Attend the 2026 Sexological Conference and connect with hundreds of sexology experts!
October 15th - 17th, 2026, at the Grand hyatt downtown denver
Attendees include the world’s leading sexologists and those aspiring to be one.
Sexual Health Alliance (est. 2015), is a global leader in training and continuing education for mental health practitioners, medical professionals, academics, and researchers.
Learn from world-class keynotes and 30+ expert presenters in an in-person, immersive event. Join fellow psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, physicians, gynecologists, urologists, pelvic floor physical therapists, registered nurse practitioners, mental health nurse practitioners, scientists, researchers, educators, counselors, sexologists, coaches from all over the world.
Upgrade to VIP!
Your VIP registration provides additional gatherings designed for connection, advanced networking, and celebration. In addition to the events on the full conference schedule (to be emailed separately), you'll have exclusive access to special events throughout the weekend.
Your VIP Perks include:
Up to 20 Continuing Education credit hours
VIP SHA Shirt
VIP swag and surprise goodies!
Front-row access to sessions and events
VIP-Only reception
VIP-Only lunch
VIP-Only additional special event
Sunday Sexology in Media (SIM) Ticket
Networking opportunities with our headline presenters
2 tickets to Friday Evening Festivities
prices will increase soon. register now!
Conference Schedule
Thursday, Oct 15
1:00–4:00 PM — Pre-Conference Workshops
4:00 PM — Conference Check-In
5:00–6:30 PM — Opening Keynote
6:30–8:00 PM — Opening Reception
8:00–10:00 PM — Evening Activity
Friday, Oct 16
8:30–10:00 AM — Breakout Sessions
10:15–11:15 AM — Breakout Sessions
11:30 AM–12:30 PM — Breakout Sessions
12:30–2:00 PM — Lunch and Learn Keynote
2:00–3:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
3:15–4:15 PM — Breakout Sessions
4:30–6:00 PM — Keynote
9:00 PM–12:00 AM — Evening Gala
Saturday, Oct 17
8:30–9:30 AM — Breakout Sessions
9:45–10:45 AM — Breakout Sessions
11:00 AM–12:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
12:30–2:00 PM — Lunch & Learn Keynote
2:15–3:15 PM — Breakout Sessions
4:30–6:00 PM — Closing Keynote
8:00–9:00 PM — Evening Activity
Sunday, Oct 18
SHA Sponsored Special Event: Sexology in Media Presented by The SexologyLab
Tickets will be available soon: REGISTER HERE
Speaker application is now open: APPLY HERE
Pre-Conference Workshops: Learn by Experiencing
Your conference experience starts before the main stage with these immersive pre-conference workshops!
You'll step into experiential learning with leading experts, gaining practical skills, embodied insights, and tools you can begin using immediately. Whether you're looking to deepen your therapeutic practice or expand your understanding of embodied sexuality, these limited-capacity workshops offer a unique opportunity to learn in a smaller, interactive setting.
Please note: These workshops take place simultaneously, so attendees may choose one pre-conference session.
Somatic Sexual Healing With Charlie Glickman
What happens when talking isn't enough?
Many clients understand their patterns intellectually, but lasting change often happens through embodied experience. In this highly interactive workshop, renowned somatic sex educator Charlie Glickman will introduce practical, consent-based exercises that help clients build awareness, strengthen boundaries, improve communication, and reconnect with their bodies.
Designed specifically for clinicians and sexuality professionals, this session demonstrates how simple experiential practices can create meaningful therapeutic breakthroughs. The exercises involve only minimal touch—primarily the hands and, in some cases, the forearms—making them easy to integrate into a wide range of professional settings.
You'll leave with practical techniques you can begin using immediately, along with a deeper understanding of how embodiment supports healing, connection, and sexual wellbeing.
You'll learn how to:
Teach clients greater body awareness through experiential exercises
Strengthen conversations around boundaries and consent
Facilitate communication through embodied practices
Incorporate simple somatic interventions into clinical work
Build confidence using experiential approaches safely and ethically
If you've been looking for practical tools that move beyond conversation alone, this workshop is an invaluable addition to your clinical toolkit.
Reserve your spot—space is limited.
A Taste of Tantra: Arousal, Awareness, and Embodied Presence With Rachel Rowlett
Tantra is often misunderstood.
At its core, tantra is less about performance and more about presence. This experiential workshop offers a grounded introduction to tantric principles through breath, awareness, and embodied connection, providing participants with a new way of understanding intimacy, nervous system regulation, and relational presence.
Through a series of gentle, consent-based practices, you'll explore how breath and awareness influence your relationship with yourself and others. Optional partner exercises invite participants to experience connection through shared presence, attention, and simple hand-based interactions—always emphasizing choice, consent, and personal boundaries.
Rather than teaching techniques to "do" tantra, this session helps participants experience tantra as a practice of awareness that can inform both personal growth and clinical work.
You'll explore:
Breath practices that deepen awareness and regulation
Embodied presence and internal tracking
The relationship between sexual energy, creativity, and vitality
Consent-centered partner awareness exercises
Practical ways these principles can support therapeutic practice
Whether you're new to tantra or simply curious about incorporating more embodied awareness into your work, this workshop offers an accessible and clinically relevant introduction to one of the most influential traditions in sexuality and personal growth.
