Cultural and familial messages often leave men with strict rules for the role they need to play in business, relationship, love, and life. Examples of this include caretaker, the man of the house, dominant, "strong", no emotion, breadwinner, protector - the list goes on and on. Combined with these roles is an early learning process where they learn how to squash or bottle their emotional experiences, leaving them with less self-connection and lack of tools to initiate closeness (vulnerability and intimacy). Here, at Denver Wellness Counseling we address a variety of men's issues, including: difficulty recognizing and responding to emotions; sexual fears or problems, overwhelm with responsibilities, shame about not meeting responsibilities or underperforming, anger and irritability, and deprograming themes of toxic masculinity. In our practice, over the last 10 years, we have seen a shift where more and more men are prioritizing their wellness, reducing the stigma of counseling, and now make up approximately 50% of our practice.