COVID-19 As a Traumatic Experience At the time of this writing in early June, 2021, my local community of Los Angeles/West Hollywood (California) is gearing up for the broader grand re-opening of California by order of Governor Gavin Newsom on June 15th (according to a Los Angeles Times article of May 21, 2021, here). The new guidelines basically … Read more
Gay Men Coping with Stress: Start at the Source At the time of this writing (June, 2020), we, as a country, in the United States, and all of us in the world are experiencing unprecedented times, and not in a good way. Since into the first quarter of 2020 (some would say even before), our … Read more
Gay Men’s Sexuality: Three Types of Erectile Dysfunction and Their Interventions [Warning: This is an adult clinical discussion of sex therapy topics provided by a licensed clinical social worker and trained sex therapist. It is not restricted adult content, nor is it literary erotica or “pornography,” but reader discretion is advised if you are sensitive … Read more
The New COVID-19 Coping: Balancing “Toxic Positivity” with “Adaptive Coping” This week (April 13, 2020), as we enter further into global “stay at home orders”, I’m noticing several mental health providers do some push-back to the more positive messages about coping with the current COVID-19 crisis and working from home. My last three blog articles … Read more
Mental Health During COVID-19: Next to Normal Those who know me well know that I have a life-long obsession with Broadway musicals, recently having completed writing the book, music, and lyrics for a musical of my own, “On the Boulevard,” which takes place in my own very home of West Hollywood, California, a modern re-telling … Read more
[SPOILER ALERT: SOME PLOT POINTS REVEALED] For readers who are unfamiliar with this series, “Shrink at the Movies” is a not-very-consistent string of essays (ponderings, I like to call them) from my point of view as both a licensed psychotherapist in California (Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or LCSW) and as a life-long movie fan. Being … Read more
Have you been bothered by having nightmares or bad dreams? Today I wanted to write about gay men and sleep, and coping with nightmares. This comes up frequently either with clients in my office, or when I do online counseling or coaching for gay men all over the country, or the world. Yesterday in my … Read more
If you’re like me, you can’t go to the gym without your music. I derive inspiration, energy, and stamina from my personal selections of playlists to energize my entire fitness routine. At home, I will put on music when I have to do some mindless but nevertheless necessary chore. And when I’m feeling not-so-great, physically … Read more
One of the most common themes I see in my office doing counseling, psychotherapy, and coaching with gay male individuals and gay couples is that of low self-esteem and low self-confidence. It’s not surprising; as little gay boys, we get exposed to anti-gay messages outright, or at least to the “invisibility” that comes with the … Read more
In psychotherapy and coaching sessions with my gay male clients every day, I’ve noticed lately that a frequent focus is about work issues. This makes sense, given that the news and current events atmosphere has focused on a volatile political and economic climate: we get bombarded with news daily, from everything from Facebook to newspaper … Read more
Ken Howard, LCSW, CST is a life/career/executive/relationship coach who has specialized in gay men (individuals and gay male couples) and LGBT+ for over 30 years.
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