In partnership with The Westport Library, Dr. Alan Downs comes to the Library to discuss his book, The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World, which has been acclaimed internationally and published in more than 27 languages.

Dr. Downs is a clinical psychologist as well as a sought-after conference speaker, workshop leader, and frequent media commentator on the psychology of gay men. He has more than 25 years of experience in working with individuals from all walks of life. Currently, he consults with individuals and couples via the internet from around the world. In addition to his expertise in working with gay men, he is an intensively trained Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) therapist who has worked with individuals as well as therapists who are seeking to learn the mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance skills that are so effectively taught within the DBT therapeutic framework.