Like wildflowers you must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would.Welcome to Healing Like Wildflowers, an emotional and psychological counseling service open to all therapy needs. In addition to general psychological concerns I also have an expertise in sexual and reproductive well-being. It takes courage to choose to heal. Congratulations on taking this incredible leap forward toward fully claiming your authentic self. Therapy can be an impactful tool that can support individual or partnership goals. It can be transformative and I am so honored to be a part of the process. Although I am trained and experienced as a sex therapist, my foundation is in psychological counseling, and I am certainly open to support your mental health goals outside of the sexual and reproductive realm given that our lives are not segmented or simple.
Types of Emotional Therapy Services
As a psychologist with nearly 20 years of experience there are a broad range of concerns that can be addressed. Here are just a few examples:
Postpartum anxiety and depression
Conflict within partnerships
Recovery following infidelity
Adjustment following medical trauma and diagnosis
Infertility sadness and frustration
Reproductive loss
Grief
Generalized anxiety
What is Intimacy Therapy?
Intimacy therapy is about helping people reach their potential related to connection, closeness, healthy vulnerability, and pleasure. Intimacy therapy helps people reduce emotional, physical or psychological barriers to relating well to self and others. Often times intimacy therapy can include sex therapy. Sex therapy expands beyond the basic traditional talk therapy that most people think of when they consider talking with a therapist. Sex therapists are highly trained beyond typical psychology training programs to support the sexual satisfaction and sexual interactions of their clients. Most psychology and social work graduate programs do not address sexuality at all in their curriculum. If the topic is addressed, it is only marginally addressed.
There is no touch that happens between clients and sex therapists. When appropriate, specific and purposeful touch exercises may be encouraged as “homework.” This can be particularly important to help with reducing anxiety or overcoming trauma because our bodies hold memories at a cellular level. As such, our bodies are often needed to promote healing. We literally need to create new neurological pathways in our brain that signal safety, security, and pleasure — and we need our bodies to help with the recovery process.
Types of Intimacy Therapy Services
Intimacy and sexuality are incredibly intricate topics. I often suggest someone’s intimate and sexual self is like a thumbprint with no two being exactly alike. As such, the following list of services is not exhaustive by any means. If you do not see your concern on the list, please reach out to me and ask questions about whether or not we should schedule an appointment.
Developing confidence related to intimacy
Establishing skills to navigate physical closeness
Working toward erotic recovery following medical treatment
Developing a relationship between the erotic self and spiritual self that is congruent with values
Reducing anxiety associated with sexual activities
Navigating pain with intercourse
Creating new pathways to pleasure when faces with situations such as lack of erections
Eliminating premature ejaculation
Traversing the impacts of infertility on intimacy
Minimizing fear associated with intercourse following reproductive trauma
Acknlowledging gender identity and creating pathways to transition in a manner that is congruent with one’s sense of self