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The Power of Touch: The Sensate Focus Model in the Practice of Psychotherapy

Title of Event: The Power of Touch: The Sensate Focus Model in the Practice of Psychotherapy
 
Description of Event:
 
Session Dates:
Sunday, February 15, 2026: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Sunday, March 8, 2026: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Sunday, March 29, 2026: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Sunday, April 19, 2026: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Sunday, May 3, 2026: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
 
20 CEs; must attend all sessions.
 
Class Description:
Why Sensate Focus?
When training to become a Sex Therapist, we are learning how to work with the intimate relationship between the body and the mind. Emotional states (some from the present, others carried from the past) follow us into the bedroom and play themselves out in our physiology. Day-to-day stress, deep trauma, attachment wounds, sociocultural factors, feelings of insecurity, “performance pressure,” and/or relational discord can all interfere with the unfolding of the arousal process and, in some cases, can lead to sexual discomfort, avoidance, or dysfunction. Sensate Focus aids the clinician in identifying these barriers to intimacy and embodiment and then engages them via touch exercises that are prescribed for the client to do at home. Each exercise builds on the next bringing the client(s) into closer contact with themselves, their partner(s) if present, sensation, learning, and possibility. The end result? Resolution of “sexual dysfunction;” greater ease in identifying and communicating sexual needs; a mindset of ongoing sexual curiosity, discovery, and expansion; and a more nuanced, intimate understanding of the dynamicism of our sexual selves and relationships.
 
Learning Objectives:
  • Recognize sexual functioning as a natural process as defined by Masters and Johnson.
  • Compare the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
  • Discuss how the sympathetic nervous system response thwarts the sexual response
  • Name several ways SF can be beneficial beyond addressing specific sexual challenges.
  • Analyze the impact of anxiety on the body and it’s role in sexual struggles.
  • Explain the role of the pelvic floor in heightening and/or eliminating difficulties with sexual functioning.
  • Name several pre-requisites for implementing Sensate Focus with a client(s).
Describe Emotional Sourcing.
  • Discuss what modifications might be made to the Basic progressions to accommodate trauma in the body.
  • Critique an instructional video depiction of the Genital Caress.
  • Describe some of the Sensate Focus progressions used to treat Vaginismus.
Date of Event: Feb-May 2026
 
Time of Event: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
 
Location: Online Synchronous
 
Sexuality Education (SE) Training:
SE2. Theory and methods of sexuality education (including curriculum development, delivery and evaluation).
 
Sex Therapy (ST) Training:
ST1. Theory and methods of sex-related psychotherapy, including several different models.
 
Presenter/Speaker: Paula Leech, LMFT, CST, CSTS
 
Contact Name: Rosalyn Dischiavo
 
Contact Telephone Number: (860) 614-5279
 
 
 
AASECT Approved CEs: 20

Event Knowledge Areas Covered: