In the 29 years I’ve been a psychotherapist, I have also been a professional speaker, giving speeches, workshops, and seminars on a variety of topics for many varied audiences of both laypeople and professionals, locally and nationally. I base most of my talks on my status as a openly gay and openly HIV-positive (30 years) man, who also specializes in these populations in my full-time private practice in psychotherapy in Los Angeles.  I am also an adjunct associate professor on the faculty of the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at USC (University of Southern California), teaching advanced courses in LGBT Psycho-Social-Political Issues, Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, and Couples Therapy in their graduate Master of Social Work (MSW) program.  My two books, Self-Empowerment: Have the Life You Want!, and Positive Outlook: Collected Essays for Living Successfully with HIV Today, also form the basis of most presentations.

I am also a Certified Sex Therapist with AASECT, the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, the national accrediting body for sex therapists, and I am one of the few who specialize in LGBT-Affirmative services in general and gay men’s issues in particular.

My services as a speaker can help you to develop an informed and empowered workforce or student body, and provide for an informative and rewarding conference.  My talks are designed to inspire and entertain your audience for staff retreats, sales meetings, trainings, and workshops. While my expertise was originally in gay men’s mental health, HIV/AIDS, and psychiatric disorders, more recently I have been doing more speeches and workshops on “tips for healthy living,” gleaned from working with thousands of clients and observing how they overcome obstacles, solve problems, and become empowered to “Have the Life You Want!”  These areas can include improved health, behaviors, relationships, career planning, job/time/stress management, finances, community involvement, and overall quality of life.

My trainings, consulting, and executive coaching services also help organizations in risk reduction and compliance with non-discrimination laws, reducing your organization’s risk of exposure and liability due to workplace diversity issues.

The list below is a sampling of the presentations that I give most often to organizations, companies, and civic groups. Choose from the list below, or contact me with your specific conference or event needs, and I can develop an event that will satisfy your audience.

I also provide departmental, small group, and executive coaching and consulting services that can be custom-developed for your needs.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I also provide speaking services online via Zoom and other platforms, and can provide pre-recorded video materials.

Contact me at here, or at 310-339-5778, for more information or for a free quote.

Current Seminars Immediately Available for Booking (Others Can Be Developed):

“LGBT 101” – Covering the history and current state of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.  Perfect for helping the members of your staff or organization comply with non-discrimination laws, support workplace diversity, increase interpersonal sensitivity, improve workplace productivity, reduce absenteeism, promote recruitment and retention, and foster an atmosphere of tolerance and collaboration that ultimately support organizational functioning, profitability, and fulfillment of mission.

“Self-Empowerment: How to Have the Life You Want” – Based on my book of the same name.  Inspirational tips for extraordinary living.  Learn how to close the gap between how life is, and how you would like it to be, in important areas of life such as work/career, relationships, finances, and place in the community.

“HIV:  A Psychosocial History” – Understand HIV/AIDS beyond the “disease model”; an examination of stigma, hysteria, despair, hope, coping, technology, activism, and transcendance, exploring the history of HIV/AIDS beyond the medical and into the full social and historical implications, based on my own experience as someone living with HIV since 1990.

“No More ‘Cheating’: How to Have an Open Relationship Without Hurt Feelings – A Workshop for Gay Male Couples” – No word in relationships is as emotionally charged as “cheating”.  But beyond the hysterical connotations of violations of monogamy agreements, is a deeper exploration of relationship dynamics, and reconciling between sexual impulses versus domestic and social pressures and constraints.  Helps couples achieve peace of mind, self-empowerment, and powerful choices and agreements based on love, not social pressures.  Helps couples find ways to solve their own problems, and be free of feelings of jealousy, insecurity, and abandonment, replacing these feeling-states with a life-long domestic arrangement for security, love, companionship, joy and intimacy.

