The Global Achievers Issue 9/2020 | Page 9

happily and passionately housed ever since. Since then, I have gained specialized training and certifications in grief recovery, anger management, substance abuse and addictions, life and relationship coaching, career development, trauma, sexology, and LGBT counseling. In 2010, I earned a doctorate degree in human sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, am co-author of a book chapter in the self-help book “A Guide to Getting It: Purpose & Passion”, and wrote an academic entry in “The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality.” I have also been interviewed for articles and showcased in The Chicago Tribune, MSN.com, and The Huffington Post for my work with gay dating, relationships, and sexuality and also had a radio show called “The Gay Love Coach Radio Show” on Web Talk Radio for a spell, as well as having been the resident gay dating and relationship advice columnist for DatingAdvice.com. I am coming up on 10 years teaching in higher education and am in the midst of expanding my private practice into a group practice, hiring on additional therapists to assist with my counseling clinic.

2. What is your WHY? And why?

My pains with my identity and sexuality became the driving force for the “why” in what I specialize in and do with my life. When I started out in the field, very little resources existed for gay men to help them make meaning and come to terms with their sexual identity, let alone how to establish and maintain healthy relationships with other men. It just didn’t exist at