Breaking the Male Code: Enhancing Male Emotional Intimacy through Men’s Groups and Male Friendship

Come for a special Charry Service where members of the GJC Men’s Club lead the service. Stay after for celebratory kiddush, a chance to connect with old friends and new, and a Shabbat afternoon program.

Breaking the Male Code:  Enhancing Male Emotional Intimacy through Men’s Groups and Male Friendship with Dr. Rob Garfield and Jake Kriger

 For the past 25 years Rob and Jake have focused on men’s issues, male emotional intimacy and the dilemmas men face in engaging in traditional psychotherapy. They developed an innovative model for group therapy for men (“Friendship Labs”) and conducted research (the MFEI Study) that demonstrates the value of emotionally close friendships for men’s health and their relationships.  They have presented this work both locally and internationally, most recently in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Rob Garfield MD is a psychiatrist and clinical professor who teaches family therapy in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He has an active private practice in Bala Cynwyd, PA, where he sees individuals, couples and families. He is an Executive Board Member of the Men’s Center for Growth and Change (MCGC) in Philadelphia. He is the author of “Breaking the Male Code:  Unlocking the Power of Friendship” (New York: Penguin/Random House, 2015), and is currently chairing MCGC’s  “Men and the #MeToo Movement,” a two-day conference to be held in Philadelphia in the Fall of 2019.

Jake Kriger, MSS is in private practice in Bala Cynwyd, PA and has run therapeutic men’s groups for the past 23 years. He also has led groups for fathers that focus on parenting issues. He has previously presented on male friendship and intimacy at the Psychotherapy Networker, AMSA conferences and a Men’s conference in Prague. He practices what he preaches. Jake and his best friend meet consistently twice weekly, for exercise, lunch and to maintain their deep connection.