Trauma, Masculinity, and Healing: A Closer Look at Boyhood

Lunch N Learn Webinar

Wednesday, 5/6/26 - 12:00-1:00pm CT via Zoom
Presenter: Dr. Adam McCormick, MSW, PhD
1 CEU - Clinical or Cultural Responsiveness
 
This interactive workshop explores how trauma and harmful masculine norms intersect to shape the emotional lives of boys and young men. Using Gabor Maté’s framework of the traumatic tension between attachment and authenticity, participants will examine how boys often sacrifice emotional truth in order to maintain "belonging"—leading to patterns of suppression, aggression, or disconnection. Through case examples, discussion, and reflective activities, social workers will gain practical, ethical strategies to engage male-identified clients in healing-centered, gender-responsive ways that promote resilience, emotional literacy, and accountability. This session supports trauma-informed, relationally attuned practice across diverse clinical and community settings.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how masculinity is constructed and developed in the lives of boys and young men.

2. Analyze the impact of masculinity socialization on issues such as trauma, intimate partner violence, substance use, and help-seeking behaviors.

3. Identify core patterns of power and control rooted in masculine socialization and apply strategies to address these dynamics ethically in clinical and community settings.

About the Presenter

Dr. Adam McCormick, MSW, PhD is Professor of Social Work at St. Edward’s University and Assistant Professor of Instructor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. He has a number of research interests and speaks frequently on a number of topics including LGBTQI+ youth in the child welfare system, the trauma of family separation in child welfare, the weaponization of poverty in child welfare, the relationship rights of siblings in foster care, the intersections of child welfare and immigration, social work and moral injury, and masculinity and mental health. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The unfinished business of our childhood: Healing the child trauma wounds of social workers. Dr. McCormick is also the author of the book LGBTQ youth in the foster care system: Empowering approaches to an inclusive system of care.

Pricing
Free for Members - REGISTER HERE
$15 for Not-Yet-Member - REGISTER HERE