Men's Issues Therapists in San Francisco, CA
I work as an ally for the male soul, when a man is troubled by conflict in relationships or dissatisfaction in work, by dark moods or sexual questions, by doubts or fears about himself.
I work as an ally for the male soul, when a man is troubled by conflict in relationships or dissatisfaction in work, by dark moods or sexual questions, by doubts or fears about himself.
My approach is collaborative and grounded in your experience. We’ll build on your existing strengths while also paying attention to how your body holds stress and emotion, helping you access change that goes beyond insight alone.
I work with thoughtful, self-aware adults who want more than just coping skills—they want real, lasting change.
My approach is collaborative and grounded in your experience. We’ll build on your existing strengths while also paying attention to how your body holds stress and emotion, helping you access change that goes beyond insight alone.
I work with thoughtful, self-aware adults who want more than just coping skills—they want real, lasting change.
Finding the right therapist for your unique needs and personality is an essential first step toward healing and clarity. My approach is honest, direct, compassionate and provides the reassurance that you're talking to a regular person. I give useful feedback, ask thoughtful questions, use occasional humor (when it can be helpful) and will gently challenge you to grow. I believe in keeping the therapeutic relationship real and being down to earth. Because let's face it, therapy that's dry and overly intellectualized simply doesn't work.
Finding the right therapist for your unique needs and personality is an essential first step toward healing and clarity. My approach is honest, direct, compassionate and provides the reassurance that you're talking to a regular person. I give useful feedback, ask thoughtful questions, use occasional humor (when it can be helpful) and will gently challenge you to grow. I believe in keeping the therapeutic relationship real and being down to earth. Because let's face it, therapy that's dry and overly intellectualized simply doesn't work.
Feeling stuck leads to discouragement and restlessness. The reason people seek therapy is - we don't know where we are stuck!
Anxiety lurks in every life experience, leading to brain fog, low self-esteem, and often, addictive tendencies. With a year of experience in substance use addiction treatment and depth of experiencing supporting couples and individuals dealing with traumatic experiences, my focus is to help clients come back to themselves, rebuilding their identity, repairing their relationships in community, and embracing a life they love.
Feeling stuck leads to discouragement and restlessness. The reason people seek therapy is - we don't know where we are stuck!
Anxiety lurks in every life experience, leading to brain fog, low self-esteem, and often, addictive tendencies. With a year of experience in substance use addiction treatment and depth of experiencing supporting couples and individuals dealing with traumatic experiences, my focus is to help clients come back to themselves, rebuilding their identity, repairing their relationships in community, and embracing a life they love.
You’re smart and capable, but lately life has felt heavier than you expected. Maybe you’re juggling the transition into parenthood, grieving the loss of your own parent, or feeling stuck between who you used to be and who you’re longing to become. You want more meaning, more purpose, more ease. You want more connection, less anxiety, and a relationship that feels alive again. You want to show up more fully for yourself, your partner, your family. Mostly, you want a place where you can drop the act, be honest, and actually feel understood.
You’re smart and capable, but lately life has felt heavier than you expected. Maybe you’re juggling the transition into parenthood, grieving the loss of your own parent, or feeling stuck between who you used to be and who you’re longing to become. You want more meaning, more purpose, more ease. You want more connection, less anxiety, and a relationship that feels alive again. You want to show up more fully for yourself, your partner, your family. Mostly, you want a place where you can drop the act, be honest, and actually feel understood.
Life seems to have a way of getting complicated, making it difficult to respond to new and familiar challenges alike. Perhaps you feel stuck, or struggle to find connection. Given the social climate of today, it takes special effort to be understood, and seen for who we really are. I believe our wellbeing requires attention to many factors; events that happen around us, to us, experience arising from within, and the wealth of dynamic interactions in between. How shall we go about making sense of it all? How do we get in touch with our best self? What is going on with all these thoughts and feelings?
Life seems to have a way of getting complicated, making it difficult to respond to new and familiar challenges alike. Perhaps you feel stuck, or struggle to find connection. Given the social climate of today, it takes special effort to be understood, and seen for who we really are. I believe our wellbeing requires attention to many factors; events that happen around us, to us, experience arising from within, and the wealth of dynamic interactions in between. How shall we go about making sense of it all? How do we get in touch with our best self? What is going on with all these thoughts and feelings?
