Where Are All the Male Therapists in the UK?

I have spent years encouraging men to speak more openly about their mental health, particularly those working in construction. We tell men that asking for help is a sign of self-awareness, that therapy can give them somewhere to understand what they are carrying and that they do not have to wait until everything falls apart before talking to somebody.

However, once a man decides he is ready, another question can appear. Who does he feel able to talk to?

For some men, the gender of their therapist will make no difference at all. For others, it can affect whether they feel understood, whether they trust the process and sometimes whether they attend that first session in the first place. When I look across the counselling and psychotherapy profession, one thing is difficult to miss: there simply are not many men in it.

This is not a criticism of female therapists. Women have supported countless men through grief, trauma, addiction, relationship breakdown, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. A good therapist does not need to have the same gender, job, culture or life story as their client to help them. Their ability to listen, remain curious and build a safe relationship often matters far more than a shared characteristic.

The issue is choice. If therapy is meant to serve the whole population, the profession should offer enough diversity for people to find somebody with whom they can genuinely connect. At the moment, men remain significantly underrepresented both as clients and as practitioners. That deserves a more honest conversation.

What Percentage of UK Therapists Are Men?

The word “therapist” covers several different professions, training routes and professional bodies, so there is no single figure that captures every therapist working across the UK. It is therefore better to be clear about what the available data actually measures rather than presenting one percentage as the whole picture.

The UK Council for Psychotherapy’s 2025 member survey, based on demographic information from 11,629 members, found that 20% identified as men and 72% identified as women. The same report referred to the 2024 NHS Psychological Professions Census, in which 81% of the psychological workforce were women. The Partnership of Counselling and Psychotherapy Bodies has also described the profession represented by its six partner organisations as primarily female.

The wording differs between datasets and some people identify outside the categories of man and woman, but the wider pattern is clear. Roughly four out of every five people across significant parts of the therapy and psychological professions workforce are women.

That imbalance becomes even more noticeable when we compare it with the people the profession is trying to reach. Men make up around half of the population and account for roughly three quarters of suicides in England and Wales, yet they remain less likely to access talking therapies and much less likely to become therapists themselves.

Men Are Warming to Therapy but Stigma Has Not Disappeared

The positive news is that men’s attitudes towards therapy are changing. More men are talking publicly about anxiety, addiction, trauma and depression, while podcasts, workplace conversations and people sharing their lived experience have made the subject more familiar than it was a generation ago.

Even so, a gap remains between knowing that therapy exists and believing it is meant for you. A 2025 BACP survey of 5,000 UK adults found that 29% of men had seen a therapist at some point, compared with 41% of women. Almost half of men believed there was still stigma attached to counselling or psychotherapy, only 49% felt comfortable speaking to friends about their mental health and 34% regarded therapy as self-indulgent unless somebody had a serious problem.

What I found most interesting was what happened once men actually tried it. Among those who had experienced counselling or psychotherapy, 73% said it was helpful and 76% would recommend it to somebody experiencing emotional difficulties or a mental health problem. Those figures are almost identical to the responses from women.

That tells us something important. The biggest difficulty is often getting through the door. Men are not experiencing therapy and deciding it has nothing to offer them. Many are being held back before the first session by cost, waiting lists, stigma, uncertainty and the feeling that therapy belongs to somebody else.

Seeing more male therapists will not remove every one of those barriers, but representation can help make the profession feel less distant. A man calmly listening, asking thoughtful questions and working openly with emotion gives people another picture of what masculinity can look like. He shows that empathy, emotional awareness and care are human qualities rather than female ones.

Why Are There So Few Male Therapists?

There is unlikely to be one simple answer. The imbalance has been shaped by the way we talk about caring work, the careers boys and men are encouraged to consider, the financial reality of training and the old expectations many men absorb about emotion.

From a young age, boys often receive direct and indirect messages about the kind of work that is considered masculine. Practical jobs, technical roles, leadership, sport and physical work may feel familiar, while counselling can be presented as soft, vague or better suited to women. Many men reach adulthood without ever meeting a male therapist or hearing the profession discussed as a realistic career.

