SexTherapy-Online, a private sex therapy practice that predominantly provides sex therapy and sex addiction therapy services online, got its inspiration by providing online sex therapy in New Hampshire about five years ago.
It all began when I returned to my home state, after some health concerns, to be closer to family. I left my home of seven years in New York and moved myself, my animals, and my practice back to New Hampshire, where I was raised (interestingly enough, while I had lived in New Hampshire for the majority of my life, I was actually born in Vermont since my family originally was from the Keene, NH area, which is right near the border of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.
When I left New York, I opened my practice in a beautiful history building in the heart of downtown rural, sleepy Newmarket.
I loved that office and had a successful practice until my move to Austin, TX in 2014. I served clients in the Seacoast Area and since I am licensed in Maine and Massachusetts, I served clients on the North Shore of Massachusetts and Southern Maine. The exposed brick created an impressive and healing ambience and was beloved by clients.
Six months after I moved from New York to my office in New Hampshire, I did a follow up call with my clients in New York that I had referred to my colleagues when I moved away. I still had my license in New York and called them to see if everything was okay. They clients wanted to continue seeing me and asked if we could start meeting online. I had never worked online and it was 2011 and a online therapy, tele-therapy, and distanced based therapy was just a developing field so I took a leap to provide services to my previous clients and started seeing a couple clients over Skype and over the phone.
And that is how SexTherapy-Online was born!
But let’s go back to the beginning, after being born in Vermont, I lived in my first house in Winchester, NH with my Mom, Dad, and brother. Shortly after, my parents bought the house my great-great grandfather built in the mid-1800’s and we moved into that home in Keene, NH. Here is a photo of the home in the late 1800’s with my ancestors on the little front lawn. My family still owns the home and it has been converted into a quaint apartment building with several units.
We moved to another home in Keene and most of my family lived in the Keene, Marlborough, Dublin, and Swanzey area. My grandparents and an Aunt also lived in the Concord and Bow area. When I was in second grade, I moved to Walpole, NH and went to Walpole School and then Fall Mountain Regional High School. I graduated from Exeter High School in Exeter, NH and lived in Exeter for my final year before leaving the state for college (see my previous posts on online sex therapy in Massachusetts).
I was an active member of my local 4-H and showed in Dairy and Horse 4-H at the Cheshire County Fair and New Hampshire State 4-H Horse Shows. My main hobby as a kid and teenager was my horse, Yomen, who I still show and own today.
While I have lived and loved other places and most family members have long left the state, New Hampshire still is considered where I grew up and I hold it dear in my heart. I periodically return to visit with the remaining family and to have an annual canoe trip with friends.
If you live in New Hampshire and are seeking online sex therapy, feel free to give me a call or contact me on the form below.
SexTherapy-Online provides online sex therapy in Massachusetts! So we’ve covered Maine, New York, and Texas which brings me now to Part IV of the series around the states I work in and to the home of my alma mater, the great and beautiful state of Massachusetts!
The Bay State
I love Massachusetts and have had a long history living and learning in this wonderful state! My early experiences with Massachusetts generally included spending weeks over the Summer at horse shows in Western Massachusetts in Northampton, MA at the Tri-County Fairgrounds and Springfield, MA at the Big E and other horse shows. I showed my horse at the Big E when I was 12 and remember feeling like I hit the big time!
My Junior year in high school was spent in Greenfield, Massachusetts at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, as small all-girls private equestrian school. Obviously my favorite time of year in Western Massachusetts was Fall, and I remember out-of-this-world picturesque experiences with my horse during foliage season.
Every since I was a young teenager, I knew I wanted to go to college in Boston and when it was time to apply to colleges, I just picked several Boston-area, sight-unseen, and applied to them. I am incredibly grateful to have landed at Boston University and lived all four years in downtown Boston in Kenmore Square, wholly inconvenienced at the same time enamored by Red Sox games (this was when the “curse of the goat” was still alive and well)!