Alison Leigh, Top Rated Somatic Sex Therapist
Marriage & Family Therapist, MFT, PhD
San Francisco, CA 94111
I'm a Licensed Somatic Psychotherapist and Marriage & Family Therapist who pioneered the field of sex therapy 25 years ago with San Francisco's first-ever Sex Therapy & Couples Counseling Center. I've worked with over 30,000 individuals and couples. If you've tried talk therapy to overcome sexual trauma or PTSD, Somatic Sex Therapy is for you. I'll help you improve confidence in bed, at work, and at home through my trauma-informed approach. I specialize in erectile dysfunction (ED), performance anxiety, and low libido—I've successfully treated over 5,900 men to gain confidence and increase self-esteem.
I'm a Licensed Somatic Psychotherapist and Marriage & Family Therapist who pioneered the field of sex therapy 25 years ago with San Francisco's first-ever Sex Therapy & Couples Counseling Center. I've worked with over 30,000 individuals and couples. If you've tried talk therapy to overcome sexual trauma or PTSD, Somatic Sex Therapy is for you. I'll help you improve confidence in bed, at work, and at home through my trauma-informed approach. I specialize in erectile dysfunction (ED), performance anxiety, and low libido—I've successfully treated over 5,900 men to gain confidence and increase self-esteem.
Growing up did you experience painful or confusing boundary violations? Did someone whom you trusted, respected, or even loved touch you or fondle you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, scared, or perhaps even made you feel confused and pleasured? Do you feel embarrassed and bothered by your experience, and worry that others will not understand how you have been sexually violated and abused? Do you struggle with managing your romantic relationships, your friendships, as well as your emotions and thoughts because your past uncomfortable experience with sex have made sex and your sexuality confusing, uncomfortable or even overstimulating? You are not alone.
Growing up did you experience painful or confusing boundary violations? Did someone whom you trusted, respected, or even loved touch you or fondle you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, scared, or perhaps even made you feel confused and pleasured? Do you feel embarrassed and bothered by your experience, and worry that others will not understand how you have been sexually violated and abused? Do you struggle with managing your romantic relationships, your friendships, as well as your emotions and thoughts because your past uncomfortable experience with sex have made sex and your sexuality confusing, uncomfortable or even overstimulating? You are not alone.
I work with boys & men - Straight, GBTQA. Most clients arrive feeling lost, isolated, stuck, hidden, nearly dead, depressed, and/or stressed. Years later, they leave my office tearfully for the last time after having crafted a spectacular life for themselves.
I am a gifted guide who can help you reclaim your original heart and soul.
Areas of Expertise: Teaching Love of Self & Others. Sex, Relationships and Intimacy. Porn Use, Video Games, Compulsive Behaviors: Fear and Avoidance. Family Issues. Career and Vocational Changes. Substance Abuse. Soulful Recovery. Religious Wounds. Psychedelic Journey Facilitation and Integration.
I work with boys & men - Straight, GBTQA. Most clients arrive feeling lost, isolated, stuck, hidden, nearly dead, depressed, and/or stressed. Years later, they leave my office tearfully for the last time after having crafted a spectacular life for themselves.
I am a gifted guide who can help you reclaim your original heart and soul.
Areas of Expertise: Teaching Love of Self & Others. Sex, Relationships and Intimacy. Porn Use, Video Games, Compulsive Behaviors: Fear and Avoidance. Family Issues. Career and Vocational Changes. Substance Abuse. Soulful Recovery. Religious Wounds. Psychedelic Journey Facilitation and Integration.
You're the guy people count on. Successful, liked, the one who has it together, at least on the outside. Inside, you're not so sure. You replay conversations for hours. You say yes when you mean no. You measure yourself against a scoreboard that never resets, and there's a quiet voice underneath all of it that says: if people really knew me, they wouldn't stay. You've read the books. You've worked harder. You've tried to think your way out of feeling this way and it hasn't moved. You're tired of being everyone's easy person, tired of being at war with yourself, and ready for something underneath the noise to finally shift.
You're the guy people count on. Successful, liked, the one who has it together, at least on the outside. Inside, you're not so sure. You replay conversations for hours. You say yes when you mean no. You measure yourself against a scoreboard that never resets, and there's a quiet voice underneath all of it that says: if people really knew me, they wouldn't stay. You've read the books. You've worked harder. You've tried to think your way out of feeling this way and it hasn't moved. You're tired of being everyone's easy person, tired of being at war with yourself, and ready for something underneath the noise to finally shift.
I believe that therapy should be collaborative, and I will invite you to share your hopes for therapy, as well as your reservations about the process. I will work with you to uncover what led you to reach out, and what works best for you in therapy. Your story is particular and specific to you, and I will ask for your guidance as we lead you around the blind corners of your own life. Stylistically, I believe in direct and transparent communication, and in making as much space for laughter as for other challenging emotions that can come up in therapy.
