Metro-Detroit Men's Therapy

04/01/2024

Hi there friends, I hope everyone is having a lovely start to Spring. Just wanted to pop in and announce our 3rd Annual Men's Nature Retreat. We've had a lot of fun with these and have gotten a lot of great work done out in nature. Feel free to check it out and/or share.

Join us for our 3rd Annual end of summer retreat in mid-Michigan. We had a blast last year on the land and we are excited to reach even more men this year through a weekend of wellness, movement, and nature therapy.

02/21/2024

Days like today offer little glimpses of Spring around the corner. I am feeling it as I start to organize gear and provisions for the next season. How about you? What outdoor adventures are you excited for this coming season?

02/13/2024

Often Therapy and funerals are the only places men feel safe enough to cry. Men don’t always open up to crying in session but when they do the first response is usually “I’m sorry”. It’s so quick and automatic that you can feel the programming and nervous system response to it live right in front of you. I always try to allow to build space around this expression and then get curious around the parts that don’t allow men the safety to cry. The truth is, a good cry actually helps widen us to also feel more happiness at the other end of the emotional spectrum as well. The trick is allow ourselves to feel the “negative” emotions with the same energy as well feel the “positive emotions”. A man who can dance between these becomes more trustworthy, vulnerable, and formidable.

(Photo: Perhaps one of the nicest little downtowns in Carbondale, CO a couple summers ago)

Strong men. Soft hearts.

Have a great day,

Mike

02/02/2024

Too stoked about these not to share. My very creative friend Jordan was kind enough to take on a project for our next Men’s retreat. One of the biggest struggles I often see with myself and other men is confusion and lack of structure around journaling. I started scheming and decided that it would be beneficial to start adding some inspired journaling sessions into our weekends on the land. However, this couldn’t be any plain journal so I enlisted the help of my dear friend to bring this life. Behold the final product, a custom, re-fillable , hand-made leather journal for men to take with them after a long retreat weekend, chalk full of prompts to carry them into the next season of their lives. I was fortunate enough to complete rites of passage with Jordan with last year in Death Valley 🏜️ and continue to count on him as a great friend. You never know how the men in your life will help you when you go through growing experiences together and that’s a beautiful thing.

01/30/2024

Thanks for those who left feedback on my last story there, appreciate the insight. It’s no doubt we have a problem with male friendships, you see less and less men’s social groups, men dining together without their spouses, and I think just less time overall fixing stuff and working on projects together.

One suggestion I always have for men is that finding modern friendships in your post-school days often feels much like dating, and that’s okay, you don’t have to make it weird. You do have to put yourself out there and seek out where like-minded dudes might be hanging out. You find yourself asking questions such as “Hey you seem fun, would you like to go out sometime? “I had fun, could we see each other again?” And the it goes lol. Humor aside, I have found that the equation usually involves vulnerability at its core. Sometimes you have to be the guy to own up on flaking out or for creating distance. Some old friendships can be worth breathing some life back into, some may need to be let go. I admit that it takes work to make this happen and sometimes you might have to be the annoying one bugging people, but I am okay with that, I would rather be a bother and get things planned then to go rogue and lose out on potential meetups. How about you? What have modern male relationships looked like for you? Any pointers or insight that has worked for you? Please share

Be safe out there,

Mike

12/20/2023

TAKE SOME SPACE

For:

Yourself
Your kids
Your family
Your health
Your need for nature
Your relaxation
Your grief
Your joy
Your sadness

My holidays wish for you would be to find some time to take the space needed to help you feel restored during this holiday time. In the matter of 5 mins running errands on lunch today I saw 3 separate road-rage incidents and I think we could all use the reminder. Take a moment to breathe and find out what you need this break, no matter how big or small and be nice to people.

Looking forward to some big things this coming year:

1st Winter retreat
Men’s therapy training in Colorado this winter
Moving from a solo to group practice
Offering groups and retreats to include male teens
Aligning with my values in relationships
Helping more men
Celebrating my 35th year

Going to take a break from the socials until the new year to take my own space as I wrap up business items and take time to pause around a nice long couple of weekends, but I wanted to wish you a very Happy Holidays and hope the best for you this coming year, thanks for interacting with this page as a friend, colleague, or stranger curious about helping men.

Take good care,

Mike

12/07/2023

Stoked to share a little something that I have been scheming on ever since getting some summer retreats under my belt. Happy to announce our first Winter retreat this late February right outside of Metro-Detroit. Our summer retreat tends to be a bit more fast-paced and packed with a lot of action but the vision for this one will be rest, clarity, and re-calibrating for Spring. If you’re like me, we tend to feel a bit tired and over the winter months come late February so I thought this would be a perfect way to shake the frost from the bones a bit. We will dive into working with tired and stuck parts that continue to show up in our life, be lead through some light movement and body work, as well as learn prompts for journaling for a productive Spring in your very own custom-made, leather-bound journal made by my good friend

With several different lodging options as well as the ability to go home if needed, I am hoping this closer to home retreat will meet the needs of busy men and allow them to take some time for themselves to check-in and be taken care of.

