<p>This qualitative narrative study examines how help-seeking adult men with retrospectively self-reported Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) construct meaning around childhood and adolescent adversity. Ten men meeting ACE criteria (≥ 3 categories) participated in semi-structured interviews. Analysis, situated within an interpretivist–constructivist framework, examined narrative structure, identity shifts, and resilience processes. Findings indicate that participants often described early emotional silencing, hyper-responsibility, and gendered expectations of stoicism. In adulthood, therapy engagement and relational validation supported narrative articulation and identity reorganization. However, narratives also contained ambivalence, unresolved anger, and incomplete closure. Resilience emerged less as trait endurance and more as an ongoing process of meaning-making. Given recruitment through therapeutic networks, findings reflect men already engaged in reflective processing and are not generalizable. The study contributes exploratory insight into how masculinity intersects with retrospective trauma narratives. Findings should be interpreted within the constraints of a small, treatment-engaged sample.</p>