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Experienced Sex Therapist in Chicago for Sexual Health and Well-being

At Balanced Awakening, we provide compassionate and expert care for individuals and couples seeking support from a sex therapist in Chicago. Our experienced therapists specialize in addressing a wide range of sexual health issues, including intimacy challenges, sexual dysfunction, and addiction. Whether you are struggling with sexual concerns in your relationship or seeking therapy for sex addiction in Chicago, our goal is to offer a safe, non-judgmental space to explore these issues and find lasting solutions.

Meet Our Chicago-Based Sex Therapists

Feeling a little “triggery” or unsure when it comes to sex?

  • Maybe you’d like to have more fun in your sex life with your partner, but aren’t sure where to begin?

  • Or maybe just the thought of being naked with someone gives you the heebie jeebies.

  • Perhaps you’d like to learn more about what YOU like in bed.

  • Or you want to explore kink, and aren’t sure where to start?

  • Maybe you had a baby, and your sex drive postpartum has plummeted.

  • Or you’re in a long term relationship for the first time, and unsure of how to navigate your long term sex life.

If any of these scenarios describe you, sex therapy can help! We empower women, non binary folks, and couples to have more enjoyable sex lives.

  • Sexual Health

  • Intimacy Issues

  • Sex Addiction

  • Sex Before, During, or After Baby

What is Sex Therapy?

That’s a good question! Sex therapy refers to any type of psychotherapy that addresses a broad range of sexual intimacy concerns of topics, either with yourself or with a partner(s). Sex therapy can be done as part of individual therapy or couples therapy.

Here are some common concerns or topics of interest that our clients may present with when seeking sex therapy:

  • Lack of desire: maybe you just don’t get what all of the “fuss” is about when it comes to sex, or you used to like it, but now you don’t.

  • Orgasmic disorders and erectile dysfunction: Stress, life circumstances, or health issues can all impact what happens, or doesn’t happen, when you attempt sex.

  • Pain during intercourse (aka dyspareunia): We can help with the emotional and psychological sides of vulvodynia, vaginismus, and more.

  • Low libido postpartum: A common experience for women who have recently given birth that can continue on for a while and worsen without help.

  • Communication about sex: Sex can be hard to talk about! Even to yourself. Just talking about sex with your therapist can help make it easier. We can also give you tools to talk about sex with your sexual partners.

  • Intimacy issues: How we feel emotionally tends to be connected to our sexual desire and expression. As such, couples therapy can help couples increase their overall feelings of intimacy which may improve sexual intimacy, too.

  • Sexual orientation and identity: As we explore our sexual preferences, we may also explore our sexual orientation and various identities.

  • Trauma and abuse: Earlier abuse or a traumatic sexual experience can easily get stuck in our bodies and create a protective barrier with someone who we love and want to experience sexual closeness with today.

How Does Sex Therapy Work?

Sex therapy is all about helping you get more of what you want out of your sex life. This is accomplished by therapeutic conversations and interventions. We always start with an initial intake and assessment. If it’s individual therapy, we as you questions about who are you, who you’d like to be, and your history, as well as what your current concerns are for therapy. If it’s couples therapy, our questions are geared towards understanding you as a couple and what you’d like from the relationship. Sex therapy sessions can incorporate any of, or a combination, of the following:

  • Mindfulness and relaxation exercises - geared to helping you feel more present and connected to your experience, which can help to identify your wants and needs.

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy - geared at exploring your beliefs about sex and/or engaging in values driven behaviors that could improve your sexual experience.

  • Sensate focus - this treatment modality helps couples build intimacy and physical closeness through structured exercises that take the pressure off of sexual performance.

  • Somatic therapy - this type of body therapy helps give voice to your body’s experience in any moment, and can be applied to sexual concerns or in deepening sexual fulfillment.

  • Trauma therapy - sometimes trauma in someone’s history is making it unsafe for them to engage in sexual intimacy. In this case, sex therapy can focus first on healing from trauma.

