Impacto económico regional, social y ambiental

In addition to the mental health field as a contributor to burnout, participants reported that gender norm expectations served as additional contributors to their negative workplace experi-

ences, and subsequently their symptoms of burnout. Several participants noted their own recog- nition of male privilege (n = 6), but noted that this privilege was often times minimized in com- parison to heteronormative privilege. Participants noted that their identification and presentation as a male often contributed to experiences which later created resentment and ultimately symp- toms of burnout. Participants noted that sometimes these experiences were unintentional on the part of their colleagues/supervisors, but were frustrating nonetheless. The main contributors re- ported by participants included experiences of sexist client/counselor matching (n = 7) and gen- der norm expectations (n = 9).

Participants noted a phenomenon of sexist client/counselor matching in which female colleagues would refer male clients to them because they identified as male. They reported that their colleagues would often note that they felt that male clients were best seen and served by a male therapist because of the fact that men are not comfortable expressing emotions, but would likely feel more comfortable doing so with another male. This resulted in several participants re- porting a homogenized caseload of males, which then began contributing to their experiences of burnout. Dwight described his experiences with this particular phenomenon as follows:

Some of the stressors within the clinic setting itself is one, being the only male clinician is a stressor. It's not enough to cause me not to work there, but some of the issues that re- sult in that have to do with some of the population I receive. For example, I receive a lot of the young men who come through because female clinicians believe that they need to work with male counselors, which I don't morally oppose, and I have no issue with that, but that just means that my caseload is starting to look just very homogenized. I'm start- ing to see a lot of very, very similar things; and, so the results of that then the creative part of me ... I love counseling and I love the therapeutic process, but in terms of being

able to see a diverse client population is also something that keeps me going, so to have clients who are starting to come through, and female clinicians kind of immediately refer, that's a stressor.

Liam reported an experience in which, because of his identity as a male, he was expected to handle more aggressive clients:

I think there have been times where people have sort of, I don't if confused or unsure how to interact with me, would be the best way to handle it? Before coming here, I worked at a crisis facility for a while and sometimes there was this expectation that because I am the only male working that shift, if there were more aggressive clients coming in that, oh be- cause I am the male I should be the one to speak with them. I just be able to jump in and stabilize the crisis more readily because of being a male.

Participants also reported their own internalized gender norm expectations of what it means to be a male and the pressure that they place on themselves as a result of being male and how this contributed to their symptoms of burnout. They discussed societal/cultural norms of maleness and how this contributed to negative interactions with heterosexual male colleagues. As an example, participants noted that as a male, they were expected to engage in sports talk or in sexist jokes against women. Liam described his own gender norm expectations and how they contributed to feeling a sense of internal pressure to perform in his work duties:

I think often times the expectation of being male sort of creates this pressure that there is a certain level that I should be performing at all the time. This level of, "I'm a guy so I probably shouldn't be expressing my emotions. I shouldn't be expressing unhappiness; I should just be able to man up and be a current catch-phrase that I do not like." I think that played a role in it.

Sebastian described his experience of being a male in a residential setting and how his interactions with other men lead to his own feelings of discomfort:

I think gender expectations definitely, I would ... A lot of these are just simple social pieces, but as a male I think they would've expected that I would've liked to engage in athletic games. Some of the staff would go out in the yards and want to do Frisbee, or kickball or whatever. That type of stereotype, that if you're a male you should be a jock. Definitely they showed deference to men over women on the staff, in terms of their re- spect. They also thought it was safe to make jokes about women, or talk inappropriately about women, and that as a male you would not call them in and not address that behav- ior.

Additionally, one participant described his own internalized gender expectations related to financial compensation as a mental health practitioner compared to women practitioners and the fact that he experienced a degree of disillusionment and dissatisfaction within the field as a result of the pay discrepancy. Angelo shared the following:

She and I were just talking about my experience as a cis-gender male and my serious dis- pleasure with how difficult it was to make ends meet, how financially not compensated I felt for the amount of work I was doing, and how much more upsetting that was to me than it is to her, a female colleague. We talked about some of the, perhaps, gendered ex- periences of what we expect to make for what we work. As a male, I think I expect to make more for how hard I work because of the way men historically have made more money.