What to Expect at Your Therapy Appointment
Beginning therapy often comes with questions. I’ve answered some of the most common ones below so you can have a clearer sense of what to expect before your first appointment. If your question is not included, please contact me by phone.
Have you worked with people who have concerns similar to mine?
Most likely, yes. I specialize in sexual health and sex therapy, and I regularly work with concerns involving sexual functioning, sexuality, trauma, intimacy, and relationships. I also treat common mental health concerns, including anxiety and depression, particularly when they intersect with the body, personal history, or close relationships.
Although many people share similar symptoms, no two stories are exactly alike. I draw from advanced training in trauma, somatic, couples, and sex therapy to understand your particular experience and shape treatment around what you need.
How is your approach different from that of other therapists?
My approach is active, direct, and deeply curious. I will listen carefully, but I will also ask thoughtful questions, offer observations, explain patterns, and help you connect what is happening now with the experiences, relationships, and adaptations that shaped you. Together, we look beyond the immediate symptom to understand its emotional, developmental, relational, and bodily backstory.
My work integrates advanced training in sex therapy, trauma treatment, EMDR, somatic therapy, Internal Family Systems, couples therapy, and out-of-control sexual behavior. This allows us to consider the whole person—including the mind, body, nervous system, sexuality, relationships, and personal history—rather than treating each concern in isolation.
Sessions are collaborative and centered on your goals. Depending on what you need, our work may include experiential exercises, communication practice, nervous-system regulation, emotional processing, new ways of understanding familiar patterns, and structured activities to continue between appointments. The goal is to create insight you can use: meaningful change in how you understand yourself, relate to others, and move through your life.
How do you structure therapy if we are considering both couples and individual work—or are unsure where to begin?
The best starting point depends on what you most want to change. If the primary concern involves your relationship, intimacy, or sexual connection, begin with a couples therapy appointment so I can understand the concern within the relationship itself. If you want to focus primarily on your own symptoms, history, or personal growth, individual therapy is usually the better place to start.
If the issues overlap or you are uncertain, that is completely understandable. We can use the initial consultation to clarify your goals and determine the most appropriate structure, including whether another provider should be involved for separate individual or couples work.
What happens in sex therapy?
Feeling nervous about sex therapy is common, especially if you have never spoken openly about sexual concerns before. Sex therapy is professional, confidential psychotherapy focused on concerns involving sexuality, sexual functioning, intimacy, pleasure, pain, desire, arousal, orgasm, or sexual behavior.
We begin by talking about what brings you in and exploring the personal, relational, psychological, and physical factors that may be contributing. From there, we develop a treatment plan that may include education, conversation, in-session therapeutic exercises, and structured practices to complete privately at home, either alone or with a partner.
Sessions are talk-based and fully clothed. I do not participate in, observe, or perform physical or sexual exercises with clients. Any suggested home practice is discussed beforehand, tailored to your comfort and goals, and processed together in later sessions.