My Junior Year I lived pretty much under the Citgo Sign and my dorm room would light up white, red and blue until 9/10 pm when they shut it off. I always used to say that no matter how wild a late night college night was (and many were late as I worked for the nightclub Avalon and the Lyons Group for all four years), I could always find every BU Student’s North Star: The Citgo Sign, to get home.
Senior year, I upgraded to a Brownstone over looking the Charles River, which later years after I graduated, I would row in a double in the Head of the Charles Regatta. I also loved being in a capitol city, and was part of the movement when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage a day before I graduated in 2004. Despite having a few unwelcome rodent pets, living in Downtown Boston was one of the greatest times of my life.
It was sad to graduate and leave one of my most favorite cities. I’ve done a lot of traveling (41 countries), and people always ask me what my favorite city is. It’s hard to determine, but I always say Boston is one of my favorites, if not my favorite! I love the spirit and heart of Bostonians.
Since moving on from Boston, I’ve spent quite a bit of vacation time on Martha’s Vineyard and the Cape and on the shore of Massachusetts. With many wild nights, and beauty days,
Provincetown is one of my favorite places in Massachusetts and I never say no to a chance to have a good time at one of the amazing festivals in P-Town. I usually visit Boston at least once a year, and am enjoying experiencing the city in a new and more mature way than I did in college. I am a huge local history buff and love walking the Freedom Trail and revisiting all the sights significant to the birth of our nation. I still get quite a thrill throwing a dirty ol’ box of tea in the harbor.
Online Sex Therapy in Massachusetts
Unlike many of the states I work in, Massachusetts is very saturated with therapists and because so many of the clients are served through some of the outstanding sexual health professionals that live and work in the state, Massachusetts is the state I see the least clients in. With larger cities like Boston, Worcester, and Springfield having a lot of therapists present, most clients are able to find therapists locally to help them with their sexual concerns.
SexTherapy-Online, however, provides a different service to some of the more underserved communities in Massachusetts, such as Cape Cod and the Islands, the South Shore, and Western Massachusetts. Many of my clients in Massachusetts either live too far from a sex therapist, are looking for online sex therapy, or travel too much to be able to consistently meet with a therapist locally.
Additionally, since Massachusetts is home to many colleges and universities, I see a lot of college students studying in Massachusetts and dealing with relationship, intimacy, and sex issues.
If you live in Massachusetts and are looking for a qualified sex therapist and specialist in problematic sexual behavior, feel free to contact SexTherapy-Online at the below contact information.
For Part III of my five part blog series on the locations that SexTherapy-Online serves, I want to discuss online sex therapy in New York.
I Love New York New York has a special place in my heart. My mother was born in Glen Cove and my grandfather worked in lower Manhattan for 20+ years in the shipping industry. My grandparents lived in Elmhurst for many years until they moved out to Glen Cove, like the exodus of many New York City families, my family moved East onto Long Island.
It wasn’t until the late 1960’s did my family move to New Hampshire where my grandmother was originally from. My family stayed in New Hampshire and didn’t connect back with New York until I went to Hofstra University for graduate school. I lived in Hempstead, NY in Nassau County for three years then moved to the North Shore of Long Island in Huntington for four more years before returning to New England. Originally licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in New York, I opened my private practice with two locations: one in Huntington, NY and one in Huntington Station, NY. I also saw clients in Islandia, NY at Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Inc. using horses as a tool of therapy.
I have a lot of friends that still call New York home, and most live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and out on Long Island. I visit often and still feel like New York is home to me.
Many of my clients hail from New York. I find that most are attracted to the online model because they are often from Nassau County, Suffolk County, or Westchester County and they commute into the city daily so they don’t have a lot of time for therapy and often spend many hours commuting. Online therapy works well for them because they can see me on their lunch hour at work or since the latest appointment that SexTherapy-Online has is 8 pm CT, 9 pm ET.
Sex Therapy Challenges in New York New York is a BIG state, and while a lot of the population is concentrated in metro New York, and there are a lot of therapists and sex therapists concentrated in that area. The five boroughs, Nassau County and Westchester County have a lot of sex therapists accessible, but the rest of the state is generally underserved for online sex therapy and sex addiction therapy.
