Sexual Identity

Our work will revolve around the question - what do you want? Not as a question to be answered simply, but a question to be asked again and again, a question to grow together. Trauma and loss obscure and sever connection to desire. We will get to know the stories that have led to a loss of desire and begin to rebuild connection to what it is you are longing for.

I often let clients know that sex therapy is like any other form of therapy with the addition of an “open door” to explore topics related to sexuality and intimacy with a highly trained and knowledgeable professional. Some clients walk through this door every session, some with some frequency, and some never at all depending on what they are looking for.

Many of us in the LGB community have felt alone in our feelings, or unable to verbalize our truth out of fear of rejection, shame, and violence. Art Therapy and Sex Therapy are empowering. The art says what we sometimes cannot. Developing a healthy therapeutic relationship with your counselor is validating and can serve to help you find the courage to be your true self in the world.

I am a part of the LGBTQIA+ population myself and I have a passion for helping clients explore and define their sexuality and be their most authentic selves.

Our work will revolve around the question - what do you want? Not as a question to be answered simply, but a question to be asked again and again, a question to grow together. Trauma and loss obscure and sever connection to desire. We will get to know the stories that have led to a loss of desire and begin to rebuild connection to what it is you are longing for.

Despite being a member of the LGBTQ community, I sought specific training to become a competent therapist for same. I have worked as a clinician in two LGBTQ centers and served as an advisor to a high school LGBTQ club. I am a member of Gaylesta, the Psychotherapist Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity.

I work with women who are trying to deconstruct and recover from purity culture messages and conditioning about sexual and body shame. Women are not adequately taught about sexual health, so our bodies are shrouded in mystery for years, resulting in feeling confused or broken due to what our bodies are or are not doing in a sexual context. "Come As You Are" by Emily Nagoski is the book I work through with clients to help them learn about themselves and reclaim their sexual identity.

A client's sexuality is a key component in many relational and individual issues. Whether you identify as lesbian, gay, straight, bi, trans, queer, asexual or any variation thereof, your sexuality is a major factor in determining your preferences and sexual behaviors. Sexuality is about your sexual identity, about the gender roles you carry with you, and the "scripts" you learned from family, religion, society and significant others. All of these factors have contributed to your understanding of sexual expression. Sometimes, these interconnecting parts do not fit well together and can cause distress in your life. I believe one of my primary roles is to help you find out how to rework pieces of your sexual identity, your social conditioning and your sexual preferences so that you can feel integrated and content in your experience of your sexuality.

Nothing is so nefarious as the bully that we find installed inside ourselves. I have experience working with people in the coming out process and working to resolve the internalized homophobia that we're not often aware of. I also have lived experience in this area.

I have worked in an LGBT community center that was committed to raising awareness and diminishing stereotypes regarding those of the LGBTQIA community. It is a personal mission of mine to take the stigma out of sex and sexuality as well as to serve the communities that get prejudged, including the poly/swinger/kink/sex worker communities.

With the enormous amount of labels that have surfaced over the last few years, finding the right label for yourself can be important. Sexual identity can start from not wanting to have sex at all to being extremely sexual and being okay with either identity and how to love and accept yourself with that.

I hold experience with the LGBTQ2IA+ community both professionally and personally. In a professional context, this has included support for clients in discovering and affirming their sexualities and gender identities, support through life transitions such as coming out to friends or family, and support working through internalized homophobia or transphobia. I have also attended numerous trainings on sexual and gender identity and have completed several years of academic coursework.

I see sexuality as being fluid and something that evolves over time. I have experience working with clients in a trauma-informed, affirming environment around issues of sexuality and sexual identity. I embrace members of the poly and kink communities, those exploring sexual orientation or sexual identity, changes in sexual desire and more. I have training in and knowledge of safe and healthy use of items for sexual pleasure.

Questioning your sexual orientation as an adult can be confusing and terrifying. You can feel the pent-up energy and longing in your body, and yet you're so afraid of what this might mean. I offer a safe, open-minded, and private space to connect with your body and explore your desires and identities. Then, we'll work together to figure out how you want to integrate your truth into your life and relationships.

Prior to becoming a licensed therapist, I was a Peer Counselor to others living with HIV. I have been HIV positive for 22 years and have worked with all kinds of folx around sexual health and sexual identity.

I help others better understand who they are through curiosity and exploration. Binaries are often challenged if not completely broken in the shedding and unlearning of the world's views and beliefs of one's sexuality.

I help clients reconnect with their healthiest, most authentic sexuality and sexual self.

I was clinical Director of one of only 4 LGBT mental health agencies licensed to provide services to the community in 1991 which brought me from Boston to Portland.