Men's Therapy in Laguna Beach

Men's therapy at Third Street Counseling is practical and direct. Tallie Gigi, AMFT, and Brian Stubbs, AMFT, take seriously the difficulty of opening up and do not pathologize it. The free consult helps us understand what you are carrying and which clinician fits.

Many men arrive in therapy carrying stress, anger, or relationship strain without much practice naming what is underneath. The expectation to hold it together can make it hard to ask for help, even when the weight is real. Sessions work on the patterns that show up at work, at home, and in relationships, and on the self-talk that drives them.

Anger is often the emotion men are most fluent in, not because it is the only one they feel, but because it is the one the culture allows. Underneath it can be fear, grief, shame, or exhaustion that has never had a place to go. Therapy here is about building the vocabulary for what is actually happening, not just the version that comes out as anger.

For some men, the relationship strain is the entry point. If that is the case, Brian Stubbs is trained in the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy, two of the most widely researched approaches to couples work. You can read more about couples counseling and the Gottman Method and EFT on their dedicated pages.

Stress and anxiety often underlie the patterns men bring to therapy. The constant pressure to perform, provide, and hold it together can create a hum of worry that is hard to name. If anxiety is a primary concern, our anxiety therapy page has more on how we approach it.

Life transitions can be particularly destabilizing for men who have built their identity around a role or a routine. Career change, divorce, becoming a father, retirement: each can bring a mix of relief, grief, and disorientation. Our life transitions therapy page describes how we work with that terrain.