Leading NJ & NYC Mental Health Organization Announces The Launch of Its Postgraduate Sex Therapy Training Program
Jersey City, New Jersey (PRWEB) November 05, 2011
The Institute for Personal Growth (IPG), a leading outpatient mental health organization with three offices in New Jersey and New York City, has launched a Postgraduate Sex Therapy Training Program. The Program, based in Highland Park, NJ, currently has fourteen residents, seasoned psychologists and social workers who are participating in intensive training to become certified sex therapists.
Dr. Margaret Nichols, founder, President and Executive Director of IPG, is an American Board of Sexology Diplomate and Certified Sex Therapist of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). IPG is an official training facility for AASECT, and Dr. Nichols runs the new AASECT-sanctioned program with the help of the four other AASECT Certified Sex Therapists on the IPG staff.
As the ‘Age of Viagra’ makes it more acceptable for the average person to acknowledge and seek help for sexual problems and dysfunctions, sex therapy is becoming an increasingly important specialization. In fact, IPG has not been able to keep up with demand. AASECT, the international certifying organization for sex therapists, lists only thirty sex therapists for the entire state, and five are at IPG. The Postgraduate Sex Therapy Training Program increases the number of IPG’s sex therapy specialists to nineteen, covering all three New Jersey offices as well as the newly-launched New York City satellite office. For the first time, IPG will be able to offer expert sex therapy to the large number of people seeking help, and even be able to make some fee adjustments for people with limited resources.
Many people expect all psychotherapists and counselors to be able to treat sexual dysfunction and difficulties. But in fact, few graduate schools incorporate course work on human sexuality and the specialized techniques developed by sex therapists since the pioneering work of Masters and Johnson in the 1960’s. A relatively young discipline, sex therapy has evolved to incorporate the breakthroughs in medical knowledge of sexuality and pharma/medical interventions. The contemporary sex therapist can draw upon a vast body of information about sexuality that is unknown or poorly understood by the non-sex therapist. Consumers who rely on untrained practitioners are often given misinformation or simply find their sexual concerns ignored.
Says Program Director Margaret – Nichols: ”Sex therapy is very different from other counseling. For one thing, the treatment for most sexual dysfunction is very behavioral – less talk, more ‘homework’ exercises. There’s also a big educational component – many people don’t realize, for example, how the medications they take may interfere with sex, or that male and female sexuality is fundamentally different. And many sexual problems have a medical component, and sex therapists know how to detect this and refer to appropriate specialists. It’s not unusual to see a sexual dysfunction that requires information-giving, behavioral interventions, treatment by a medical doctor, and even at times physical therapy.”
Dr. Nichols and Susan Menahem, L.C.S.W., the Assistant Director of the Training Program, can think of many clients who come to IPG after receiving bad advice from therapists or doctors not trained in sex therapy. “It’s classic” says Menahem. “A woman has been told by gynecologists and other therapists that her problem is ‘in her head,’ to ‘just relax’ during sex when she actually has a sexual pain disorder like vulvadynia that requires medical treatment. In situations like this, we know how to diagnose this and where to refer the woman for help. And then our work often is to undo the damage to the woman’s emotional and personal life, or to her relationship that’s been reinforced by years of painful sex she’s blaming herself for.”
In other situations, couples with sexual problems go to therapists without this specialized training – and they wind up with great relationships and bad sex!
Mike Moran, L.C.S.W., a Resident in the Program with many years of experience doing therapy says: “That’s because the training we receive, not only in graduate school, but also in postgraduate training in marriage counseling, is to see sexual problems as ‘symptoms’ of relationship or individual problems. We are taught to assume that if we fix the relationship or the personal mental health issues, the sexual issues will magically disappear.”
But usually that doesn’t happen. “Sex therapists take the sexual dysfunction seriously” adds Nichols. “When a client calls asking for help with a sexual issue – that’s what we do. We don’t waste your time trying to address sexuality in an indirect way, and we don’t try to fix a relationship that isn’t broken.”
Even people who go to therapy for problems like depression or anxiety may eventually reveal sexual problems. Another Resident, Susan Saylor, L.C.S.W., adds, “I see people who come in after the break up of a relationship and discover that part of the reason the relationship failed was because of sexual problems. I also see couples who may not come in for help with sexual problems, but when we explore the conflicts between them, sexual issues are also involved. This training will help me not only with people asking for sex therapy, but also with clients who initially come for other reasons.”
Certification in sex therapy is done through the American Association for Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists Education, Counseling, and Therapy- (AASECT). The certification is rigorous, requiring, in addition to a graduate degree and licensure and experience in general psychotherapy, a specialized course of study and practice that includes 90 hours of sexuality education, 60 hours of specialized sex therapy coursework, at least 250 hours of casework, and 50 or more hours of supervision by a sex therapist who is AASECT certified for at least three years.
“It’s a lot of work, but I know it will be worth it,” according to Sherill Cantrell, L.P.C., an IPG therapist with over fifteen years experience. “ It’s really satisfying to help people with sexual problems, because when they get better, you really feel you have done something great. Good sex can be a powerful source of joy and intimacy in a person’s life.”
“There’s really a need in New Jersey and even in Manhattan for trained, certified sex therapists.” says Nichols. While Manhattan is better served than New Jersey – there are a couple of dozen in New York- many are not taking new patients due to overwhelming demand. “That’s why we have opened a satellite in the Chelsea/Union Square area, staffed by two certified sex therapists and two residents.” In New Jersey the shortage of trained sex therapists is so severe that the IPG training program will increase the state-wide total by fifty percent and make IPG by far the largest sex therapy provider in the state.
About IPG:
IPG has led New Jersey in providing expert outpatient psychotherapy and counseling since 1983, treating individuals, couples, families, and children for problems ranging from depression and anxiety to addictions, relationship problems, and life crises. Our population is diverse in background and types of problems We have a sub-specialty in sex therapy and we are internationally known for our work with the L/G/B/T communities and other lifestyle and sexual minorities.
Visit online at http://www.ipgcounseling.com and http://ipgcounseling.blogspot.com
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