Based in Los Angeles and London, Gay Wellness is a new online platform for gay and queer-identified wellness practitioners. It serves as a listing for therapeutic gay massage therapists, barbers, hairstylists, coaches, therapists, yoga lecturers, fitness trainers, men’s health clinics, and different sorts of wellness providers. It’s the first directory of its kind to synthesize numerous wellness sub-industries into one distinct platform.
“There are so many small businesses in the gay community who wake up every day and do the important work of offering their wellness services. All I wanted to do was help them gain more visibility. Their services are so important for our wellbeing, and particularly as we emerge from this global pandemic,” says Peter DeWitt, CEO and founder of Gay Wellness.
Peter had a queer identity crisis of his own in 2020, and he attributes his wellbeing to the many gay mentors and health practitioners who were in his life at the time. He was then inspired to bring something forward that could serve any gay man struggling with mental health issues. Many local therapists, coaches, and bodyworkers quietly do their work, hidden in the nooks and crannies of local salons and work from their home.
The site has several wellness experts who regularly contribute to their blog, which covers a variety of subjects including: massage, sex and intimacy, mental health, gay culture, and lifestyle tips for gay men to live their best life.
2021 was all about onboarding the first round of practitioners – starting with London and Los Angeles. Understanding the needs of the providers, and their unique pain points in their industries was the top priority.
Gay Wellness: A better answer for gay masseurs in London
According to many local gay masseurs in London, the gay massage scene has been convoluted and hard to navigate. Gay Wellness are more about quality than quantity, and carefully vet each masseur who comes on board. Not having a quality directory for these practitioners has been a sore spot for many years, as often it’s hard to trust other sites’ reviews and ranking systems.
Gay Wellness offers a contemporary platform for both London and Los Angeles by compiling all of its practitioners in one place, for easy access.
The gay massage Los Angeles scene encompasses such a large region that it’s sometimes hard to find a practitioner nearby. It’s no secret that LA has an incredibly diverse array of cultures: it’s a kaleidoscope of nationalities and ethnicities. From Little Armenia, to Chinatown, to Japantown, Koreatown, to gay West Hollywood, to the Jewish communities, to Latinx, and African-American – there is a something for everyone in this sunny landscape.
The way the site works is quite simple: start by finding the “city page” in which you live, and browse through the various profiles of guys, until you find the right one for your specific needs. Then reach out to him via text, phone call, or message him directly through the site. Book that first session, and you’re in!
Finally, here’s an interview with a very experienced gay masseur Dan Nazarian, who discusses why and how does what he does: