ENHANCING YOUR SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP
- Host: Melissa Risso
- Age(s): Adults, Seniors
- Meeting Time: Tuesdays 5:00 PM
WHY Would you and your partner like to improve your sex life?
WHO/WHAT Couples with low/no sexual desire or frequency, and/or desire discrepancy (in which one partner is more interested in sex than the other) who are interested in enhancing their sexual relationship and ready to embark on a journey to enhance their sexual experiences and relationships. The process will involve group therapy for over 16 hours. Limit of 4 to 8 couples/group.
The content of the group is based on the work of the Optimal Sexual Experiences Research Team of the University of Ottawa, including elements and facilitating factors of optimal sexual experiences as well as research on group couples therapy. The groups are part of a research project studying the effectiveness of group therapy in enhancing sexual relationships. Your participation in the research project (which is optional) consists of completing questionnaires at multiple time points.
WHEN Beginning Tuesday, February 9, 2021, to Tuesday, March 30, 2021; 16 hours total for 8 consecutive weeks; group meetings held Tuesdays from 5-7 PM PST via HIPPA compliant Zoom.
Must be a California resident to participate. The initial assessment will help you to determine whether these groups are right for you.
GROUP THERAPISTS
Catherine de Sauvage LMFT, MS, SEP, CST and Melissa Risso, LMFT, MA, CST, CSE
Catherine de Sauvage: is not only a passionate practitioner about the Somatic Experience (what is our body trying to tell us), but she has also been actively curious about the new possibilities that Sexuality & Intimacy can offer us today. As an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, she belongs to a community that focuses on what really matters in our connection with our partner(s). She also spent 9 years leading groups with people recovering from incarceration and learned from them the importance of being authentic. Her mentor, Dr.Gina Ogden, taught her how to help people re-author their story through a holistic 4 dimensions lens: the heart, the mind, the spirit, and the body.
Melissa Risso (MA, LMFT), a prominent voice in the effort to reverse the stigma of how we learn about mental and sexual health, works extensively as a therapist at her private practice, Risso Counseling, located in San Mateo, California. She is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator with training in Somatic Experiencing (SE), Gottman Therapy, Positive Psychology, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. She has also taught graduate-level counseling psychology master’s students for the past four years and is a Ph.D. student in the Human Sexuality Ph.D. program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) located in San Francisco, California. From her education, professional experience, and life experience, Melissa is passionate about supporting individuals and couples discovering their most authentic sexual selves.
YOUR COMMITMENT
Attendance in this group requires a commitment to home play with your partner. You are free to withdraw from the research and/or the groups at any time.