I believe that therapy should be collaborative, and I will invite you to share your hopes for therapy, as well as your reservations about the process. I will work with you to uncover what led you to reach out, and what works best for you in therapy. Your story is particular and specific to you, and I will ask for your guidance as we lead you around the blind corners of your own life. Stylistically, I believe in direct and transparent communication, and in making as much space for laughter as for other challenging emotions that can come up in therapy.
Hi! I'm Nick and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in helping adults who are ready to move beyond just surviving and into a place of genuine connection and wholeness. I understand the profound weight you’ve been carrying for so long, whether it is the shadow of childhood trauma, navigating addiction or recovery, or the deep fatigue of not being fully seen. If you’ve spent years trying to hold it all together, navigating the world as a man, a trauma survivor, someone who is queer, neurodivergent, or in recovery, you may have learned to mask, people please, or stay small simply to survive.
Hi! I'm Nick and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in helping adults who are ready to move beyond just surviving and into a place of genuine connection and wholeness. I understand the profound weight you’ve been carrying for so long, whether it is the shadow of childhood trauma, navigating addiction or recovery, or the deep fatigue of not being fully seen. If you’ve spent years trying to hold it all together, navigating the world as a man, a trauma survivor, someone who is queer, neurodivergent, or in recovery, you may have learned to mask, people please, or stay small simply to survive.
Hi! My name is Peter Carnini (he, him, his), and I'm a licensed psychotherapist providing direct, interactive, authentic counseling and psychotherapy for gay, queer, and bisexual men in the San Francisco Bay Area. Counseling and psychotherapy are all about intentionally creating change, and it can be a profoundly empowering experience. Unfortunately, when we're struggling and need help, it can be difficult to know where to turn or what questions to ask, and far too many people end up picking a therapist based only on a referral, or from a list of names provided by an insurance company, or based on how many degrees a therapist has.
Hi! My name is Peter Carnini (he, him, his), and I'm a licensed psychotherapist providing direct, interactive, authentic counseling and psychotherapy for gay, queer, and bisexual men in the San Francisco Bay Area. Counseling and psychotherapy are all about intentionally creating change, and it can be a profoundly empowering experience. Unfortunately, when we're struggling and need help, it can be difficult to know where to turn or what questions to ask, and far too many people end up picking a therapist based only on a referral, or from a list of names provided by an insurance company, or based on how many degrees a therapist has.
I offer Down to Earth, Jargon Free Counseling. I will meet you with warmth and curiosity, humor and heart, right where you are. I'm here to help as you gather the courage to change what you can and find the grace to accept what you can't. I have spent my entire adult life exploring the different sub-cultures of the Bay Area, so I am quite good at working with men, women, and couples who don't quite fit inside the box. I especially want to hear from you if you've never considered therapy before. Even if I'm not your best fit, I'm happy to help you think through and navigate your options. Get in touch via my website!
I offer Down to Earth, Jargon Free Counseling. I will meet you with warmth and curiosity, humor and heart, right where you are. I'm here to help as you gather the courage to change what you can and find the grace to accept what you can't. I have spent my entire adult life exploring the different sub-cultures of the Bay Area, so I am quite good at working with men, women, and couples who don't quite fit inside the box. I especially want to hear from you if you've never considered therapy before. Even if I'm not your best fit, I'm happy to help you think through and navigate your options. Get in touch via my website!
I work with unique individuals who are seemingly successful and happy but deep inside feel lost, alone, even if they are in a relationship, and often feel like they don't belong or struggle to be present in life. With expertise gathered from years of experience across borders, time zones and cultures, I dive alongside men and women into the deep ocean of darkness— including all types of diversity, in-between/intersecting identities, worldwide travelers, high-achieving/performing and creative people. I am Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) certified and was formerly a clinical supervisor and psychologist at Johns Hopkins University.
I work with unique individuals who are seemingly successful and happy but deep inside feel lost, alone, even if they are in a relationship, and often feel like they don't belong or struggle to be present in life. With expertise gathered from years of experience across borders, time zones and cultures, I dive alongside men and women into the deep ocean of darkness— including all types of diversity, in-between/intersecting identities, worldwide travelers, high-achieving/performing and creative people. I am Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) certified and was formerly a clinical supervisor and psychologist at Johns Hopkins University.
Seeing you leave my office feeling better and more comfortable in your skin makes my day. Hearing that your life has changed for the better makes my year. I pledge that when you come to me you will find my heart open to you no matter how you have suffered, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from and no matter how you live your life. My goal is to look at those things you give me permission to look at and to work with you to meet your wants and needs. .
