When Two is More Fun Than One: Dual Perspectives on the Sexual and Relational Health of Gay Men (4 CEs, 2025)

Description

The identity of gay men and gender sameness in their relationships carry a multitude of nuances clinicians need to understand.  Assumptions about their sexual and romantic lives risks erasing vital distinctions necessary for thoughtful case conceptualization and treatment. Gay development needs to be recognized and understood, as it may pose challenges that inhibit people from being in touch with their authentic selves, producing concealment, shame, and detachment.

Clinicians taking this course will enhance their ability to have inviting conversations about gay male sexuality and norms within the gay community.  The emotional and physical aspects of gay male sexuality will also be defined, detailed, and discussed.

Specializing in working with gay men and their relationships as well as being part of LGBTQ+ communities, we have collaborated to bring our two vantage points together to share insights and practice strategies designed to heal the erotic and relational challenges prevalent in this population. We endeavor to cover key aspects to the gay male experience covering intersectionality and heteropatriarchal forces that magnify marginalization.

Learning Objectives

• Discuss factors informing sexual practices of gay men.
• Describe the recreational and emotional factors in gay sex play.
• Describe skills necessary to bring intersectionality into awareness in the treatment of diverse patients.
• Explain male development juxtaposed with a gay identity across the lifespan.

Speaker Bios

Rick Miller, LICSW is a psychotherapist, public speaker, workshop presenter, interviewer, and author. Miller was a pioneer in creating mind/body and hypnotic scripts for gay men and wrote the first book exploring the topic entitled Unwrapped: Integrative Therapy With Gay Men.  He also specializes in working with male couples and teaches on this topic at psychotherapy and couples conferences.

He is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit, Gay Sons & Mothers, which collects, celebrates, and shares worldwide narratives of gay men and their mothers to support LGBTQ+ training and awareness, enrich myriad diverse communities, and enable rapprochement, understanding, and healing, and he’s the executive producer of the upcoming documentary, Mom, I Have Something to Tell You. He writes a regular column for Psychology Today and is a frequent contributor to Psychotherapy Networker, Medium, and Psychotherapy.net.

His workbook for male couples will be released in May 2025. He can be reached at rick@rickmiller.biz, https://rickmiller.biz and https://gaysonsandmothers.org.

Christopher M. Shea, PhD, LCSW, CASAC, CSAT, CPTT, CST is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Manhattan. He earned his PhD at MSTI, employing his doctoral project to bring attention to service gaps in treating infidelity in lesbian and gay communities. His work entitled Beyond the Straight and Narrow: An Augmented Literature Review of Same-Sex Couples Facing Infidelity assists clinicians in considering lesbian and gay life domains when treating this issue.

Christopher has been in the mental health field since 2009. His interest and specialties include sexual and relational health, couples work, healing developmental traumas, personality challenges, and addiction issues. He works with individuals seeking to improve their sexual and emotional intimacy and those seeking help with out-of-control sexual behaviors, betrayal trauma, substance abuse, and other habituated difficulties. He earned a master’s degree from NYU in clinical social work. He’s formally trained in EMDR therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, schema therapy, and sexology. He is also an AASECT certified sex therapist. He can be reached at c.shea.therapy@gmail.com, https://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/476284