And even if you are located in one of the five boroughs, you may spend so much of your time just getting around, home-based, online therapy might be a relief to the hustle and bustle that is your daily life as a New Yorker.
Upstate New York is also home to Fort Drum, a large US Army Military Reservation located in Jefferson County near the Canadian border. This area is massively underserved with therapists, especially therapists who specialize in sex therapy and therapy for individuals with problematic and compulsive sexual behavior. Larger cities like Buffalo, Niagara, Rochester, and capital city Albany also see a shortage of qualified sex therapists in the Upstate New York area.
So if you aren’t located in the Metropolitan area of New York, you might not have access to a lot of services. SexTherapy-Online can help, providing services to all New Yorkers, whether Upstate, in the city, out on Long Island, in the Finger Lakes or Western New York!
New Yorkers and Sex Therapy The Metropolitan are of New York has a LOT of therapists, and a lot of sex therapists. But what New Yorkers DON’T have is a lot of TIME. Online sex therapy is super convenient for those without the time to consistently make therapy sessions or those that travel a lot and keep odd hours. Parents with younger children often find it very difficult to make time for therapy and many of my clients see me online because of the ease and convenience of staying at home and seeing me online after the children are in bed. This increases the compliance and accessibility of therapy (parents are often over taxed and overextended and don’t have time for consistent therapy). SexTherapy-Online allows New Yorkers with children to easily access me from their home or office. Additionally, since all my appointment times are scheduled in Central Time, my last appointment for Eastern Time zone is 9 pm ET/8 pm CT, which often appeals to commuters who work long days and don’t get home until later and want to spend their early hours with their family.
As mentioned above, some of the areas of New York that are not close to metro areas, such as the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes, Western New York, Hudson Valley, the Catskills, and Northern New York, make the distance that the clients need to travel to see a specialist in sex therapy and problematic sexual behavior/sex addiction very time prohibitive, sometimes taking two or more hours to the closest therapist. Sextherapy-Online makes therapy accessible to even the most remote and rural areas of New York.
Another niche area that SexTherapy-Online works with are high-profile cases around sexual compulsivity, sex addiction, problematic and inappropriate sexual behavior, and sexual functioning. New York is home to a lot of celebrities, famous families, and high-profile individuals and going to the sex therapists office may not be something that people always want to do when they are in the public eye. SexTherapy-Online allows for individuals wanting to maintain their privacy to access a qualified and licensed therapist without having to be at risk for being recognized and can keep their privacy intact.
If you live in New York and are looking for a sex therapist, please contact me at the information below.
As I prepare a presentation for the 2016 Texas Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (TAMFT) Annual Conference in a few weeks in San Antonio, TX, I wanted to write my second blog in the series related to the locations that I serve about Online Sex Therapy in Texas.
SexTherapy-Online, PLLC is an online sex therapy and sex counseling practice that serves the residents of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Texas. Each state that I work in has a unique population to serve and unique issues facing the residents and the state as a whole.
This blog will discuss my personal ties with Texas including some of the places I have traveled within the state as well as a paragraph or two about the sexual issues and concerns facing Texans and any unique trends or considerations around sex and intimacy specific to Texas. Saddle up, because we are about to go on a cattle drive to the beautiful state of Texas!
My “brief” history with Texas
Out of all the states I work in, I have the shortest history with the state of Texas. I moved to Austin, TX in 2014 for a few different reasons but mostly because I was looking for a place where I could avoid the harsh Northeast winters and I wanted to live in a city that was interesting, rich with culture, politics, and things to do, and that was accessible to the other half of my life: horses. Since I have lived in the state of Texas for less than two years, I haven’t had a ton of time to get around but I will share some of my travels.
My first introduction to Texas was in March, 2014 when I attended the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) Annual Conference which was held in Mesquite, TX (right outside of Dallas). I enjoyed a few trips into Dallas over that weekend and loved this mix of urban and cowboy. On that same trip, I enjoyed the Stockyards in Fort Worth, did some line dancing at Billy Bob’s, and ate WONDERFUL steak! On my first visit, I kind of felt that Texas was like living in another country (says the Yankee!).
