Sex Therapy for LGBTQIA+ Individuals & Couples

As sex and relationship specialists we know that when working with clients who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community we cannot approach these relationships in the same way that we approach heterosexual relationships. The emotional, relational, and sexual dynamics can be vastly different in this community. These relationships require providers to have different perspectives, tools, and ways of thinking when working with these clients.

We provide sex therapy, marriage counseling, relationship therapy, and individual therapy to LGBTQIA+ clients in Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, Harrisburg, Hershey, and the East/West Shore. Our therapeutic approach is supportive, collaborative, and integrative. We work to tailor treatment approaches to the needs of our clients and to collaborate on identifying goals. Our goal is to help clients gain insight, improve communication, rekindle intimacy, and strengthen coping skills. Our clients appreciate our warm and accepting style.

We work with adults from a variety of backgrounds, systems of belief, and sexual preferences. Our specialties include sex therapy, individual, and couples counseling for LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Our Sex Therapy & Counseling Services Focus On:

Helpful Terms (Courtesy of GLAAD)

Asexual:

An adjective used to describe people who do not experience sexual attraction (e.g., asexual person). A person can also be aromantic, meaning they do not experience romantic attraction.

Bisexual, Bi:

A person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of another gender. People may experience this attraction in differing ways and degrees over their lifetime. Bisexual people need not have had specific sexual experiences to be bisexual; in fact, they need not have had any sexual experience at all to identify as bisexual.

Gay:

The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex (e.g., gay man, gay people). Sometimes lesbian (n. or adj.) is the preferred term for women.

Lesbian:

A woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Some lesbians may prefer to identify as gay (adj.) or as gay women.

LGBTQ:

Acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. Sometimes, when the Q is seen at the end of LGBT, it can also mean questioning. LGBT and/or GLBT are also often used. The term “gay community” should be avoided, as it does not accurately reflect the diversity of the community. Rather, LGBTQ community is preferred.

Pansexual

Sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people of all genders regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Queer:

An adjective used by some people, particularly younger people, whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual (e.g. queer person, queer woman). Typically, for those who identify as queer, the terms lesbian, gay, and bisexual are perceived to be too limiting and/or fraught with cultural connotations they feel don’t apply to them. Some people may use queer, or more commonly genderqueer, to describe their gender identity and/or gender expression (see non-binary and/or genderqueer below). Once considered a pejorative term, queer has been reclaimed by some LGBT people to describe themselves; however, it is not a universally accepted term even within the LGBT community. When Q is seen at the end of LGBT, it typically means queer and, less often, questioning.

Sexual Orientation:

The scientifically accurate term for an individual’s enduring physical, romantic and/ or emotional attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual (straight) orientations. People need not have had specific sexual experiences to know their own sexual orientation; in fact, they need not have had any sexual experience at all.