Sexual Health and
Relationship Management
Sexuality
- Mid-Life Changes in Sexuality
- Sexuality and the Older Adult
- Sex in Psychological & Physical Illness & Disability
- Paraphilias
Sexual Difficulties
- Low or Non-existent Sexual Desire
- Difficulties with Sexual Arousal
- Difficulties with Orgasm
- Difficulties with Penetration
- Vulvular Vestibulitis
- Vaginismus
- Painful Intercourse
- Ejaculatory Control
- Erectile Difficulties
- Chronic Pelvic Pain
Sexuality and Relationships
- Desire Discrepancy
- Sexual Aversion/Phobia
- Sexual Addiction
- Infertility and its Affect on Intimacy
- Sexual Relations During Pregnancy
- Postpartum Sexual Issues
- Reclaiming Sexual Self after Abuse
Sexual Health
- Safer Sex Practices
- STD Counseling
- Coping with STDs
Sexual Enrichment
- Enhancing Existing Sexual Expression
- Communicating about Sexual Likes/Dislikes
- Exploring New Areas of Sexual Expression
- Intimacy Skills Training
- Sex & Intimacy after Affairs/Separation/Divorce
Sexual Orientation
- Understanding Sexual Orientation
- Coping with the Coming Out Process
- Obtaining Community Support
Issues Related to Gender
- Understanding Gender Dysphoria
- The Process of Becoming Transgendered
- Adapting to Changes in Gender
- Navigating Personal, Social and Employer Relationships
as a Transgendered Person
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What is Sex Therapy?
Sex Therapy is the professional
and ethical treatment approach to problems of sexual
function and expression. It reflects the recognition
that sexuality is of legitimate concern to professionals,
and that it is the right of individuals to expert assistance
with their sexual difficulties.
Sex therapy, then, is the focusing of specialized clinical skills on helping men and women
as individuals and/or as couples to deal more effectively with their sexual expression.
What Can I Expect
in Sex Therapy?
Even qualified sex therapists may
differ widely in their basic approaches to the treatment
of sexual problems, but some generalizations can be
made.
First of all, you can expect to be talking explicitly and in detail about sex. One cannot solve
sexual problems by talking around them! Neither can one gain new sexual information unless clear,
direct instruction is given!
Second, you might expect to be offered the opportunity
to add to your knowledge by reading selected books and/or
viewing clinical films designed specifically for use
in sex therapy. You should not, however, do anything
which you do not understand, and you must reserve for
yourself the right to question the purpose of an assignment.
It is your right to decline or postpone acting on the
suggestions of your therapist, rather than allowing
yourself to be pushed into behaviour which might actually
increase your discomfort. Every assignment, task, or
experience presented by the therapist should fit into
an understandable and acceptable treatment plan ...
and you have the right to question the procedures.
Third, you should expect sex therapists to be non-judgmental and to portray their own comfort
in giving and receiving sexual information. While you might expect to be challenged and confronted
on important issues, you should also expect to experience a respectful attitude toward those
values which you do not wish to change.
Fourth, unless your therapist is a licensed physician
wishing to conduct a physical examination, you should
not expect to be asked to disrobe in the presence of
your therapist. Sexual contact between client and therapist
is considered unethical, and is destructive to the therapeutic
relationship. Neither should you expect to be required
to perform sexually with your partner in the presence
of your therapist. Overt sexual activites just should
not occur in your therapist's presence, even though
the talk, material and the assignments must, by the
nature of the problem, be specifically sexual and, at
times, bluntly explicit.
Finally, you should feel that you are heard and adequately
represented in your sexual therapy. That is, you should
know that you have not been stereotyped as "female",
as "gay", as "too old", or in any other way that interferes
with your sense of unique identity within the therapeutic
setting. You should feel that you are being treated
as an individual, not as a category!
Sex therapy is a new, dynamic approach to very real
human problems. It is based on the assumptions that
sex is good, that relationships should be meaningful,
and that interpersonal intimacy is a desirable goal.
Sex therapy is, by its nature, a very sensitive treatment
modality and, by necessity, must include respect for
the client's values. It must be non-judgmental and non-sexist,
with recognition of the equal rights of men and women
to full expressions and enjoyment of healthy sexual
relationships.
How the Sex Therapists
at Limerence Centre
Differ from Other Sex Therapists
The sex therapists at Limerence Centre have specialized training in Sexology, which is
the scentific study of matters relating to sexuality. Limerence Centre's therapists
have the highest level of specialized education and training in human sexuality,
which is the PhD designation in Human Sexuality.
The Doctoral degree is underpinned by a Masters degree
in Public Health. The Limerence Centre's sex therapists
are Certified Clinical Sexologists by the Board of Examiners
of the American College of Sexologists.
Sex therapy is not a regulated healthcare profession
in Canada; it is, therefore, critical that the consumer
understand the qualifications and specialized training
of the therapist to whom they entrust their care.
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