Sex Therapy in Boston
Lee Kinsey & Associates provides sex therapy in Boston for individuals and couples navigating psychological and emotional concerns related to sex, sexuality, intimacy, and relationships. Sex therapy is a form of psychotherapy that can help address concerns related to sexual trauma, sexual identity, shame, desire, intimacy, and the deeper patterns that can affect your sexual and relational life.
Psychotherapy for mental and emotional challenges around sex, sexuality, and intimacy
People in relationships often find themselves on opposite ends of a struggle for love and sex.
Unsure of how to communicate, they fight. Unsure of how to please, they shut down. Unsure of how to love, they check off to-dos on lists hoping their effort will “make it work.” This struggle is timeless and deeply human, but it can be exhausting, bringing with it all of the trauma and powerlessness, anger and resentment, betrayal and pain from previous and current relationships.
In Boston, at our office in Back Bay, we help people disrupt the negative patterns that keep them stuck in never-ending loops of disconnect and sexlessness.
Sex therapy is a form of psychotherapy that explores the psychological, emotional, relational, and developmental experiences that shape how you experience sex, sexuality, intimacy, and desire. It can be a place to work through trauma, shame, sexual identity concerns, relationship patterns, difficulty with intimacy, and other experiences that affect your sexual life.
What is sex therapy?
Sex therapy is psychotherapy with a focus on sexuality and its influences on … basically everything. In other words, sex therapy is a specific type of psychotherapy that helps people problem solve sexuality’s complications and/or understand its enhancements to their lives.
Sex therapy can involve exploring the ways that past experiences, relationships, beliefs, emotions, identity, trauma, and patterns of connection influence your sexual life. In Boston, we meet with people in person in our offices in Back Bay, but we also meet via Telehealth with clients located in other places in Massachusetts.
How does sex therapy work?
There are many styles of sex therapy and even more styles of psychotherapy. Our style is based on our personality, and what we do in the room each time is based on your needs.
However, you can expect a few general treatment protocols:
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The US is particularly bad at educating human beings about sexuality. Sometimes, sex therapy helps fill in these gaps. We may ask you to read books or watch videos, but mostly we will learn about your sexuality through talking about it.
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All psychotherapy helps people increase their awareness and understanding of their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, wants, and needs. We will use all of these things to help us determine the causes of your problems, but we will also use your feelings in session to help you create experiences of healing in session.
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Once awareness and understanding are achieved, people can feel empowered to make choices about how to change their behavior to decrease suffering and enhance health and pleasure.
Sometimes, we will ask you to go home and change your behavior through activities and experiments we design together. In Boston, there is never any sexual behavior in the therapy room, but you may go home and experiment with a few things on your own. You can then report back on how it went.
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All good psychotherapists help create contexts and powerful emotional experiences that help people integrate change and learning. Those experiences are often carefully crafted, and they are always different depending on the individuals in therapy.
Examples run the gamut from “homework” to cathartic emotional experiences in the counseling room. These emotional experiences are meant to help clients understand how it feels when they enact the changes we discuss in therapy. Because it is highly effective, these learning experiences are generally the crowning achievement of our work together. The goal is that they will stick with you and help you for years to come.
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Once we’ve got a few changes under your belt, you will continue to practice and experience the changes on your own. Eventually, we may stop regular sessions and move to follow-up sessions every few weeks or few months.
What can I expect from sex therapy?
At Kinsey & Associates in Boston, we provide sex therapy in person at our Back Bay office. We also offer Telehealth to clients located elsewhere in Massachusetts.
We are specialists. With a sharp wit, a generous dose of humor, and an ability to intensely focus on core issues, we help people navigate the vast complexity of their relationships and sexual lives to enhance joy, meaning, connection, and, of course, pleasure.
Wherever you or your relationship may be, let us join you to create an experience of deep intimacy in order to hear, feel, and respond to yourself, your partner, and your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sex therapy is psychotherapy with a specific focus on sexuality, intimacy, and the ways they intersect with psychological and relational experiences. It can address many of the same underlying concerns as other forms of psychotherapy, including trauma, anxiety, shame, identity, relationships, and emotional patterns, while giving those concerns a specific focus on sexuality.
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No, there is never any sexual behavior in the therapy room. Practically speaking, sex therapy is like every other form of psychotherapy; we talk about the things that are bothering you.
We provide a safe, professional, caring space in which to explore your sexual problems through the healing power of psychotherapy. Therapy may involve talking openly about sexuality, relationships, trauma, desire, fantasies, beliefs, and other experiences that can be difficult to discuss elsewhere.
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Sexual concerns are rarely isolated from the rest of our lives. Experiences of trauma, shame, attachment, relationships, identity, family, culture, and previous sexual experiences can all influence how someone experiences intimacy and sexuality.
Sex therapy gives you a place to explore these deeper issues rather than simply focusing on the surface-level problem. The goal is to understand what is happening, why it may be happening, and what you want to change.
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Yes. Sex therapy can provide a space to explore the emotional and psychological effects of sexual trauma and how those experiences may continue to affect intimacy, relationships, sexuality, trust, boundaries, or connection with your body.
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Yes. Sex therapy can help you explore questions about sexual identity, orientation, desire, sexuality, intimacy, and your relationship with yourself. You do not need to have a specific sexual problem to seek therapy.
Meet Our Sex Therapists
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Lee Kinsey
PhD, LPC-S, LMHC, Certified Sex Therapist
Dr. Kinsey combines modern sex therapy practices with expert relationship counseling.
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Ellen Wood
MS, LMHC
Ellen works with adults and relationships, individually and in groups.
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![Eric Rosin]()
Eric Rosin
MA, Doctoral Student Working Toward Licensure
Eric works with adolescents, adults, and relationships.
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Lucy Morgan
MSW, LICSW
Lucy works with adults and relationships, particularly young adults and queer couples.
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Garrett Beaman
MA, Counselor working toward Licensure
Garrett works with adults and relationships, individually and in groups.
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Maddy Hudson
Practice Administrator
Maddy helps clients pair with the right therapist and file out-of-network claims with insurance.
There’s nothing a little pleasure can’t make better.
Schedule a free, 15-minute phone consultation to get started.