When I moved to Texas, I drove down from the Northeast so I got to see a small amount of the Eastern and Central parts of the state driving through. Cities like Texarkana, Marshall, Longview, Tyler, Athens, and Corsicana gave me my first introduction to East Texas and cities like Waco, Temple, Belton, and other cities along I-35 gave me a taste of how BIG Texas really is.
While home base is Austin, TX, I travel at least once a month to San Antonio for a variety of reasons. I like San Antonio’s vibe and happen to have a lot of business related things going on in San Antonio. I also like the Alamo and the Riverwalk and have also been to several concerts at the Alamodome (have yet to go to a soccer game but hope to soon!). I often head North too, to places like Waco, Belton, Temple, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Pflugerville, and Georgetown for various events, concerts, and I’ve even worked in very picturesque and rural areas such as Goldthwaite. There is this great little diner in Goldthwaite, called the Wagon Wheel Restaurant. Best hash brown you ever will have and a trip out there will bring you through sleepy, rural Texas town after sleepy, rural Texas town, all built alongside the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Rail line. These little towns are what I think of when I think of a rural Texas town (tumble weeds and all).
Austin is located in Central Texas or the Hill Country of Texas. While I thought Texas was this dry, flat, desert-type landscape, I couldn’t have been more wrong! Austin is in an area that has rolling hills and diverse natural landscapes. A LOT of lakes, rivers, creeks, and streams, making swimming and recreating super easy and accessible. While we are prone to drought, overall, Austin sits on a few aquifers that make the area always seem like it has water (even if we don’t!). With great wineries, distilleries, and breweries in towns like Driftwood, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, and the rest of the Hill Country, it is a great place to visit and relax. And don’t get me started on the barbecue.
In East Texas, I have attended several EAGALA trainings in the Tyler, TX area (Whitehouse, TX to be specific), right on Lake Tyler. That’s a beautiful area that is also rich in history. I always like driving out of Central Texas and seeing the differing landscape that East Texas has to offer. I never knew how many lakes were in Texas (they have the most square mileage of inland water of any state).
I have family in Houston, so I spend some time in that area relatively frequently. Also, many conferences and trainings are in Houston so I am gradually exploring the most populous city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the country. I have many clients that work in the oil and gas industry who mostly are based in Houston and due to their travel and busy schedules, they find having an online therapist very convenient.
My favorite outdoors Texas pastimes are exploring the vibrant flora and fauna of Texas and I enjoy camping (year round!) and going on Texas adventures with my horse. I have plans to head over to West Texas and the Border this summer to go camping and exploring in Big Bend National Park and the town of Terlingua. I still would love to do more exploring of West and North Texas as I put down roots in the rocky, often dry, soil of the Texas Hill Country.
Sex Therapy in Texas Considerations
Geographical Challenges
Texas has some challenges similar to that of Maine with it’s shear size and distance between cities and towns. Texas is a HUGE state, and I’d say it isn’t uncommon for a Texan to take a short 2-3 hour trip just because in Texas 2-3 hours is a short time to get somewhere! Unless you live in a city, you are likely to have to travel long distances for specialized care like sex therapy, making it expensive and time-consuming to receive sex therapy. And, if most therapists work during the week, you would likely need to take a day off from work if you need to travel 3 hours one way to go to your closest sex therapist, which makes sex therapy something you would not frequently be able to attend since it is so time-consuming due to travel. And add trying to tie in your partner or spouses schedule, and the shear thought of another appointment during the week might stop you right in your tracks. Many of my clients are all over the state because they just can’t swing going to a sex therapist in person.
Rural Population
Texas has the nations largest rural population with over 3.6 million rural residents (as of 2000, and that was 16 years ago!) so geographically, over 3.6 million people live in rural areas that might have to travel a long distance for therapy.
