So one of the concerns people have when deciding whether to book an appointment with us is wanting to know how does sex therapy work. So I thought I would just fill you in.
Sex therapy is really like any other kind of therapy but we are also comfortable talking about sexuality. We believe that sexuality is an integral part of mental health. Even if you identify as asexual, your asexuality has an impact on how you move through the world.
We usually only check in very briefly with people by phone or email before they come in but we are willing to schedule a time to check in a little more in detail if someone has particular concerns. We try not to do therapy by phone so if people start going into great detail in a phone call before we’ve met we may need to draw some boundaries.
We follow the social work ideal of start where the client is so we will begin by asking what brought you in. After that, we gather more background to help us decide what will be the best mode of treatment for someone. Some clients to better with a cognitive behavioral approach or a mindfulness approach and others just want a place to vent until they can figure out what their therapy goals are.
We also work with relationships and have clients come in with their partners to discuss what is going on in their relationship. We will discuss both strengths and problems in the relationship and likely use some connection exercises to help clients work on their communication.
We will never force you to talk about your sexuality or anything else before you are ready and never demand more details than you want to share. It can feel daunting to go in and feel like you are going to be grilled about your sexuality but we believe firmly in consent here and that includes consent to talk about something, or not.
At the end of the first session we will complete the informed consent form at the end of the session and establish therapy goals and schedule the next session.