Create and deepen your most important relationships
A group coaching program for gay men*
*We welcome gay men, including both cis and trans men, who are attracted to men.
We all want real connection and we're technically more "connected" than ever. Everywhere we go, all day and night — the possibility of meeting someone or starting something meaningful is supposedly right there (or… 3675 feet away).
We see our friends, we go on dates. We’re scrolling, swiping, slacking, tapping, woofing, and despite all of these opportunities to connect — often, it’s just not happening.
Is this you?
Maybe you’ve noticed yourself or others saying things like this…
SOCIALLY
"I love my friends, but sometimes I wish we could talk about more than just pop culture and dating drama. Like, what about our dreams? Our fears? The big stuff?"
"Dating is one thing, but trying to make real, deep friendships in the gay community is honestly even harder sometimes. Everyone's either looking to hook up or they've already got their established friend group."
"Sometimes it feels like the only way to make friends is through the apps or at bars, but those connections rarely turn into anything meaningful. I want friends I can just be real with."
ROMANTICALLY
"These dates feel so surface level sometimes. Like, we'll do fun stuff and the sex is great, but when I try to have real conversations about feelings or the future, guys get all weird and distant."
"I'm tired of keeping it casual. Everyone's so afraid of being vulnerable or getting too serious. It's like, can we just admit we have actual feelings and want something meaningful?"
"Sometimes I feel like I'm dating guys who are physically present but emotionally checked out. We'll spend all this time together, but I still don't really know what's going on in their head."
"The apps are killing me. Everyone says they want a real connection, but then it's just an endless loop of hey / into / you host? I'm over it."
“I’m ready for a partner, but where the fuck are they?! Nobody around me is datable.”
PROFESSIONALLY
"It feels like I'm always having to edit my life at work. Like, I can't just casually mention what I did with my boyfriend over the weekend the way straight colleagues talk about their partners."
"It's frustrating when team bonding is always about fantasy football or watching the game. I can hang, but why can't we ever do something everyone can genuinely connect over?"
"It's wild how much time we spend with these people, and yet I feel like none of them really know me. They're all sharing weekend stories and I'm just... nodding along."
"I put on this professional mask at the office, when I really just want to let it down. Yes, I'm gay, yes, I'm your coworker, and yes, we can actually talk about real stuff!"
FAMILY
"Holiday dinners are the worst. Everyone's having these detailed exchanges about their lives, and I'm just sitting there giving the sanitized version of everything. It's… not great."
"Sometimes I feel like my family's still waiting for this 'phase' to pass. They'll tolerate my boyfriend at family events, but they never really try to get to know him the way they do with my siblings' partners."
"I wish my brothers would just... talk to me? Like really talk? We used to be so close, but ever since I came out, it's like they're afraid to have any real conversations with me."
"My mom keeps saying she loves me no matter what, but it'd be nice if she'd actually ask about my life instead of just... tolerating it."
"My younger cousins are chill and they get it. With other parts of my extended family though, it's like they think if they don't mention it, it doesn't exist. But that just makes me feel invisible."
If you’d like to escape this spin cycle, you’re in the right place.
CONNECTION CATALYST
Group Coaching for Gay Men
This 3-month program empowers you to create and deepen your most important relationships — the kind of relationships you really want.
OK, so… what’s the gist?
Catalyst Connection is a group coaching program for gay men who want to create and deepen their most important relationships.
We’ll meet in-person for a three-day kickoff retreat at Guesthouse Lost River, a beautiful mountain inn on 70 acres alongside the George Washington National Forest in West Virginia, followed by six virtual bi-weekly sessions via Zoom.
Over the course of three months, you’ll be actively experimenting with a variety of ways to foster connection, aliveness, and play (see FAQ).
In psychologically safe space to take leaps, risks, and be vulnerable (space that gay men very much need and deserve), you’ll challenge long-standing perspectives and hone your ability to build resilient, enlivening relationships.
An important part of Connection Catalyst is active participation. This looks like:
Asynchronous discussion via Slack
1:1 Connection with learning partners
Real-world experimentation, reflection, and integration
Why join Connection Catalyst?
Learn to build deeply satisfying and resilient connection with yourself and others
Create lasting change rather than a temporary emotional high
Examine your patterns and barriers to stronger connection
Move away from managing perceptions and toward more authentic, genuine engagement
Forge deeper integrity with yourself to feel more fully alive
Reconnect with play to benefit from greater lightness and ease, personally and professionally
Gain new skills and perspectives in order to clarify and break from routines and long-standing habits
Get coached by two certified conscious leadership coaches for three months
Receive candid feedback from cohort members
Actively build your community of conscious gays
MEET YOUR GUIDES
Marc Dickstein, Leadership Coach
Marc Dickstein helps leaders feel more alive in pursuit of what matters most to them. He partners with those ready to thrive – without falling into the familiar traps of depleted well-being and normalized exhaustion.
As a trusted guide, Marc creates space for leaders to take full ownership of their personal and professional experiences as they move beyond blame and retire outdated patterns. Through cultivating deeper awareness, sharper consciousness, and greater integrity, his clients unlock full potential and strengthen relationships, even during times of change. They develop the tools to recognize and mitigate the drama that gets in the way of connection, ease, and impact.
Drawing from nearly two decades of startup operator and founder experience, Marc brings versatility to his work. While coaching is his primary focus, he comfortably wears mentor, consultant, and facilitator hats as well.
In 2016, he founded Plus Marc, his leadership and career coaching practice. Marc is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, and he holds certifications from both The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and The Conscious Leadership Group. He’s also a Co-Founder and Board Member of Out in Tech, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that unites 60,000 members of the global LGBTQ+ tech community. His client portfolio includes senior leaders at Fortune 100 companies, solopreneurs, and all sorts of courageous, growth-minded folks in between.
Marc and his husband Mark (yes, Marc and Mark) live in Philadelphia with their daughter, son, and two impossibly sweet Mini Schnauzers.
George Ramsay, Facilitator & Coach
George Ramsay is a coach and facilitator who helps people cultivate deeper self-awareness, stronger relationships, and lasting personal transformation. Through breathwork, emotional intelligence, and conscious leadership, he guides individuals toward greater clarity, connection, and well-being.
As a Certified Enneagram Practitioner, Conscious Leadership Coach, and Breathwork Facilitator, George supports clients in breaking through limiting patterns and stepping into a more aligned, authentic version of themselves. He is known for creating ease in the midst of transformation and has worked with over 500 clients in both personal and professional settings.
His work has been featured in Goop and Esquire, and he teaches monthly breathwork sessions at SOUK Studio in NYC. In addition to his live sessions, George offers The Breath Vault, an online platform with 50+ guided breathwork tracks to help individuals build a consistent practice for energy, emotional balance, and personal growth.
Currently based in Asheville, NC, George continues to explore new ways to support others in deepening their connection to themselves and those around them.
“The level of comfort I had with Marc to talk frankly about everything that was going on, and his lack of judgement coupled with practical strategies for putting everything in perspective and handling whatever challenge I was facing — these were my favorite aspects of the program.”
-Chief Business Officer
Ready to join?
Program begins May 2
“This program was a distinctive and powerful offering that gave me the opportunity to connect safely with other gay men in a way that was authentic and healing.
George is a uniquely gifted leader, whose very way of being offers inspiration and grounding to go deeper. I am grateful to him and all my fellow participants for the beautiful community we found and cultivated together.”
-Dan W.