Cultivating Connection: Empowering Boys to Thrive

In a world often focused on the challenges facing boys, this talk shifts the narrative towards fostering healthy boyhood through meaningful relationships.
By emphasising the importance of connection, authenticity, and motivation, parents, teachers, and other adults can create spaces where boys feel seen and valued. It is in these spaces that healthy growth occurs for boys.
This talk will share actionable strategies for creating real connections in family, school, and community environments that foster growth and positive relationships.

Matt Englar-Carlson, PhD, is a professor and department chair in counseling at California State University, Fullerton, where he also directs the Center for Boys and Men. A core author of the APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boys and Men, he co-created the Positive Psychology Positive Masculinities model to foster strength-based, healthy masculinities in school and community settings.