Psychotherapists - Licensed

Embracing Pleasure is heart-centered, trauma-informed coaching, bodywork, and education for adults of all genders, sizes, relationship statuses, and sexualities who are struggling with identity, sexuality, intimacy, or trauma and who long to be seen. I find my clients come to me because something has changed in the way they are relating to themselves, their lover(s), and/or the world. Something feels off, and my clients are looking for support and guidance to a greater depth of experience and a more whole version of themselves and their sex/life!

My approach is based on my Master’s degree in Sacred Erotic Psychology, certifications in Sexological Bodywork, Clinical Trauma Professional, and Transpersonal Hypnotherapy, as well as numerous hours of work with clients and with myself. I have extensive knowledge of and personal experience with truma, kink/bdsm, polyamory/non-monogamy, queer/lgbp+ and trans/non-binary experiences, and more.

Sessions are a blend of therapeutic talking/mind-based interaction, body-based/embodiment exercises, and/or educational-therapeutic touch. The session experience is completely dependent upon your goals, and focused on increasing your experience of embodiment and intimacy with yourself, others, and the world.

Providing psychological treatment and assessment services to adolescent and adult clients in a serene setting in downtown Boulder. Specialty in working with individuals/couples who identify as gender and/or sexual minorities, either focusing on issues directly relating to gender or sexuality, or more general psychotherapy with an accepting provider. I have additional specialties in treating anxiety disorders (panic, obsessive compulsive, posttraumatic stress disorder/sexual trauma, trichotillomania, skin picking, etc.), as well as eating and body image difficulties.

I specialize in working with Bisexual, GLBTQ, Polyamory, alternative sexualities, sexual abuse, domestic violence, trauma and spirituality. I work with all forms of self expression including but not limited to bisexual, polyamory, kink, mixed relationships, BDSM and more. I have a great deal of experience in the above areas including leading anti-oppression trainings. I offer individual, relationship and group counseling.

My approach to psychotherapy is individualized and interactive with a focus on long-term sustainable change. In addition to patience, empathy, humor, reliability, and intellectual curiosity, I bring to my work the personal and professional experience and expertise to work with individuals, couples, and polygroups around the full range of concerns particular to members of the Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Polyamory, Sex Worker, and Kink communities. Other areas of special interest include identity issues, interpersonal conflict, depression, anxiety, loneliness, life crisis, creative blocks, eating/body image issues, self-esteem, sexual difficulties, and the concerns of artists and academics. In addition to being a licensed clinical social worker with 10 years of experience, I am a certified psychoanalyst and a faculty member at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

I am a gay, lesbian, transgender and bi-friendly therapist practicing in Long Beach, California. For over twenty five years, I have counseled lesbian, gay, bi, HIV+, polyamorous and transgender clients in individual, couple and group sessions. I specialize in alternative lifestyles and relationships, and I’m also experienced in treating depression, anxiety, self- esteem, anger and addition issues. I’ve also lectured at colleges, PFLAG and hotlines on alternative lifestyle issues of all kinds. In addition, I am certified in California to supervise counseling interns. Author of 11 books in 14 languages, including:

• Gay Relationships: How To Find Them, How To Improve Them, How To Make Them Last (Tarcher, 1989)
• The 10 Smartest Decisions A Woman Can Make Before 40 (HCI, Deerfield Beach, 1998) with Elizabeth Friar Williams
• The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again (Macmillan/IDG, NY 1999)
• The Real Thirteenth Step: Achieving Autonomy, Confidence and Self-reliance
• Beyond the Twelve Step Programs Revised 2nd Edition (New Page 2001)
• The Ten Smartest Decisions a Woman Can Make After Forty (Renaissance, 2001)
• How To Be a Couple and Still Be Free (1980 -3rd edition: New Page 2002) with Riley K. Smith
• It Ends With You: Grow Up and Out of Dysfunction (New Page 2003)

I am a bi-friendly lesbian therapist who believes societal oppression affects mental health. I have been counseling people since 1979, using empathy, humor and intuition to assist in the healing process. My style is supportive and interactive. I focus on solving present-day problems, bringing in your past history as needed to shed light on patterns that no longer work for you. I see therapy as a mutual partnership, with you as the expert on your own life.

My specialties include: abuse survivors, sexual concerns, recovery from addictions, relationship problems, disability/chronic illness, and sexual minorities (bisexual, lesbian, transgender, gay, polyamory, BDSM). I see individuals who are at least 15 years old, and couples/families/polygroups. I also offer EMDR, a very effective trauma reduction technique.

Phone sessions are possible for the homebound, or residents of California outside the San Francisco Bay Area. My office is in a tranquil garden setting on the ground floor, and is scent- free. I am a member and former Board President of Gaylesta, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Psychotherapist Association of the Bay Area.

Mine is a general psychotherapy practice in which I pay special attention to alternate sex and gender concerns, and to people living lifestyles involving those concerns. I work with adult individuals and couples of all identities and orientations in the leather, fetish, and transgender communities, and have taught, spoken, and/or published widely in those areas. I also work with anxiety, depression, shame, guilt, trust difficulties, damaged self-esteem, and inner children, any of which may be concerns for people who have been characterized as outsiders in society. Sex and gender issues frequently affect significant others, including romantic and erotic partners, parents, silblings, children, friends, colleagues, and business associates, and I have experience working with them as well. I am a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists, the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, and the International Foundation for Gender Education, and I am a once and future member of the National Leather Association.

Publications include:

• Consensual Sadomasochism: How to Talk About It and How to Do It Safely (with Sybil Holiday). Daedalus Publishing Company.
• Bodywise (with Joseph Heller). Wingbow Press
• The Psychic Healing Book (with Amy Wallace). Wingbow Press.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book. Hawthorn Publishing.

I do not have a website or url, but some of my writings, mostly from 1988 - 1996, can be found at http://www.sexuality.org/wh.html. Further questions? Please write.

My practice consists mostly of relationship oriented psychotherapy with erotic minority people. I work with folks of all sexual orientations, including Kinkyfolk (BDSM), Polyfolk, Fetishists, Swingers, Sex Workers, Gays and Lesbians, and, oh yes, Bisexuals!!! See my web site for more details.

I work with individuals, partners, couples, families and groups. We explore the spoken and unspoken dynamics of intimacy and boundaries with self and others, of parent-child bonding, and of navigating conflicts, wounding, and trauma past or present. I also work with addictions. My approach is holistic, body-oriented, offers use of expressive arts, and celebrates diversity, particularly of sexual orientation and partnering styles, gender, and spirituality.

I consider therapy a collaborative process, so I work best with clients who have a sense of what troubles them and at least a vague vision for the differences they want. That is where I come in.

I will use my skills to help you identify what specifically is not working for you in your life, develop a vision for the way you wish things were instead, and then narrow that gap. I will follow your lead in setting goals together for the therapy while also utilizing my professional perspectives and experience. My intention is to support an integrated dynamic within your body, mind, emotions, spirit, relationships with others, and with your unique conception of the world in which you live.

While we will probably explore your past experiences, our focus will be on your present experiences and your hopes and desires for your future.

I have offered professional trainings on Poly Parenting Issues, Self-Care, and Expressive Arts Therapy Techniques, and am in progress on a Poly-Aware Professionals Clinical Handboook.