“Alcohol:  The Relationship with the Bottle” — This talk is about the interpersonal, psychological, and psychosocial aspects of alcohol and substance abuse, told from the perspective of a mental health professional who has helped thousands of clients who have these problems from a variety of helping perspectives.  It is the perspective of mental health, not merely “addictionology”, and a comprehensive approach to being liberated from burdensome addictions, not limited to the 12-Step model.  Includes elements of SMART Recovery, Harm Reduction, and scientific/historical perspectives.  This is good for recovery centers who want to give their staff some exposure to mental health issues from a mental health professional, and for general audiences to gain a better perspective of how social, psychological, public health, historical, and medical perspectives intertwine in alcohol and drug challenges.  Includes scientifically-based information challenging the reality television/”trendy” idea that everything (sex, porn, Internet, etc.) is being labeled an “addiction” these days in need of 12-Step treatment.

“How to Have Healthy & Happy Holidays” – Take the stress out of the holiday season, and bring on the joy – regardless of spiritual affiliation.  Teaches how to enjoy the cultural ritual of the holiday season, not be a victim to it.

“Psychosocial Aspects of HIV and Aging” – Information on HIV/AIDS for the 21st Century.  Coping with aging, stigma, ignorance, politics, medical/social/political challenges, and puts HIV in the context of the human life span and its many stages of physical, psychological, and sociological development.  Based on my own experience as someone diagnosed with HIV in 1990 as a young man at age 26 and now as a middle-aged man in my 50’s.

“Beyond Condoms: HIV Prevention Via PrEP and Sexual Harm Reduction” – No topic has been as “hot” in recent months as the advent of “PrEP”, pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission through the use of the medications such as Truvada or Descovy.  Meaningful HIV and STD prevention needs to be discussed as not just a public health or medical issue, but in a realistic cultural and social context.  Based on concepts from the Harm Reduction Model and seminars from the late (2008) legendary gay/poz psychotherapist Michael Shernoff, MSW, LCSW.  This talk and community discussion help create awareness from a social marketing point of view to reduce the risk of new HIV infections among urban gay male populations, especially younger men, and updates our perceptions, awareness, and knowledge of HIV from 1980’s/1990’s thinking and into the modern day.  Thought-provoking, guaranteed controversial, and ultimately enlightening on a subject where much ignorance still exists even among otherwise learned people.

“Mental Health Aspects of HIV Antiretroviral Treatment” – It’s not just about popping pills, it’s about embracing total wellness.  This seminar is designed for patients living with HIV and their loved ones, and helps them apply tools from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to help stick to prescribed medication regimens, overcome fears of medications, become empowered to cope effectively with any medication side-effects, and cope with other emotional aspects of living with HIV that go beyond HIV as merely a “medical condition”.  People leave this seminar empowered, full of hope, and ready to live and thrive with HIV, not just “survive” it.

“Strategies for Supporting the Multiply-Diagnosed Client: HIV, Substance Abuse, & Psychiatric Disorders” – Helpful tips for service providers such as doctors, nurses, social workers, other mental health professionals, and clinic/hospital/rehab center staff on how to help clients/patients who are dealing with more than one major challenging condition.  Help includes tips for living with HIV successfully – medically, emotionally, socially – as well as overcoming alcohol or drug addiction, preventing relapse, and learning to thrive in a sober life, and to cope with psychiatric conditions that usually require medication (depression, anxiety, bipolar spectrum disorders, OCD, ADD, panic disorder, etc.).  This can be for an audience of providers or consumers.

“Moved to Move: Enhancing Motivation for Personal Fitness” – Embracing exercise, fitness, and personal self-care as a lifestyle for good.  Audience can be groups of women, men, adolescents, mixed audiences.  Includes concepts of self-love, self-care, tips for living based on Jack Canfield’s book, “The Success Principles”, and Louise L. Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life”, integrating the mind-body concepts of optimal living.  Includes anecdotes from Ken Howard’s personal experience as an amateur Cirque du Soleil-style circus acrobat.

“Coping with Workplace Changes” – Specific, meaningful, inspirational tips for coping with workplace changes such as relocation, automation, reorganization, generational issues in the workplace, economic changes, and fostering how a person takes care of themselves personally, professionally, socially, and financially, in the midst of an ever-changing global work landscape, learning techniques to survive a crisis, and to develop tips for successful living that will last long after short-term challenges.

See how I can help. Call my office at 310-339-5778 to schedule a no-charge, 15-minute phone consultation for your training and consulting needs.