Benefits of Sex Therapy

If you have any concerns about your sexual experience, or would simply like to improve your sex life, sex therapy can help. In its most practical, physical sense, sex therapy can improve sexual functioning by addressing sexual dysfunction and enhancing sexual desire. Alongside of that, performance anxiety can decrease, as well as other anxiety or stress related to sex.

Sex therapy can also lead to increased intimacy in relationship, including the emotional connection as well as physical intimacy. Couples who engage in sex therapy often have new and improved ways of communicating, that can lead to greater relationship satisfaction overall.

Sex therapy can also help those with trauma involved in their sexual history feel safe and empowered sexually.

Regardless of your history, sex therapy can empower in your own understanding of your sexuality through exploration of likes, dislikes, and potential triggers. It can also help you grow your inner confidence, knowing what you like and learning how to ask for it with a partner.

Who Needs Sex Therapy?

Many people could benefit! The people who might be considered to need it the most include:

  • People who are a part of communities who have been socialized to believe that sexuality should be kept quiet 

  • Individuals who feel out of touch with their own body after childbirth, weight fluctuation, or natural aging processes like menopause 

  • People entering or exiting a long-term relationship

  • People interested in exploring atypical relationship styles like polyamory or relationship anarchy 

  • Individuals struggling with a sexual dysfunction or orgasmic disorder

  • People with low body confidence and shame around their anatomy

What to Expect from Sex Therapy in Chicago

During the first few sessions, we’ll assess you both as a “whole human” and anything specific to your sex life that you might want to improve. Your sex therapist will talk to you about the different approaches that they use that will be helpful to you in your particular situation. Sex therapy can happen as part of individual therapy or couples therapy, so how sessions will go will vary a bit based on whether you’re coming by yourself to therapy or you are coming with a partner.

Why Choose Balanced Awakening for Sex Therapy in Chicago

At Balanced Awakening, we are particularly adept at working with women and with couples. If you’re a woman who has some trauma that’s impacting her sexual functioning, we provide a space for therapy to take place that can feel safe and personalized for you. If you’re pregnant, or trying to get a sense of your sexuality back postpartum, we’re also experts in this area. Our sex therapy offerings that happen as couple are done through the framework of Imago Relationship Therapy, which helps hard conversations to feel safe and doable.

Getting Started with Sex Therapy at Balanced Awakening

We are here for you whenever you would like to get started! Feel free to contact us or explore the profiles of the therapists that we have listed at the top of the page.

Balanced Awakening Lakeview
4043 N Ravenswood Ave, Ste 301
Chicago, IL 60613
 
Balanced Awakening Andersonville
5215 N Ravenswood Ave, Ste 201 & 208
Chicago, IL 60640
 
Balanced Awakening Loop
25 E Washington St, Ste 1505
Chicago, IL 60602
 

Sex Therapy Blog Posts

Sex Therapy FAQs

  • In the first two sessions, your therapist will ask you questions about your life currently, your history, and what you might hope to get out of therapy. From there, you and your therapist will discuss goals for sex therapy. Sessions can focus on whatever you’d like the most help with at the time, whether that be a specific sexual dysfunction, how your trauma history impacts sex, or how to re-engage in your sex life postpartum.

  • Our therapy rate for the first two sessions is $245. After that, individual 55 minute sessions are $220. Most of our providers accept BCBS PPO and Aetna insurance.

  • Yes! We offer virtual therapy sessions as well as in-person. Sometimes it’s easier for clients to engage in therapy virtually, especially when they are juggling work, school, or family life at the same time.

  • The benefits of engaging in body image therapy are many! Here are some common ones:

    Reducing shame or negative emotion related to your sexual experience

    Healing from sexual dysfunctions or sexual trauma

    Improving emotional and physical intimacy with your partner

    Improving communication with your partner

    Building your own self confidence