LT, do you think seeing a male therapist is wise? It just seems really risky to me, even if he's supposedly competent to handle the issues you feel you need to address.

I'll also be completely honest and say I'm really turned off that he asked you to commit to one month of sessions. Maybe that's about my own issues, maybe not. Could be I misunderstood what he actually said, and he just said that it can take like a month to see if it's a good fit (which I think may or may not be true), but that's not what it sounded like.