Working with a rural population also poses unique challenges to a sex therapist. Many rural folks aren’t comfortable or accustomed to talking to others about sex, and since poor communication and knowledge about sex and sexual issues could be a factor that contributes to developing sexual issues, dysfunctions, compulsions, or problematic sexual behavior, one could deduce that these factors can contribute to a high incidence of sexual issues in rural populations. So, high incidence with lack of accessible services creates a gap for rural Texans. A very large gap! Lucking, SexTherapy-Online, PLLC provides accessible online sex therapy and sex addiction therapy services to rural Texans.
Political Considerations
Politically, Texas is a pretty conservative state and hasn’t been known to support sexual topics or issues in the political sphere or as a general life concern. This adds unique challenges to being a sex therapist and providing sex therapy to clients who live in a culture that isn’t very supportive politically of sexual issues and agendas. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t professionally publicly take any stance about the political issues facing the sexual landscape of Texas but it does pose a challenge in being a sex therapist and providing quality and accessible services to Texans.
Finding a Sex Therapist
Finding a sex therapist is hard enough to do, but imagine if your state had 254 counties! How do you go about looking for a sex therapist in your area, and if not in your area, how do you go about just searching for one in a vicinity of 2-3 hours away. Us sex therapist don’t post advertisements in the local newspaper, so it’s often difficult to find someone that specializes in the services you need. And this isn’t addressing whether or not they are a good fit for you. By offering sex therapy and sex addiction therapy services online, SexTherapy-Online, PLLC is accessible to Texans no matter where they are in the state and hopefully this blog will increase the accessibility on the internet as well so that Texans from any part of the state can find an online sex therapist in Texas easily by searching online.
Cultural Considerations
Another interesting aspect when working in the field of Sex Therapy with Texans is the different cultures in the state of Texas and their differing views of sex and sexuality. Texas has a rich and diverse history, with six national flags flying over the state in its history (interesting fact: Six Flags the amusement park chain was founded in Texas and named exactly for this reason!). The six flags that have flown over Texas are: Spain (1519–1821), France (1685–1690), Mexico (1821–1836), the Republic of Texas (1836–1845), the Confederate States of America (1861–1865), and the United States of America (1845–1861; 1865–present). Taking a look at all these cultures (and thinking about other immigration trends of Germans and Central Americans to name JUST two), there are a LOT of cultures present in Texas. With each culture having its own views on sex and sexuality, there is definitely a very active melting pot of cultures to work with in sex therapy. I have a diverse cultural background and always aim to be culturally competent, sensitive, and curious in my approach when working with different cultures around sex.
Religions and Texas
Texas has also been declared one of the nations most religious states. The chart below shows the breakdown in 2010 (in millions) of the religious bodies that adherents (“Adherents” includes full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services) associate with.
Religious Body
Adherents
Percent ot Population
Year
2010
2000
1. Catholic Church
4,673,500
18.59
20.95
2. Southern Baptist Convention
3,722,194
14.80
16.88
3. Non-Denominational Christian
1,546,542
6.15
—
4. United Methodist Church
1,122,736
4.46
4.90
5. Muslim estimate
421,972
1.68
0.55
6. Church of Christ
351,129
1.40
1.81
7. LDS (Mormons)
296,141
1.18
0.75
8. Assembly of God
275,565
1.10
1.09
9. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
155,046
0.62
0.86
10. Episcopal Church
148,439
0.59
0.85
11. Lutheran–Missouri Synod
132,508
0.53
0.67
12. Lutheran–E.L.C.A.
111,647
0.44
0.74
Unclaimed by any faith
10,103,455
40.18
38.25
Research has shown a relationship between religiosity and sexual performance and sexual satisfaction and I have seen a relationship between religion and religiosity and sexual issues, dysfunctions, and problematic behavior in my clients. Religion is always a factor to explore when working with Texans in a sex therapy context. As a certified sex therapist, I attend to and integrate spiritual and religious beliefs with all my clients in their treatment of a sexual concern (even if those beliefs are atheist, agnostic, or other). This wasn’t something that I always felt came natural to me as a clinician, as growing up in the Northeast, religion and spirituality often fell on the back burner when it came to clinical interventions. But the more I work in the field of sex therapy, the more I am experiencing and learning that clients spiritual and religious beliefs play a huge role in their sexual identity.
