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Sex and Therapy 6/6: How do Sex Therapists Work?

  • 14th Oct 2022
  • Cate Campbell

What do sex therapists actually do? Which clinical interventions and exercises are key, and where might the work begin and end? Concluding her blog series on sex and therapy, psychosexual therapist, supervisor and author Cate Campbell outlines the basics of the cognitive-behavioural approach used by most sex therapists, and explains how an emphasis on personal experience over ‘outcomes’ helps to overcome anxiety and build mutuality.

Therapist Mental Health: 10 (Sometimes Surprising) Ways to Support Ourselves

  • 10th Oct 2022
  • Blog Editor

Making mental health a priority is something we therapists commit ourselves to on a daily basis… except, perhaps, when it comes to our own. To mark World Mental Health Day 2022, we recommend posts from fellow therapists that inspire us to focus on our own wellbeing – whether we’re rebalancing our nervous systems, getting playful, integrating mindfulness, movement and self-compassion, or addressing our shame and embracing our failures.

Sex and Therapy 5/6: Less Common Presentations

  • 7th Oct 2022
  • Cate Campbell

As therapists, we may never have heard of sexomnia, postcoital dysphoria or persistent genital arousal disorder – and chances are that clients struggling with these more unusual sexual issues won’t have heard of them either. In the penultimate part of her blog series on sex and therapy, psychosexual therapist, supervisor and author Cate Campbell introduces some less common sexual presentations – including how to recognise them, when to reassure, and where to refer on.

Mother-Daughter Conflict: The Canary in the Coal Mine

  • 5th Oct 2022
  • Rosjke Hasseldine

Arguments between mothers and daughters can speak volumes – when we learn to listen systemically. Rosjke Hasseldine, author, trainer and specialist in mother-daughter dynamics, explains why she always begins her client work by mapping the female family history, and shares how the cross-generational silencing of women’s voices often emerges as the loudest running theme.

Sex and Therapy 4/6: Working with GSRD

  • 30th Sep 2022
  • Cate Campbell

How can we best support clients with issues related to Gender, Sexual and Relationship Diversity? How can we ensure that therapy doesn’t overlook guilt and shame – or foreclose pleasure and pride? Continuing her blog series, psychosexual therapist, supervisor and author Cate Campbell discusses some common client concerns relating to sexual identity, shares some helpful interventions, and emphasises the continued relevance of such learning when working with straight, cisgender clients.

Attachment-Focused EMDR with LGBTQ+ Clients

  • 28th Sep 2022
  • Laurel Parnell

How can we extend the benefits of EMDR to better support LGBTQ+ clients? Ahead of her PESI UK masterclass on Attachment-Focused EMDR, Dr. Laurel Parnell outlines the potential impact of stigma and discrimination on relationships to self and others, and explains why she now includes an attachment-repair orientation in all phases of this work.

Sex and Therapy 3/6: Common Couple Dynamics

  • 23rd Sep 2022
  • Cate Campbell

Sexual issues are often bound up with relationship difficulties, and encouraging conversation can lead to rapid change. Continuing her blog series, psychosexual therapist, supervisor and author Cate Campbell considers some common dynamics that can play out in couples’ sex lives and be addressed in any therapy – including the pursuer-distancer pattern, the role of hormones, the myth of spontaneity and the spiralling impact of simple poor timing.

The ‘Gender Thing’: When Therapists Should Know Better

  • 22nd Sep 2022
  • Jeanine Connor

Questioning what gender and sexuality mean for us as individuals is an ordinary part of development. Yet for many young people engaged in this process, being mislabelled and misunderstood by professionals – and parents – is too often the response. Jeanine Connor, adolescent psychotherapist and author, delivers some pressing advice for anyone tempted to dismiss a young person’s contemplation of gender identity as ‘just a phase’.

Sex and Therapy 2/6: Assessment and Referral

  • 16th Sep 2022
  • Cate Campbell

How should we proceed when clients bring sexually related issues to therapy? What conditions should we be aware of, and which related services and specialist therapists might we refer to? In the second part of her blog series, psychosexual therapist, supervisor and author Cate Campbell discusses the assessment and referral process, including knowledge of the ‘sexual dysfunctions’ described in the DSM – and the importance of ascertaining our client’s own hopes for therapy.

The Shadow Side of Therapist Curiosity

  • 12th Sep 2022
  • Lucie Fielding

Curiosity is an invaluable therapist tool. But it also has a shadow side. As therapist and sex educator Lucie Fielding explains, trans and gender expansive people are only the latest to experience invasive and objectifying questioning in the guise of clinical curiosity – especially when it comes to sex and bodies. Here, the author of Trans Sex proposes a new curiosity framework to benefit all clients, and shares three principles for practising with ‘ethical curiosity’.