Masculinities in Context: Imagining Post-Toxic Models of Masculinity

The workshop is aimed at raising awareness of masculinity narratives within the increasingly polarized/politicized culture wars. Experiential exercises will encourage participants to reflect on their own journeys of masculinity. Participants will be asked to functionally consider a range of emerging “post-toxic” masculinity theories: 1) "positive or aspirational masculinity", 2) “de-gendered masculinity”, which has outlived its usefulness and is replaced with flexible universal humanistic qualities, or 3) “neo-masculine”, the traditional, potentially regressive return to conventional roles. These conversations might be uncomfortable and evocative, though we believe it is important to bring mindful attention to emerging data on men's deteriorating health, alongside a functional perspective on any “masculinity crisis” for the sake of all sexes and identities. Defused non-zero sum narratives will be prioritized in order to imagine a progressive, post “toxic” masculinity.

Educational Objectives:

• Demonstrate how to incorporate emerging data on the deteriorating emotional and educational state of men into more effective prosocial work, in and out of session.
• Analyze masculinity-related challenges, such as declining graduation rates, increased suicide rates, and the friendship/isolation crisis, and apply this awareness to improve the quality of life for all sexes.
• Create case conceptualizations, evoking the best of what masculinity is and extinguishing the worst. Defuse narratives of a zero sum gender game, toward one in which we all rise together.

About Our Speakers

Dr. Mark Sisti
Mark Sisti, PhD is the founder and director of NYC Cognitive-Behavioral, PLLC, where he provides therapy for individuals and couples, as well as supervision and training of students and professionals in the NY area. He is a peer reviewed ACT trainer who is deeply interested in interpersonal aspects of ACT, FAP and therapy in general. He is also a graduate of the Mitchell Center for Relational Psychoanalysis. Dr. Sisti is also a published author on cognitive therapy (CT) & FAP & third generation (contextual) psychotherapies. He is also a founding fellow, diplomate & certified trainer, within The Academy of Cognitive Therapy. He has presented symposiums at the American Psychiatric Association and to the American Psychological Association. He has presented on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Functional Analytic Therapy (FAP) at Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) World Conferences over many years. He is past-president of the Greater NY chapter (NYC-ACBS) of ACBS (Association of Contextual Behavioral Science) as well as past chair of ACBS’s Chapter & SIG committee.

Dr. Julian Manetti-Cusa
Julian Manetti-Cusa, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice New York State since 2007. He earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology and completed extensive clinical training at institutions including Bellevue Hospital Center, Columbia University Medical Center, the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Maimonides Medical Center, and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Before entering full-time private practice, Dr. Manetti-Cusa directed the Mental Health Program at the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, where he also trained psychiatry residents and psychology interns. He has held faculty appointments at NYU School of Medicine where he supervised psychiatry residents and psychology interns, and led clinical research projects at Columbia University focused on mood and trauma-related disorders. Trained in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and other mindfulness-based modalities, Dr. Manetti-Cusa integrates evidence-based practice with insights from Buddhist and Yoga psychologies, reflecting his long-standing mindfulness meditation practice.

Dr. Brian Pilecki
Brian Pilecki, PhD is the Clinical Services Manager and an Associate Scientist at the Portland Institute of Psychedelic Science, a subsidiary of Portland Psychotherapy Therapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center. Dr. Pilecki is also an instructor for Fluence, a leading psychedelic training organization where he provides training to psilocybin facilitators in state-level programs or to study therapists in clinical trials across the country. He is co-founder of Perspective Retreats which offers group psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands, and provides psilocybin facilitation to individuals and groups in the state of Oregon. Brian is a co-founder of Portland Integration Network, a network of professionals offering specialized care related to psychedelics in Oregon. He is also the author of the book ACT-Informed Exposure for Anxiety and co-host of Altered States of Context, a podcast about psychotherapy and psychedelics.