Interestingly enough, the above chart shows that over 10 million people and over 40% of the population in Texas are unclaimed by any faith, which is also a consideration. Many of my clients present spiritually wounded or spiritually distracted and part of their therapy is working on resolving their spiritual and religious wounds and creating a life that has a spirituality that is meaningful to them.
Access to Sex Therapists
According to the American Association for Sex Therapists, Counselors, and Educators (AASECT), there are 37 AASECT-certified sex therapists, counselors, and educators in Texas, with 6 being in San Antonio, 8 being in the Houston Area, 10 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and 8 being in the Austin area. That leaves around five existing in areas outside of one of the major Texas cities. That isn’t lot.
For those that specialize in sex addiction, there are more options, with www.IITAP.com listing 135 CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapists) in Texas. however, it is unclear how many of these While I am not a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist through IITAP, I have extensive experience and training working with those that have sex addiction or compulsive sexual behavior and am highly qualified to work with clients with compulsive sexual behavior and sex addiction.
Places where you can look to find a qualified sex therapist or sex addiction therapist are below:
If you are located in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Texas, please find my contact information below. I love being a Texan and an Austinite and am honored to help all Texans with their sexual concerns.
This is the first of a five-part blog series about the locations that SexTherapy-Online regularly serves. SexTherapy-Online is an online sex therapy and sex counseling practice that serves the residents of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Texas. Each state has a unique population to serve and unique issues facing the state. This blog series will discuss each state in detail.
I’m kicking off the New Year and this new blog series with the beautiful state of Maine. Each blog will discuss my personal ties with the state including some of the places I have traveled within the state as well as a paragraph or two about the sexual issues and concerns facing Mainers and any unique trends or considerations around sex and intimacy specific to Maine. Pack the car and the cooler and buckle up, because we are about to go on a road trip to the beautiful state of Maine!
My relationship with Maine isn’t just as an online sex therapist serving the residents of Maine. I grew up vacationing in Maine in a family cottage off of Shore Road in Ogunquit, Maine in York County. My family has owned the small one-room beach cottage (that eventually got renovated by my father and uncles in the 70’s to be a two bedroom vacation cottage) and the land surrounding it for over a century. While some of the land has since been sold off, the cottage and the traditions still exist and the cottage still is within the family. Every few years or so I stay in it off season to enjoy the Maine winters (briefly of course!) and visit in the Summer to enjoy the true fruits of Vacationland! I still have family that lives in York and spend summer vacations in Southern Maine and Phippsburg in Sagadahoc County.
I still frequent Eliot and Kittery often when I am in the Northeast and have several friends who live and work in downtown Kittery, what a new a vibrant hub Kittery Foreside is becoming! I love the history of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Isle of Shoals.
Acadia National Park (the second most visited National Park in the United States) in Hancock County is still one of the most breathtaking National Parks in the United states and I hiked and camped there as a child. I also used to show my horse at Maine International Morgan Horse Show in Bangor in Penobscot County in the 1990’s, but that horse show has since moved to New Hampshire (which I showed there in 2012 and 2013). Each year, my family and I also head to Freeport in Cumberland County for some holiday shopping and we enjoy the L.L. Bean flagship store, which is open 24-hours-a-day, 365 days a year.
I love Mainers, and the state of Maine. It’s a unique and quirky place, with a rich history and geography and an even richer demographic. It’s size and diversity of living areas make it challenging for the residents of Maine to have access to sex therapy services. SexTherapy-Online can help bring high quality sex therapy to the residents of Maine, no matter how close they are to a city like Portland, Lewiston, or Bangor.
Sex Therapy Challenges in Maine
Most people don’t realize the shear size of Maine. Maine is roughly the size of ALL of the New England states COMBINED. Maine has sixteen counties, with Aroostook County, at 6,453 square miles, covering an area greater than the combined size of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Maine’s largest city, Portland in Cumberland County, the largest city, only has less than 70,000 people (according to the 2014 Census) and Maine only has a total population of 1.3 million. While Maine is the least populated state that I work in, it is the most underserved with the least amount of Certified Sex Therapists out of any of the states I work in.
