David Matheson (he/him) is an insightful and accomplished therapist whose diverse experiences have shaped a unique and powerful perspective. His path has been anything but ordinary—and so is his work.

Raised in a devout Mormon household during the 1960s and ’70s, David internalized the religion’s deeply anti-gay messages, leading him to repress his own same-sex attractions. In 1996, he became a therapist, initially aiming to help others resist their sexuality. While his clinical work primarily focused on trauma, addiction, shame, anxiety, depression, and internalized homophobia, it also included elements of conversion therapy—a practice he would later come to reject completely.

By 2017, David had renounced all efforts to change sexual orientation, recognizing the profound harm such practices can cause. Soon after, he left the Mormon Church, ended his 34-year mixed-orientation marriage, and publicly came out as gay. Today, he practices as a gay-affirmative therapist and is engaged to a man. These personal transformations reflect just a fraction of the rich life experiences he brings to his work.

Over the years, David has lived and practiced in the Los Angeles area, the New York City area, and Utah. He also spent time teaching English in Kinshasa, D.R. Congo. As a therapist, he became intimately familiar with the traumatic effects on gay men from their interactions with an array of high-demand religions including Mormonism, Orthodox Judaism, Catholicism, and Evangelical Protestantism. He has become an expert in healing from physical, emotional, relational, and sexual trauma, as well as the complex pain of mixed-orientation marriages and conversion therapy survivorship. He is humbly aware that he helped perpetuate some of the very problems he has now dedicated his life to remedying.

He is no novice to men’s gatherings and retreats. From 2001 to 2016, David co-created and staffed two transformative men’s retreats, attended by thousands. Leading these retreats scores of times over many years gave him profound insight into how group experiences can facilitate healing and connection.

In about 2014, as David was beginning to venture into gay-affirming spaces, he encountered a former retreat participant who had since come out. Greeting him warmly, the man said, “We need one of your retreats for the gay community!” That idea planted a seed—and today, it has blossomed into CAKO Retreats.

CAKO Retreats brings together four of David’s enduring passions: supporting sexually diverse men, facilitating men’s gatherings, teaching, and travel. Through this work, he continues his mission of healing—with humility, authenticity, and heart.