Men are less likely to seek out these jobs as the wages stagnate, the requirements become more onerous, and due to a lack of male representation and role models What needs to change to balance gender representation within the mental health field? “Men typically have privilege in other spaces… And yet I recognize in our field, that's not the case. And so, it's this weird, complex understanding of societal privilege, but not privilege within the field.” – Katie Vernoy, LMFT Understanding the difference between societal privilege versus professional privilege Identifying why the number of men is dramatically decreasing within graduate programs and all stages of licensure The impact of feminism on the conversations about the impact of white men on the field The perception of “male bashing” and the need to nurture male voices within the profession The challenge of identifying when men are being ignored or “soloed out” The problem of stereotyping, ignoring, or isolating male therapists and students Men being automatically pushed into leadership due to mentorship by male faculty and bias toward men as leaders How do we get more men into the mental health profession? “If we're identifying that men need to go and get mental health treatment, and there's no men to get it from, this then has the potential for reaching critical failure as a profession in being able to provide services.” – Curt Widhalm, LMFT Reaching critical failure in trying to provide services to men (if men no longer enter the profession) Recruitment strategies for graduate programs Making the profession sustainable for all individuals Pushing back against wage stagnation due to feminization of the profession Looking at retention and commitment for male therapists The importance of representation across the mental health profession Our Generous Sponsor for this episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide: Thrizer Thrizer is a new modern billing platform for therapists that was built on the belief that therapy should be accessible AND clinicians should earn what they are worth. Their platform automatically gets clients reimbursed by their insurance after every session. Just by billing your clients through Thrizer, you can potentially save them hundreds every month, with no extra work on your end. Every time you bill a client through Thrizer, an insurance claim is automatically generated and sent directly to the client's insurance. From there, Thrizer provides concierge support to ensure clients get their reimbursement quickly, directly into their bank account. By eliminating reimbursement by check, confusion around benefits, and obscurity with reimbursement status, they allow your clients to focus on what actually matters rather than worrying about their money. It is very quick to get set up and it works great in completement with EHR systems. Their team is super helpful and responsive, and the founder is actually a long-time therapy client who grew frustrated with his reimbursement times The best part is you don't need to give up your rate. They charge a standard 3% payment processing fee! Thrizer lets you become more accessible while remaining i