When you’re young (see: high school), everyone wants to know what your aspirations for the future are. Many of my friends had typical responses: “Doctor, lawyer, engineer…etc.” Many of them brought those career goals to fruition. Comically, when school counselors used to ask me similar questions, I always responded with a singular answer: “sex therapist!” Like many future therapists, I always was the person friends relied on for support (later in my career, like many future sex therapists, I was always the therapist that helped individuals actualize uniqueness and desires to have pleasure in life, as well as cherished the most taboo aspects of my clientele). Though when I was young, no one seemed to believe I would ever follow through with my aspirations, given the taboo nature of this field. Needless to say… they were wrong.

I began college with the hope and aspirations of any young person, attending University of Victoria in British Columbia. I studied psychology in hopes that it would somehow prepare me for future clinical practice. Along with half of my fellow undergraduate students, we all thought our current position in life was far more relevant than it was. Needless to say, far more training and schooling would be required to ever achieve my career goal. Despite minor setbacks here and there (which I would have to remind myself that every experiences from time to time), I finished school and moved on to graduate training in marriage and family therapy at Seattle Pacific University. From this point, my ideology was challenged as I finally learned the fundamental elements of successful marriage counseling.

Nearing the end of graduate school, I couldn’t help but feel the need for further education, as a master’s program is by no means comprehensive in its’ scope. Subsequently, since I’m a little stubborn, I took on doctoral studies in marriage and family therapy at Florida State University. Not only did I further my clinical training at the doctoral level, but I taught, studied, researched, and presented on many aspects of human sexuality.

Regardless, I still felt under prepared to practice as a sex therapist. As I had been in clinical practice for some time, I felt that specialized training around sex therapy (as very few clinicians possess this training, yet say they offer sex therapy) would benefit further practice. I completed my formal clinical education by attending a post-graduate program in sex therapy at the University of Michigan.

Given these experiences, I have a wide breath of clinical training in both relationship therapy as well as sex therapy. As a trained sex therapist, I am able to comprehensively treat common psychogenic sexual dysfunctions, and as a marriage and family therapist, I’m able to integrate, manage, and work with all aspects of the relationship that are impacted by any and all current discomforts.

Feel free to learn more about my background and experiences.