There is also a strange contradiction at the centre of it. We say men need to become better listeners, understand their emotions and support each other, yet a man who wants to build an entire career around those qualities may still be judged. If caring is treated as women’s work, fewer men will enter caring professions, and the shortage of visible men then reinforces the same belief for the next generation.

Training creates practical barriers too. Becoming a counsellor requires far more than being the person your mates come to when life goes wrong. It takes time, money, academic work, supervised practice and a willingness to examine your own experiences. People changing career may need to study alongside paid work and family responsibilities, while completing a placement and paying for supervision or personal therapy depending on the course requirements.

These pressures can affect trainees of every gender. However, if a man is already uncertain whether he belongs in the profession and has few role models around him, the commitment may feel even harder to justify.

Representation Matters, but Gender Does Not Guarantee a Good Therapist

There is a risk that the argument for more male therapists becomes oversimplified. A male therapist will not automatically understand a male client, just as two construction workers will not automatically share the same beliefs or experiences. Men differ by age, ethnicity, sexuality, faith, class, disability, neurodivergence, family history and thousands of other parts of life.

A therapist who happens to be male but makes assumptions, avoids difficult emotions or knows nothing about the client’s world may be a poor fit. A female therapist who listens without judgement and understands the pressures of masculinity or construction may be exactly the person that client needs. Some men may also feel safer opening up to a woman, particularly if past relationships with men have involved violence, bullying or emotional distance.

The point is not to steer every man towards a male therapist. It is to make sure the option exists. BACP’s guidance on what works in counselling and psychotherapy relationships recognises the value of exploring whether a client has preferences relating to characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion or cultural background. Accommodating a preference can improve engagement, although cultural humility and the quality of the relationship remain essential.

Therapy works best when the client feels safe enough to be honest. Sometimes gender helps create that safety and sometimes it does not. A stronger, more diverse profession gives each person a better chance of finding the right relationship for them.

Why This Matters So Much in Construction

Construction remains one of the most male-dominated parts of the UK workforce, and the pressures within it can be relentless. Early starts, long journeys, physical exhaustion, tight programmes, financial uncertainty, time away from family and a constant expectation to keep going can gradually wear somebody down. The industry is excellent at solving visible problems, but people are still less certain about what to do when the problem sits inside somebody’s head.

The CIOB’s 2025 mental health research found that 94% of respondents had experienced stress during the previous year, 83% had experienced anxiety, 60% had experienced depression and 27% had experienced suicidal thoughts. Provisional ONS occupational data recorded 355 suicides among people working in skilled construction and building trades in England and Wales during 2024.

No single change will solve something this complex. More male therapists will not repair poor planning, insecure work, relationship problems, debt, addiction or an unhealthy site culture. Those pressures require action from employers, government, industry leaders, health services and the wider community.

However, access to relevant professional support is part of the answer. Picture a construction worker sitting in his van during a break, finally ready to book counselling after months of saying he is fine. He may be comfortable speaking with any qualified counsellor. He may specifically want a man because he believes he will have to explain less, or because opening up to another man feels like a challenge he needs to face. If that choice is unavailable, there is a chance he closes the page and tells himself he will deal with it another day.

We should make that first step easier wherever we can. Onward Shift’s construction-focused counselling service offers a confidential route into professional support, while our articles on person-centred counselling and integrative counselling explain different approaches in straightforward language.

What Could Male Therapists Bring to Construction?

A male therapist with genuine knowledge of construction may recognise parts of the culture that are difficult to explain from the outside. He may understand why somebody laughs while describing something painful, why a worker is frightened that disclosure could affect future jobs or why the phrase “I’m just tired” sometimes carries much more underneath it.

That understanding should never be assumed simply because he is a man. Industry experience, cultural awareness, proper clinical training and the ability to remain curious all matter. Lived experience can help somebody connect, but it cannot replace qualifications, ethical practice or supervision.

Male therapists could support workers through private face-to-face or online sessions, contribute to carefully designed wellbeing education and help companies understand how their services may feel to male employees. Any workplace counselling must protect confidentiality. Nobody should have to walk into a room in full view of the site, explain an appointment to a supervisor or worry that personal information will become part of a performance discussion.

