Dr Catalina Lawsin (she/her)

Aside from always being my sister’s tag-along, I’ve never been a follower. I’m naturally loud, proud, outspoken, and full of personality. Yet consistently throughout my life there were rules on how I should be, who I should be, what was expected of me. My big personality wasn’t welcome in most of my educational or career environments. And quite honestly, I learned that in order to get what I wanted in life, I needed to disconnect from who I truly was. Being a first-generation immigrant and the minority in every social circle I was ever part of played into this behavior. Who was I to complain or disrupt the status quo? I was lucky enough. I, after all, was completely privileged. What more could I possibly want? I’m an open book and make the difficult or uncomfortable conversations feel easy. If you’re looking for results, open to a new way, and totally ready ditch the sexual shame, then we might be a great match!

Being a clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor in the field of sexual health over the last 2 decades, I’ve learned that true, authentic, pure intimacy and connection is not only what we all long for, it’s essential for our overall wellness. It is a basic human need. Connecting to our own primal needs and desires, and allowing ourselves to be everything of ourselves with another person ultimately deepens our knowing of self and who we are at the most genuine level. Yet somehow expressing this basic need has become shameful. For something so essential to our existence as a species, it is unsettling that such a sacred topic be considered too taboo to speak of openly. I believe that by embracing and prioritizing our sexuality we can break free from expectation and experience the transformation of holistic healing. It’s time we got real about the reality of sexuality.