Rebuilding Dignity After Loss: Grief and Shame in Men – The Lesson of Philoctetes
In Philoctetes, shame tries to turn a visible wound into a verdict about the man. After grief or loss—death, divorce, redundancy, illness—shame does the same for many men. It tried to turn what we have been going through into a verdict about who we “are” now. The lesson we learn from grief is the power […]
Self-Trust in Men After Grief: How Vulnerability Rebuilds Identity After Loss
Self-Trust in Men After Grief After a death or major upheaval, many men keep functioning while their inner framework stops fitting. The reality is, self-trust in men takes a hit. The roles still run — provider, partner, father, reliable worker — but the assumptions underneath them stop making sense. You can do everything “right” and […]
Male Grief and Trust in 2026: What Grief Teaches Men About Power, Control and Trust
January 2026 Newsletter | Mentoring Through the Maze (Perth, Western Australia) If you’re carrying grief, pressure, or a change that won’t shift with effort, this month’s newsletter gives you a usable distinction: power (what you can do) and control (what you can’t command) and what trust looks like after grief – drawn from lived experience, […]
Continuing Bonds for Fathers After a Child Dies: The Osiris and Horus Myth and How Fatherhood Continues
This article is about continuing bonds for fathers after a child dies and how the Osiris and Horus myth gives language for how fatherhood continues. An ancient myth of rupture and legitimacy — read as a structure for living after the world has split into before and after. Continuing bonds for fathers after a child […]
Rebuilding Father Identity After a Child Dies: Laertes, Masculine Grief, and When Life Narrows
REBUILDING – Father Grief After a Child Dies and When Life Narrows This article, Rebuilding Father Identity After a Child Dies is the second in a four-part series on the grief of fathers after the death of their child. The series is built around the 4R Framework™ for Masculine Grief – Reclaim, Rebuild, Reconnect, and […]
Father Grief After Child Loss: What the Daedalus Myth Reveals About Paternal Rupture.
Main Points This article traces the impact of a child’s death on a father, not through emotion alone, but through the disruption of identity, direction, and the internal map he once relied on. It follows the early shock, the break between the outer world and the inner one, and the ways fathers move through devastation, […]
Post Traumatic Growth in Men: How Sudden Loss Changes Thinking, Identity, and Direction
Main Points Sudden or traumatic loss disrupts the internal stability men depend on to function. Post-traumatic growth in men refers to the practical changes that occur when a man works with the reality of what happened rather than avoiding it. These changes appear in his thinking, his boundaries, and his sense of direction. PTG and […]
The Father Wound in Men: Shame, Distance, and Hidden Grief.
Main Points Men carry the father wound through their shame, not through their childhood stories. Shame starts as the boy’s attempt to stay safe — by tightening up, withdrawing, or showing strength — and becomes his default way of holding himself as an adult. Distance, numbness, responsibility, and emotional silence are not traits of personality; […]
The Father Wound: What It Is, How It Affects Men, and How to Heal It.
At a Glance: The Father Wound in Men The father wound is grief for the father you needed but never had. It isn’t a diagnosis but a deep, internal injury formed through emotional absence, criticism, unpredictability, or neglect — even when a father was technically “there.” It leaves men without a solid blueprint for masculinity. […]
Anger in Men’s Grief: Causes, Patterns and Practical Steps
How masculine socialisation, emotional boundaries, and grief intersect to create explosive anger responses Main Points Anger in men’s grief frequently serves as their primary grief response, acting as both shield and expression when vulnerability feels impossible. Emotional fusion—the blurring of personal emotions with external expectations—amplifies grief-related anger in men. Masculine norms create a feedback loop […]