When asked what I do for a living I often smile and prepare to answer many questions on how I spend my day. It has led me to examine the authenticity that we embody in our everyday lives and how we relate to ourselves and to others.
It continues to surprise me and bring joy as I help others navigate the sacred relationship they have with pleasure and love. So, what is sex therapy? Like other mental health disciplines such as narrative therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy , sex therapy is built on the foundation of helping people understand their inner and outer worlds.
This type of therapy is unique in that it works to understand our relationship to our body, sexuality, pleasure, and to others. Individual clients come to me to explore their relationship to their sexuality, and therapy begins with an in depth assessment of how this dynamic has evolved over their lifespan.
This includes what messages they have learned as children about their bodies, sex, dating, pleasure, and play. Clients may be hoping to work through aspects of themselves that carry sexual shame related to spirituality, trauma, culture, or other societal narratives around sex, gender, and our physical appearance. Individuals may show up to explore curiosities around their sexual and romantic orientation or gender identity throughout their lifespan and how this presents in their current body and relationships.
Lastly, sex therapy may look at sexual functioning and the many emotional and physical challenges that come with living in a human body including congenital or acquired disabilities, chronic or acute pain, arousal difficulties, aging, body image, self esteem, performance anxiety, and orgasm difficulties.