While the size of Maine, the population, and the lack of qualified and certified sex therapist pose unique sex therapy challenges for residents of Maine, geography also is a factor to consider. Maine has a diverse geographical landscape. There is the Lakes and Mountains Regions that includes Bethel, Bridgton, Harrison, Eustis, Stratton, Farmington, Fryeburg, Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Kingfield & Carrabassett Valley, Lewiston, Auburn, Naples, Norway, South Paris, Rangeley Lakes, Rumford, and River Valley. Very rural and at times a little challenging to get to, online sex therapy offers a convenient option for sex and sex addiction therapy for the residents of Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, Androscoggin, and Kennebec Counties.
Maine is home to over 3166 islands, both fresh water and ocean islands. While many are small or uninhabitable, many people live on these islands and either access the island by public ferry or by private boat. Downeast Acadia Islands like Mount Desert Island, which includes Bar Harbor, Eden, Hulls Cove, Salisbury Cove, and Town Hill; Mount Desert, with the villages Northeast Harbor, Otter Creek, Pretty Marsh, Seal Harbor, Hall Quarry, and Somesville; Southwest Harbor, with the villages of Manset and Sewall; and Tremont, with the villages of Bass Harbor, Bernard, Gotts Island, Seal Cove, and West Tremont, Beals, Great Cranberry, Little Cranberry, Frenchboro, Swan’s Islands. Midcoast-Penobscot Bay Islands including Isle au Haut, Islesboro, North Haven, Squirrel Island, Vinalhaven and Fox Islands, Monhegan, Matinicus, and Criehaven. Lower Midcoast-Muscongus Bay Islands including Hupper Island and Oar Island and Casco Bay Islands including Chebeague Island, Cousins Island, Cliff Island, Great Diamond Island, Peaks Island, Long Island, and Cushing Island, just to name a few (PHEW!). And one can imagine, it’s not that easy to get to the sex therapy regularly when you have to take a ferry to the mainland! Islands add a unique consideration on accessing quality sex therapy and sex addiction services in Maine.
And speaking of difficulty traveling, the average annual snowfall in Maine is 50 to 70 inches in the Coastal Division, 60 to 90 inches in the Southern Interior and 90 to 110 inches in the Northern Interior. That’s a LOT of snow! In fact, in February 2015, Eastport, ME in Washington County set a statewide snow record for 76″ of snowfall in a 10 day period! Eastport is the most easternmost city in the United States and consists entirely of islands. It’s not easy to get to your sex therapist when you have 76″ of snow out your door AND you live on an island! This makes Maine a very unique state to practice sex therapy in!
Sex Therapy with Mainers
My Aunt mentioned over the holidays that in order to be considered a true “Mainer” you need to not only live in Maine or be from Maine, but you have to have “three generations in the ground”. Assuming this means at least three generations have lived and died on Maine soil, that is a pretty tall order! Mainers are hearty, strong folks with strong belief systems who are not often raised to be comfortable speaking and sharing about sex and sexuality. And since many Mainers live in rural areas, they are often isolated from friends, relatives, potential partners, and a diverse social and sexual landscape.
A lack of comfortability in talking about sexual matters and isolation can be risk facts for sexual issues, dysfunctions, and sexual compulsivity and sex addiction, often making folks living in areas like Maine prone to sexual issues.
SexTherapy-Online can help deal with the sexual issues of residents living in Maine. If you or someone you know is struggling with a sexual issue or sexual compulsivity, please use the form below to contact me. You don’t have to suffer sexually. There is help.
I also have some colleagues in Maine that specialize in sex and relationship therapy that I would recommend for in-office therapy. Dr. Ron Feintech and his staff a The Couples Center in Portland, MA (www.thecouplescentermaine.com) are excellent resources for those struggling with sexual issues in Maine.
And whether you are located in Maine or another state, you can always locate a certified sex therapist using the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) to find a sex therapist in your state: https://www.aasect.org/referral-directory