Seeing you leave my office feeling better and more comfortable in your skin makes my day. Hearing that your life has changed for the better makes my year. I pledge that when you come to me you will find my heart open to you no matter how you have suffered, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from and no matter how you live your life. My goal is to look at those things you give me permission to look at and to work with you to meet your wants and needs. .
I work with adults and couples who want to grow as they face career, relationship, and family challenges and who struggle with their own personal history, life-direction, and difficult emotions. I help people find courage, peace, and direction in the face of difficulty. I also specialize in working with men and fathers.
I work with adults and couples who want to grow as they face career, relationship, and family challenges and who struggle with their own personal history, life-direction, and difficult emotions. I help people find courage, peace, and direction in the face of difficulty. I also specialize in working with men and fathers.
You may feel stuck in your recurring patterns, whether in relationships, anxiety, depression, or life transitions> Many of the people I work with are thoughtful and self-aware but sense something deeper beneath the surface, shaping their lives. My approach is grounded in depth psychology, exploring unconscious patterns and early relational experiences that influence how we live and connect today. Together we work toward greater self-understanding, emotional freedom, and more authentic relationships.
You may feel stuck in your recurring patterns, whether in relationships, anxiety, depression, or life transitions> Many of the people I work with are thoughtful and self-aware but sense something deeper beneath the surface, shaping their lives. My approach is grounded in depth psychology, exploring unconscious patterns and early relational experiences that influence how we live and connect today. Together we work toward greater self-understanding, emotional freedom, and more authentic relationships.
People have more capacity for growth than they give themselves credit for. In my work with individuals, couples, and families from all different backgrounds, I've seen how therapy helps people access strengths and insights they already have—they just need the right environment to explore them. I focus on creating that environment: a place where you feel safe being honest, asking hard questions, and figuring out who you want to become.
People have more capacity for growth than they give themselves credit for. In my work with individuals, couples, and families from all different backgrounds, I've seen how therapy helps people access strengths and insights they already have—they just need the right environment to explore them. I focus on creating that environment: a place where you feel safe being honest, asking hard questions, and figuring out who you want to become.
Whether you're facing communication challenges, infidelity, constant arguments, or seeking to deepen your emotional bond, I aim to support you in creating a more fulfilling and loving partnership. I understand the importance of a supportive, nurturing, and non-judgmental environment for couples to feel safe and valued as they navigate their relationship. My goal is to ensure that our work together is collaborative, focusing on what matters most to you and your partner. With extensive experience in working with diverse populations and a wide range of relationship dynamics, I bring a wealth of knowledge to my work with couples.
Whether you're facing communication challenges, infidelity, constant arguments, or seeking to deepen your emotional bond, I aim to support you in creating a more fulfilling and loving partnership. I understand the importance of a supportive, nurturing, and non-judgmental environment for couples to feel safe and valued as they navigate their relationship. My goal is to ensure that our work together is collaborative, focusing on what matters most to you and your partner. With extensive experience in working with diverse populations and a wide range of relationship dynamics, I bring a wealth of knowledge to my work with couples.
See more therapy options for San Francisco
Nearby Men's Issues Therapists Searches for San Francisco
- Alameda
- Albany
- Belvedere Tiburon
- Brisbane
- Daly City
- Emeryville
- Oakland
- Piedmont
- San Bruno
- Sausalito
- South San Francisco
- Tiburon
Men's Issues Therapists
Is therapy for men different than it is for women?
Therapeutic treatments and types are the same for men as they are for women, with the same protocols followed and the same strategies employed. Discussing one’s feelings and emotions is an integral part of most therapies, and some men find doing so more challenging. Therapists can help clients through the process; some specialize in treating men for this reason.
How do you encourage a man to go to therapy?
It’s helpful to express your concern and love for the person while framing therapy as a tool for improving their life. Offering specific examples of how an individual’s behavior affected either himself or others should be done with compassion and with empathy. It may be useful to devise a game plan—breaking the process down into parts, such as finding a therapist, making appointments, and looking into insurance coverage.
How can men prepare for therapy?
Men can prepare for therapy by approaching the process with an open mind, being willing to talk about their challenges, and giving treatment the time to work. Before a session, an individual may want to reflect on how they’ve felt since the last session and what’s happened in their lives. It can be useful for men who struggle to recall their emotional states to write down notes between sessions about their response to a given event or how they were feeling at a particular time.
What should men know about the process of therapy?
One of the most common reasons men don’t seek therapy is the notion that there’s something wrong with them if they do. Men should know that just because they’re seeking therapy doesn’t mean they’re mentally ill or damaged in some way. In the same way people work on their bodies through exercise or a craft through practice, therapy can be a way to improve the mental and emotional skills needed to be productive and effective partners, employees, and people in all realms of life.