Sex therapy is defined as a form of talk therapy or psychotherapy and differentiated from touch-based therapy. It goes deeper than that. Sexuality is an integral part of our human experience. Sex therapy intersects identity, relational, and developmental areas of life while incorporating trauma treatment, holistic healing, sexual health, and a variety of interpersonal approaches to well-being.  

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As an AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators Counselors and Therapists) Certified Sex Therapist I have completed 90-hours of post-graduate training and 250 hours of supervised training in the field. The training and supervision has equipped me with capacity to blend relational integration, identity and body-awareness, mindfulness and somatic awareness and biological, medical, health and harm-reduction education and resources. 

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I work to incorporate sex therapy principles of practice with all my clients, individual and couples. I am trained and have over 15 years of experience working with areas of specialization including:

chronic pain and sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, early ejaculation, desire discrepency, difficulties of arousal, out of control sexual behavior (sometimes referred to as sex addiction), lack of desire, lack of arousal.

Therapy is so much more than learning new skills as it is often reduced to in on-line apps that promise therapy without the therapist. Healing and growth is experiential and most often occurs in the context of connection and relationship. For many individuals that seek therapy, that may experience attachment-of-origin experience that are insecure, the trust, reliability, consistency, vulnerability of the therapeutic relationship is inherently the most important element.

The terminology, trauma-informed treatment is used often in the psychotherapy field and words such as trauma and triggered are used often in popular culture. There are different types of trauma including, developmental or attachment trauma, generational trauma, collective trauma, acute trauma and complex trauma. 

When I consider trauma I most often utilize the definition by Dr. Daniel Siegal, "trauma refers to an experience that is beyond the capacity of the individual to adapt effectively." When we are overwhelmed are body goes into survival mode and we operate with our sympathetic nervous system to fight or freeze. When the events that overwhelm are chronic, especially in early years of life, we adapt in ways that keep us out of the line-of-fire (fawn), are erratic, aggressive, and often find ways to numb the system. 

In my practice I believe trauma-informed treatment must include, (1) regulation, establishing new ways to cope and calm the system (2) processing, a form of treatment to unfreeze the memory (3) integration, to orient the experience of trauma into the larger life story thus the person is not the trauma, the trauma is an experience of the person. (4) reconnection, to be able to feel engaged fully in your life story and often integrate your wisdom to connect to others. 

In my practice I used multiple modalities to approach trauma-informed treatment that include and are not limited to: Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems, Guided Visualization, Traumatic Mind Mapping, and Narrative Therapy. 

Much of the pain that occurs in the human experience occurs in the context of our most meaningful relationships. Trust, safety, control and responsibility are the legs that ground our interactions and are often up-ended by experiences that occur in our lives. Permission, consent, and boundary setting are foundational to healthy relationships, all types of relationships. 

I believe that the experience of making decisions in therapy of giving permission, setting boundaries, and consenting to each phase of treatment provides an integral experience of empowerment and healing. I repeatedly enact these experiences throughout the therapeutic relationship. 

I follow the stages of recovery outlined in trauma researcher, Judith Herman's work: (1) Education, Stabilization and Safety (2) Processing, Remembering and Mourning (3) Meaning and Connection. 

I imbed the experience of permission, consent, and boundary setting within each phase allowing practice of empowerment in the process.