Class Description
Relationship therapists and others who work with couples acknowledge the importance of physical touch and sexual intimacy as foundational to the goals of many of our clients/patients seen in our practices. Sometimes couples recapture lost physical affection and sexual interest and capacity as emotional intimacy and the safety of the relationship improves, and sometimes more is needed.
This workshop is designed to add a skillset to assist providers in addressing couples’ intimacy and sexuality concerns through the addition of Sensate Focus touching experiences. These “at home” touching suggestions developed by Masters & Johnson form the foundation of sex therapy but Sensate Focus can be a useful technique to build emotional connection and trust even without the presence of a diagnosable sexual dysfunction.
This course offers the opportunity to:
- Define Sensate Focus touching and identify its value in marital and relationship therapy.
- Identify the conceptual underpinnings of Sensate Focus and its connection to mindfulness and somatic therapies.
- Learn about the layering of this foundational technique with relational therapies such as Emotion Focused Therapy, Imago, Gottman and others.
- Describe the general protocol for Sensate Focus touching.
- Develop awareness of modifications of the general instructions and hierarchy for a variety of common sexual difficulties and for diverse clients/patients
- Learn to give Sensate Focus instructions and respond to common challenges through observation as the therapists demonstrate these skills while also offering sexuality education to the “clients”.
