A lot of men know something isn't right long before they say it out loud. Asking for help can feel like it goes against everything they were taught strength is meant to look like.

Your teenage son has gone quiet, the bedroom door stays shut and every headline says boys are in trouble. How do you raise a good man when the internet is trying to raise him too?

Therapist Marie Vakakis, Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and couple and family therapist, sits down with parenting researcher Dr Justin Coulson to talk about his new book Boys: Building Strong Young Men From the Inside Out. They talk about what's normal for teenage boys, what deserves real concern and what parents can do this week.

This episode covers:

• Why grunts, privacy and an obsession with mates are a normal part of adolescence

• The code red signs: pornography, contempt towards girls and not accepting no

• Why the manosphere appeals to so many teenage boys, and why most still name their dad as their role model

• The core idea of Boys: healthy men help the people around them feel safer and stronger

• Five practical ways to start the conversations that matter, beginning when boys are young

• How to respond to "I never had this and I turned out fine"

• The water bottle of connection and why correction and direction drain it

marievakakis.com.au

askmarie@marievakakis.com.au

You're the one everyone brings their problems to, and by the end of the day there's rarely anyone left to ask how you're going.

Therapist Marie Vakakis talks with business coach and photographer Fi Mims about life in the sandwich generation, juggling teenagers, ageing parents, a business and a marriage all at once, on the latest episode of This Complex Life.

This episode covers:

What life looks like in the sandwich generation, with 17 year old twins and two parents in aged care

Why the health messaging aimed at women over 40 can leave you feeling like nothing you do is ever enough

The unspoken expectations about who carries the mental load, and why workplaces and schools haven't caught up with families where both partners work

Who Fi talks to when things get heavy, and why sharing the load with the right people matters

What Fi has learnt about listening in her marriage and with her teens

Why planning ahead and slowing down before you're forced to is worth the discomfort

Choosing deeper connection over the easy win of the couch

marievakakis.com.au

askmarie@marievakakis.com.au