Special shout out to .stables for providing beautiful and relaxing space for us to work in. If you haven’t checked them out, be sure to, their land, lodging, and event space is truly a work of art.

*Check out the link in my bio to learn more and feel free to grab a free consult or send me a message if you have questions. Wishing you a very happy and restful start to your Holiday Season.

Cheers,

Mike

12/06/2023

Our latest news

Hi there,

Mike here from Metro-Detroit Men's Therapy. I hope the start of this Holiday Season is going well for you and that life is good. As we near closer to year's end, I wanted to share some news of what has been going on here as well as some exciting news for this late winter.

We were stoked to have a very successful 2nd end of summer retreat this past September (see below) in Big Rapids, MI and the new location really delivered in terms of the accommodations and how the land held us for the weekend. We are looking forward to making this our usual end of summer spot. We are also wrapping our Fall 8-week men's group and look to launch another cohort in early Spring.

Prepping for 2024

Rules, Rituals, and Routines

As we draw closer to a new year, something we are going over in group right now as well as with current clients, is the idea of establishing rules, routines, and rituals for your new year.

I am big fan of setting intentions for the new year, but much like a lot of people I have noticed falling short or not having the right guard rails up around the values that I want to bring to life. Then, I heard of the three R's: Rules, Rituals, and Routines, and it has shifted things in my life in a meaningful way.

To start, take about minutes to reflect and journal on how you want to show up in this new year with your relationship(s), money, and/or career. Next, work on the rules (standards that will be followed), routines (daily/weekly schedule to get there), and rituals (transitions that help mark meaning to change). Continue to write these out and stick with them for one month and assess if you're closer to your intentions of how you would like to be living. Need help with clarity, meaningful rest, or shaking the winter blues? Check out our Winter Retreat Offering below!

Men's Winter Retreat '24

I am very excited to announce the soft launch of our first ever Winter Retreat, happening this Feb 23-25 in Ortonville, MI. This retreat will focus on helping to restore men from winter fatigue and help provide clarity to get after what's important for a healthy and prosperous Spring transition. We will also be learning to journal which will help bring more emotional awareness into your life. Each man will receive a custom leather-bound journal specifically made for our event. The retreat space is only 45 minutes outside of Metro-Detroit and will allow for men to stay over night or commute to the retreat based on their needs. I wanted to offer individuals in my network early access to registration before I announce it publicly and the beginning of the year. Check out the retreat page below to learn more and register. Wishing you and yours a peaceful and restorative Holiday Season.

All the best,

Mike

Check out retreat here (https://michael-lamerato.mykajabi.com/winter-retreat)

Click here for an update from Metro-Detroit Men's Therapy !

12/05/2023

Fall group is in the books. I really enjoyed working with these guys over the last 8 weeks. They showed up every Monday night and didn’t hesitate to bear it all, learn, and lift each other up. Each man ended tonight with his vision for this upcoming year and how he will choose to author his life heading into this new year. Couldn’t be happier for these dudes and also feeling blessed to do this work. As we break for group season and enter into holidays and winter retreat time, I’d urge you to slow down and get intentional about what needs to come out of the darkness this winter as solstice creeps closer.

11/07/2023

Axios

Axios translates into “he is worthy” in Greek and was shared by one of our guys in group last night. We were fortunate to take advantage of some good weather last night and took group outside and broke up into smaller factions across the back forested areas as we huddled around some lanterns.

In particular, we were exploring our inner child work and relating to one another some of our experiences growing up and the lessons our little dudes learned along the way, both good and bad. I came to find that when it comes down to it, all men (boys) really just need to know that they are worthy. Understanding this and accepting that we are all worthy children of God/higher power/universe is something I think we all need take hear and remember a bit more frequently. It’s from here that we can learn to heal and treat ourselves and ultimately others better. I hope you can find some time this week to slow down and honor your little one inside of you as well.

10/31/2023

Last night in group the guys got to take turns working with their loyal soldiers and more specifically, the infamous self-critic.

It was interesting to see men standing up to their self-critic and allowing other men to embody the role it plays in their lives. This allowed for space to be given to what is usually a very overwhelming and annoying experience for most men living with a loud self-critic. They were reminded that although these parts can be really ugly and harsh, they are also usually holding a role of protection as well for each man. It’s true—even our most vocal critics often are protecting us from some kind of fear or past emotional experience. The trick is to get underneath it to see what it’s so worried about and to perhaps let them know that we’re safe and capable and that that particular “war” may be over. Often these parts are happy to relax and welcome on new roles once they realize we’re no longer at war.