Find a Sex Therapist in San Francisco & The Bay Area
Curious About Sex Therapy? We Can Help You.
Sex therapy is a wonderfully supportive counseling service for couples and individuals looking to deepen their intimate lives, heal from past trauma and open up to all the future possibilities available to you.
Our San Francisco sex therapists support healing from a variety of sexual concerns that ranges from sexual problems like vaginismus and erectile dysfunction (ED), to mismatched or low libido, lack of desire in sex, fears about intimacy, sex and porn addiction and mental health challenges that contribute to a diminished interest or joy in sex.
Across the Bay Area, our clinicians help clients remotely and are licensed psychologists, therapists and social workers across the state of California. They can help you with barriers that prevent you (and potentially your partner) from having a happy and fulfilling sex life through San Francisco intimacy therapy.
How Does Individual Sex Therapy Work?
For individuals, you would work with your sex therapist similarly to regular counseling. The focus is the primary difference because with sex therapy you are taking a proactive look at your intimate life. It can encompass any area of your sexual health, healing past sexual trauma, sexual identity, sexual issues and your libido.
If your sexual expression is causing other mental health issues like anxiety, depression, or addiction, those challenges can be worked through in sex therapy as well.
How Does Couples Sex Therapy Work?
For couples, sex therapy is a deeply connective process where the couple, along with their therapist, explore any challenges in your relationship and sex life. This can include sexual connection after an affair, healing from past betrayal or relational trauma, exploring your libido and any mismatched libido challenges you’re facing and more.
Sex therapy for couples can also explore how your relationship is affected by other ongoing mental health challenges. Depression, anxiety and addiction all affect your partnership and we can help you explore how to best support your partner and how to get your needs met within the relationship.
Couples counseling along with sex therapy is similar to couples counseling with both people participating in the session with their couples counselor.
Couples sex therapy can include some of the following treatment focus areas:
- Low/lack of desire for sexual intimacy
- Mismatched libidos/desire discrepancy
- Struggles with communication sexual needs/preferences
- Presence of sexual dysfunction(s)
- One or both partners with a history of sexual trauma
- The impact of mental health conditions and sex
- Couples who struggle with compulsive porn use or sex addiction
- Working through shame, guilt, or repression around sex
- A lack of sex education within the relationship
- When couples sex life is impacted by infidelity and/or betrayal trauma
- Issues with consent and safety during sexual intimacy
- Lack of confidence due to body image or other self esteem issues
- Challenges with making time for sex (due to work, kids, life events, etc.)
- Resentment that builds up over the years resulting in less sex
If you have questions regarding if couples sex therapy could help your relationship, we’re happy to speak with you about your goals and see if sex therapy is a good fit.
Here Are The Specific Areas Of Sexual Health & Wellness That We Can Help You With:
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- Sex and your level of sexual satisfaction with your intimate relationship(s)
- Sexual intimacy and connection with your partner(s)
- Talking about sex and reducing friction around talking about sex
- Healing from sexual trauma, betrayal trauma or relational trauma
- Sexual desire, low libido or low desire for sex
- Challenges reaching orgasm
- Erectile dysfunction
- Vaginismus or pain with sex
- Your sexual identity, expression and lifestyle
- LGBTQ & affirming therapies
- Healing sexual shame and guilt
- Porn addiction, sex addiction or other addictions in your life that are harming your sexual expression
- Your gender and sexuality identity and expression
- Sex as you age including menopause, manopause and health/age related sexual limitations
- Building sexual confidence
- Navigating safety and autonomy as a sex worker
- Exploring kink, BDSM, fetishes or other forms of sexual expression
- Polyamory or Ethical non monogamy
Our certified sex therapists are here to support you (and your relationship) with healing and experiencing the full scope of your sex life. We can help you address any sexual challenges that are preventing you from feeling joy, confidence, and health within yourself or with your partner(s).