The presence of male therapists also matters beyond individual sessions. When apprentices see men working confidently in mental health, they learn that listening and emotional intelligence are proper skills. When experienced tradespeople hear a male practitioner discuss grief, anger or fear without embarrassment, some of the distance around therapy begins to reduce.

Could a Career in Therapy Be Right for You?

Many people assume they need a psychology degree before they can train as a counsellor, but that is not the only route. BACP describes a staged training pathway that can begin with an introductory course, followed by counselling skills training and then a core practitioner qualification.

According to BACP’s current training guidance, a core counselling or psychotherapy practitioner course should be at least a Level 4 diploma or equivalent, include a minimum of two years of classroom-based tuition and provide at least 300 guided learning hours. It must also include a supervised placement with at least 100 client hours. Short introductory or counselling skills courses can be a useful first step, but they do not qualify somebody to practise as a therapist.

Anybody exploring this path should check that a course leads towards membership or registration with a recognised professional body. Course titles can sound similar while leading to very different outcomes, so it is worth checking accreditation, placement arrangements, supervision, overall cost and the amount of face-to-face training before committing. The National Careers Service counsellor profile also gives a clear overview of routes, working patterns and the realities of the role.

Career change is common. The UKCP’s 2025 survey found that 90% of respondents had worked in another career before psychotherapy. That should be encouraging to anybody who assumes they have left it too late or followed the wrong path. A person who has spent years in construction may already understand trust, pressure, conflict, teamwork and the importance of staying calm when somebody else is struggling. Those experiences can become valuable foundations, provided they are combined with proper training and the humility to keep learning.

Being a good listener is a start, but therapy demands boundaries, ethical judgement, self-awareness and the ability to sit with distress without rushing to rescue somebody. Your own struggles may help you feel empathy, although they must be processed carefully so the therapy remains about the client rather than the therapist. The work can be deeply meaningful, but it should never be romanticised as simply helping people and feeling good about it.

How Do We Encourage More Men Into the Profession?

If we genuinely want a more representative therapy workforce, encouragement needs to begin before a man is already considering a course. Schools, colleges and careers services can present counselling as a skilled profession to people of every gender. Training providers can make male students and practitioners more visible without turning them into a novelty. Existing male therapists can speak honestly about both the value of the work and the emotional, financial and practical demands involved.

The profession also needs to look at access. Flexible training, clearer information, realistic placement support and bursaries can make career change possible for people who cannot afford to study without earning. Employers and charities can provide properly supervised placements, while construction businesses purchasing counselling services can ask whether workers are being offered a genuine choice of practitioner.

Most importantly, we need to stop treating empathy as something unusual in a man. The ability to listen carefully, notice what is not being said and remain present when a conversation becomes uncomfortable is valuable in a therapy room, on a building site, at home and everywhere in between.

A More Representative Future for Therapy

I want more men to feel able to use therapy, and I want more men to see therapy as a profession they could enter. Both changes can support each other. Every visible male therapist quietly challenges the belief that men should avoid emotion, while every man who has a positive experience of therapy can make the path feel more normal for somebody else.

We do not need to replace female therapists or suggest that men can only be understood by other men. We need a profession with enough breadth for clients to choose, enough humility to recognise different experiences and enough skilled people to meet a growing need.

If you are considering therapy, the right therapist is the person with whom you feel safe, respected and able to be honest. Their gender may form part of that decision, but you are allowed to ask questions, have an initial conversation and try somebody else if the relationship does not feel right.

If you are a man considering training, take the idea seriously without rushing it. Read about the profession, speak with registered therapists, attend an introductory course and understand the commitment. You do not have to arrive with a perfect academic history or a lifetime of emotional certainty. You need curiosity, integrity, a willingness to learn and the patience to build the skills properly.

There is room for more men in therapy rooms, both as clients and as professionals. Creating that future will take more than telling men to step forward. It will take visible role models, accessible training, honest information and services that understand why choice matters.

Take a deep breath. The first step does not have to be a life-changing decision. It might simply be learning a little more, asking one question or having one honest conversation.