How long have you been a psychologist?

I'M NOT A NEWBIE. Licensed as a psychologist in California since 1998, I have treated several hundreds of individuals and couples and exceeded the 10,000-hour mark doing therapy. (The "10,000 Hour-Rule" was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Outliers" where he proposes that the to success is a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of at least 10,000 hours.)

If I include all of my experience and training before getting licensed as a psychologist, I have been working in the field and/or in graduate school for psychology for an additional ten years of training and and a wide range of professional experiences. I even qualified for and achieved a master's level license (Licensed Professional Counselor) in the state of Texas along the way in 1995. Let's just safely say I have had more than 20 years of full-time professional experience in a wide variety of mental health and organizational settings and leave it at that.

Do you teach?

I DON'T JUST DO, I ALSO TEACH!

I grew up hearing people put down educators as those who can't "do." Well I have found another secret to "do-ing" the best job possible is to continue to teach and to learn. I am privileged to be a Clinical Instructor and supervisor at one of the best psychology post-doctoral fellowships in the country -- Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. There I teach and supervise psychology post-doctoral fellows and psychiatric residents in the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Clinic. I have also taught academic graduate and undergraduate psychology courses at various institutions including University of Houston, Woodbury University, California Graduate Institute, and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology from 1994 through 2010. Now I just stick with UCLA.

I also do various other consultation projects and talks to groups and organizations. I love to give entertaining lectures and workshops where you might learn a thing or two along the way.

What is 'giving psychology away?'

GIVING PSYCHOLOGY AWAY. I'm devoted to giving the science of psychology to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this excludes my therapy services as I have charge for them in order to give my clients my highest priority and to make a living!

Rather, I use other means such as giving talks, writing, and appearing in the media to share wealth. I do a Q&A column for the LGBT community on ShoutOutHealth and, my desire to turn psychobabble into something we can all understand has landed me appearances on The Tyra Banks Show, Extra, several news features, and as a regular contributor on KSEE-TV's Central Valley Today as well as an expert in three released documentaries (The Gift, The Butch Factor, and The Adonis Factor). You can check out some of my clips on my website and on YouTube of course. My handle on Twitter is "thoughtdoc" -- and I would be thrilled if you subscribed.

Why did you become a psychologist?

DID I MENTION I WANTED TO BE BOB NEWHART WHEN I GREW UP?

It's true.

(Here's something personal you probably didn't expect).

I used to watch The Bob Newhart Show growing up and I knew I wanted to be a wise-cracking psychologist just like the main character, Dr. Robert Hartley. Ever the realists, my parents told me I must want to be a comedian -- that's what he really was. But, I could never see myself staring out into a smoke-filled room after my joke flopped, tapping a microphone and asking, "Is this thing on?"

I now know I just recognized my career path early on -- I would even read my mother's psychology text books "for fun" while I was still in elementary school. One of the biggest thrills of my high school life was taking a psychology class elective from a real psychologist. (Really).

But my parents weren't altogether wrong, humor did become a big part of my life as well. I even worked as a wise-cracking tour guide on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland where I would dump the canned spiel and recount personal vignettes to unsuspecting trourists. I still feel slightly guilty that people would come from around the world only to hear about my identification with various Brady children or to see me renact Lily Tomlin routines ("Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when God talks to us we're schizophrenic?").

It really wasn't until I was well into my Master's degree that I began to slowly realize that the biggest influence on my becoming a psychologist was having an older brother who is has a severe developmental disability. There is no way for me to summarize the deep impact it had on me. Words seem inadequate. But, my hunger for understanding of why we are the way we are and my strong desire to help others have deeper, fuller, and more enriching lives is something that goes to my very core.

FYI - Here is one of my favorite pictures of my brother carrying the Special Olympics Torch. He has participated in the Special Olympics for years and it has always been one of his true joys. (And don't be thrown by the law enforcement officer, he is both assisting my brother in holding up the torch and trying to duck out the picture - very thoughtful).