Sexual Wellbeing & Intimacy

Sexual wellbeing is not separate from the rest of your life. It sits alongside stress, body image, health, medication, ageing, parenting, trauma history and the state of your relationship - and it is affected by all of them. That is why the work rarely starts with technique. It starts with understanding.

This is a space where nothing needs to be edited. We go at whatever pace you need, and you are always the one who decides what we talk about. Many people arrive braced for embarrassment and find that the relief of finally saying it out loud is the first part of the change.

Changes in libido and arousal are one of the most common reasons people get in touch, and one of the most misunderstood. Desire is not a fixed quantity you either have or have lost. For many people it is responsive rather than spontaneous - it arrives after closeness begins rather than before it - and that difference alone explains a great deal of the distress couples carry about mismatched sex drives.

Libido is also sensitive to almost everything else going on. Exhaustion, stress, resentment, medication, hormonal change, pregnancy and postpartum, menopause, chronic pain, alcohol, body image and how safe you feel with your partner all shape it. Arousal difficulties work the same way: when sex becomes something to perform or to worry about, anxiety competes directly with arousal, and trying harder tends to make it worse. Understanding that loop is usually the beginning of loosening it.

Depending on what brings you in, the work might involve making sense of a change in desire, understanding how a trauma history shows up in intimacy, rebuilding trust and touch after a rupture, or slowly reconnecting with your own body. Where a medical cause may be involved - and with libido and arousal it often is worth ruling out - I will encourage you to see your GP or a specialist alongside our work rather than instead of it.

I am currently completing a Master of Science in Medicine (Sexual and Reproductive Health - Psychosexual Therapy) at the University of Sydney, which means I bring knowledge to these conversations as well as a trauma-informed lens.

Approaches I may draw on