Ep 62: Supporting men on their emotional growth journey

Host: Dr. Cindy Hovington, Ph.D.

Guests: Travis Goodman & Emmanuel Flores

Travis Goodman is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). He has been practicing over the past 9 years in both a hospital and private practice setting. He has further expertise, training, and certification in Attachment-Focused EMDR, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

He has been married for 12 years to his amazing wife, Anna, and resides in Southern California with their family. They have two boys and a girl: Shepherd (5), Eli (3), and Iva (4 months). Travis is passionate about continuing to grow as a father, husband, friend, and therapist. Life in the Goodman family usually consists of lots of music, lots of playing on the floor and in the backyard, cooking, exploring the outdoors, wrestling and tickling matches, and making up funny songs together.

Through the video podcast, Therapy4Dads (Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube), Travis invites you to hear and share in dad stories from different age, cultural, ethnic, and race backgrounds. He wants men and fathers to have a voice and a platform to share, hear, be vulnerable, laugh, and learn from each other in a world where fathers are sometimes not given such a space. This podcast is driven to be an intersection of fatherhood and mental and emotional health. The mission of Therapy4Dads is to create a space that aims to equip dads around the world with the tools, inspiration, and resources needed to be the best dads they can be, reclaiming the narrative of fatherhood, one story at a time.

Emmanuel Flores is a father and men’s mental health advocate.

Summary:

Trigger warning: physical and sexual abuse

In today’s episode, we speak with two dads and men’s mental health advocates Emmanuel Flores and therapist Travis Goodman, LMFT. We cover so many important topics, I think this is one of my favorite episodes. We talk about how men are often told to push their emotions under the carpet and be strong, while also being told they need to open up more. We highlight the importance of communication between couples, about your past, present, and future; it is so necessary to understand your partner’s behavior. Emmanuel shares with us his childhood experience, how it has influenced his parenting style, and how his wife helped him grow as a person. Travis gives us advice on how partners can support their men during their emotional growth journey. Take out your Curious Neuron notebooks, there’s so much great information here!

Resources:

• Join Travis on his website https://www.therapy4dads.com/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therapy4dads/

• You can reach Emmanuel on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/emmanuelfloresabad/ and join his men’s safe space https://www.instagram.com/bronchclub/

• Mentioned in this episode:

  • The Four Agreements: https://www.amazon.ca/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319

  • Justin Baldoni’s Man Enough movement https://manenough.com/ and book HERE

  • Check out Curious Neuron episode 34 for more info https://curiousneuron.com/podcast/2021/9/16/ep-34-fatherhood-and-masculinity