By Ben Jefferson MBACP, Counsellor in Cumbria & Men's Counselling Service's Co-Founder

Our mission at Men’s Counselling Service is to help more men realise that counselling and therapy is something that can make a difference to them. However, one of the challenges in doing this is that counselling can feel quite abstract if you’ve never had it before. With that in mind, we wanted to highlight the positive experiences four famous men have had with counselling. 

The four men all come from completely different worlds, and went to counselling for completely different reasons. What they have in common is that few of them see it as something that was a last resort, and the majority of them wish they had gone sooner. 

Dan Burn: “I was in denial for a long time”

The Newcastle and England defender spoke about his own experiences of therapy at a mental health event earlier this year. In a calm and measured interview, Burn said that therapy worked well for him, and urged those struggling with their own mental health to seek help. 

In an interview with The Athletic, Burn touches on something that many of our counsellors see in men when they first come to therapy. He acknowledges that despite living what many people would perceive to be a fantastic life, he felt unhappy and unfulfilled, but also a sense of guilt about feeling this way. 

Burn eventually reached out to his club’s sports psychologists, admitting that asking for help was the hardest thing he has ever done. The gap between sensing something is off and actually doing something about it is something many men recognise. 

Robbie Williams: “I'm not being brave”

Robbie Williams has been more open than most public figures about the fact that therapy has been a significant part of his life, rather than a one-off fix. He's spoken about coming from what he called heavy therapy, and about how much of his life he attributes to the work he's done in it.

One of the main takeaways from his account is how vulnerable he is about having needed real he that he treats having needed real help, and his view that he has nothing to be quiet about. He's built it into how he talks about his own life openly, and for a lot of men that openness afterward is harder than the therapy itself.

Prince Harry: "Therapy is not only for crises"

The Duke of Sussex has been one of the more visible male advocates for therapy and counselling in the country. His account is one that will resonate closely with many men who have been in the room, as he details how he spent two decades ignoring his grief and pain before he sought help. 

When he talks about the practical benefits of therapy, he frames it as equipping rather than repairing. He has said that going back to deal with uncomfortable things in order to process them was one of the biggest lessons of his life, and that he feels this process equipped him to take on anything.

The framing that carries across from his account is that therapy isn't reserved for the worst moments. It can be just as much about growth as managing distress, and the two decades he spent not addressing things are, on his own telling, the part he'd change.

Jon Hamm: "Like going to the dentist"

The Mad Men star Jon Hamm has been in therapy on and off for two decades, and talks about it as routine rather than exceptional. His line on it, from a 2017 interview, was that it's like going to the dentist, and if you can afford it, why wouldn't you.

Hamm says he first went to counselling in college; one of his sisters pushed him to see someone after watching him struggle following their father's death, telling him he was sleeping until four in the afternoon and wasn't well. The therapist he saw helped him reorient how he thought about things, which he described as revelatory at the time.

What's useful about Hamm's account is that he treats it as maintenance, the same as any other thing you do to keep yourself functioning, and he's kept doing it long after his first sessions. 

Next steps 

The reasons these men went are different. Grief, addiction, a problem, a father's death, or in some cases just a sense that something needed attention. The therapy they had was different too. What runs through all of it is that none of them regret going, and several of them wish they'd gone earlier than they did.

That last part isn't unique to them. In our 2026 survey of men across the UK, 85% of those who had been to therapy said they wished they'd spoken to someone sooner. It's one of the clearest patterns in the whole set of responses, and it maps onto what these five describe almost exactly: the hardest part is rarely the therapy, it's the decision to start, and the delay before it.

If any of these accounts sound familiar, you can browse our directory of counsellors who work with men and read a few profiles without committing to anything.

Related Articles:

What Happens in Therapy? A Guide for Men New to Counselling (4 minute read)

Sooner Rather Than Later: Why Reaching Out Earlier Can Make Your Life Easier (4 minute read)

Feeling Stuck? Here’s a Different Way To Think About Change (5 minute read) 

Disclaimer: 

This article is for information only and reflects the thoughts of the writer. It's not medical or mental health advice. Seek professional help for your needs. Men's Counselling Service LTD is not a crisis service. For emergencies, call your local services or the Samaritans at 116 123.

Next Steps: 

To find a men's therapist near you via our directory, click the Find Counselling For Men button below.