Free 30-Minute Consultation
Teletherapy Service Available
Judgement-Free Counseling
Everyone has the right to empowered, healthy, and thriving relationships. That includes you.
mental health | relationships | sexuality | healing + recovery
I Don’t Live Near San Francisco or the Bay Area – Can I Still Work with a Modern Intimacy Therapist via Telehealth?
Yes! Our individual and couples sex therapists are able to offer sex therapy services remotely via Telehealth to any residents of California. As long as you live in the state, one of our therapists can meet with you virtually for sessions using a secure, HIPAA compliant platform for your convenience and protection.
One of the beauties of video based therapy is that you and/or you and your partner can join session from the comfort of your own home. When living in a metropolitan city, the commute anywhere can feel like a non starter. With Telehealth, you can eliminate that extra step (and one less thing to stress about) and meet with your therapist in the privacy of your home.
If telehealth is not a form of therapy that you’ve done before, we’d be happy to speak with you more about what to expect, should you work with one of our therapists. If you have questions about efficacy, treatment differences, or privacy concerns, we’re here to answer and speak to any and all concerns.
How Are Modern Intimacy’s Sex Therapists in San Francisco Trained?
Our sex therapists are members of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and are Certified Sex Therapists or on the path to becoming certified.
Sex therapy sessions are 50 minutes traditionally, but can be longer upon request.
It’s important to note that sex therapy never involves any kind of sexual touch, physical touch or contact between patient and therapist. Sex therapy is a form of talk therapy, so sex can be discussed, but will never include physical or verbal sexual contact.
I Really Need Help, But I’m Worried About the Financial Investment of Sex Therapy. Does Modern Intimacy Accept Insurance?
We absolutely understand that finances are often a major barrier to mental and sex health care and treatment. At Modern Intimacy, it’s important for us to do what we can to make our services as accessible as possible as we believe everyone should be able to access the care they deserve. While we are not paneled with any insurance providers, there are a few options available for those who are in need of financial assistance.
One option is superbills, which are special itemized statements that can be turned into your insurance provider for partial reimbursement. The way the process works is payment is out of pocket with our practice, but when using superbills, you may be able to receive reimbursement from your insurance company to recoup some of the money you invest into your sessions. Please note that Modern Intimacy does not contact or submit claims on clients’ behalf and it’s important to call your provider prior to payment to ensure you have clear expectations around the reimbursement process.
Another option for reduced service fees could occur via sliding scale rates. On occasion, our providers will have openings for sliding scale spots, which means they can reduce their rate slightly for those who would benefit from a lower fee. A sliding scale rate does not mean that your care is different from those who pay a full fee; it simply is a means for us to offer a reduced rate for those who need it. Sliding scale spots often reserve quickly so when you call us or schedule a consultation, please let us know you are interested in a sliding scale rate and we can let you know if we have a provider with an available sliding scale spot open.
A final option for more affordable services could be working with a Clinical Extern. A Clinical Extern is a pre-licensed student who is in the training level of their graduate program. It means that they are providing therapy under the supervision of a licensed therapist on our staff. Since externs are students in training, we offer a significantly reduced rate for both individual and couples sessions. With our externs, we also offer pro-bono services for individuals and couples who need it.
Since externs are in their training development, there are certain conditions and situations where more experience would be recommended. To discover if working with an extern is a good fit for your exact goals and needs, we recommend reaching out via scheduling a complimentary consultation so we can learn more about what you’re seeking treatment around, to confirm it would be a good fit and within the scope of competence of an available extern.
How Can I Book an Appointment/Consultation with a Sex Therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area?
If you feel ready to get started, but still have a few questions, feel free to reach out. We offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation where our Intake Specialist can learn more about your goals, answer any questions or concerns you might have, and align you with the individual sex therapist or couples sex therapist who best fits your needs.
Need Couples Therapy in San Francisco or Individual Therapy in San Francisco? Feel free to connect with us about those areas too.