Reserve your spot—attendance is limited.
Concurrent Session Presentations
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This course explores the illness trajectory and its profound impact on sexual health, emphasizing both physical changes and emotional responses across the lifespan. Participants will examine how acute, chronic, and progressive illnesses influence sexual desire, arousal, functioning, body image, identity, and relational intimacy. The course highlights common physiological effects of illness and medical treatments—such as pain, fatigue, hormonal shifts, mobility changes, and sensory alterations—alongside emotional experiences including grief, anxiety, shame, fear, loss of self, and changes in sexual confidence.
Using a biopsychosocial and trauma-informed framework, the course addresses how individuals and couples adapt to evolving sexual realities throughout diagnosis, treatment, remission, and long-term management. Participants will learn to recognize sexual concerns as a natural and essential component of overall health rather than a secondary or optional issue. Emphasis is placed on compassionate communication, normalization of sexual grief, and supporting sexual expression in ways that align with changing bodies, abilities, and desires.
This course equips participants with language, clinical insight, and practical strategies to assess sexual health concerns within illness trajectories and to support clients in reclaiming intimacy, pleasure, and connection—without pathologizing adaptation or reinforcing unrealistic sexual expectations
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Most clinicians are trained to stay neutral and follow the client’s lead in order to avoid imposing their own bias in treatment. And while a client-centered approach has its place, it often falls short when working with the very issues that bring people into sex and relationship therapy: desire discrepancy, out-of-control sexual behavior (OCSB), and the complexity of non-monogamy.
In these moments, neutrality can quietly reinforce stuck patterns. Not to mention that neutrality can do damage when working with minority communities.
This presentation introduces an anti–blank slate approach: one that invites therapists to step into a more active, intentional role without abandoning ethical considerations. Participants will learn six distinct types of confrontation and how to use them skillfully to interrupt avoidance, challenge relational dynamics, and move treatment forward.
Using real-world case examples from sex therapy and queer relationship work, this session offers a practical framework for when to follow, and more importantly, when to lead.
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This introduction to the Wheel of Consent focuses on what it is and how it helps your clients develop self-responsibility of desire and limits. The practices of the Wheel open a simple and enjoyable route to increased clarity, connection, and an expanded repertoire.
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This talk explores how consciously (or unconsciously) suppressing desire disconnects us from our aliveness. This talk also offers a powerful reframe that challenges the cultural belief that a spicy sexlife ends once we start hit midlife. So many Longevity trends focus on everything except sexual wellness and erotic energy... our Eros. Drawing from personal experience, psychology, and somatic research, Dr. Nicole reveals how fear, shame, and trauma can be transformed through power, pleasure, and play. The result is a surprising insight about how humans can reclaim their vitality and agency at every age.
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Case reports will be followed by a summarization of the salient points regarding the intersections of sexual assault to other forms of gender based violence. The importance of trauma-informed post sexual assault outpatient care in preventing repeat sexual victimization and in reducing the short and long term adverse physical and psychological sequelae will be discussed. A review of unpublished data on outcomes from a designated clinic in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago will be shared. This will be followed by a discussion about and challenges and practical reasons to incorporate this innovative model into hospitals or healthcare systems as a public health approach to prevent and reduce levels of gender based violence, including domestic violence and human trafficking.
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Most men leave their doctor's office with a pill and no clear answer about what’s causing their ED. Is it a cardiovascular problem, low T, medication side effect (SSRIs most common), performance anxiety, relationship, diet? using objective data from 220,000+ documented nocturnal and sex erections of 4,000 men, I reframe how ED is diagnosed and treated. The very definition of ED by the ISSM is critically flawed. It fails to distinguish cardiovascular from psychogenic and misses the likely leading cause, “fading erections of aging” due to venous insufficiency. I will discuss how objective and individualized data from a smart erection ring replaces the conjectures of conventional wisdoms about male sexual health-and soon female health. 85% of men are aging normally, they are not dysfunctional, they need not be ashamed.Erection rings, not pills, should be first-line therapy. Data can determine the right dose of antidepressants to minimize impact on sexual performance. Therapists should incorporate these findings into their practice of male sexual disorders.
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Define differentiation of self in monogamous sex therapy and identify at least two common clinical patterns where fear of disconnection leads to withdrawal, overfunctioning, or comparison.
Apply a structured assessment sequence (sexual history, genogram/timeline, erotic template influences, pain/discomfort mapping) while maintaining pacing and client protection.
Demonstrate one integration-stage micro-intervention (parts-informed + observe/describe/participate) that supports de-escalation and reconnection in-session.
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The rise of telehealth and remote therapy has expanded accessibility but diminished therapists’ ability to assess and support clients’ embodied realities. What’s lost when we can no longer be in the same room? Subtle indicators like hygiene, body tension, scent, or movement patterns often reveal critical insights about trauma responses, neurodiversity, and even substance use, yet they remain largely invisible through a webcam.
This presentation explores how collaboration with trained touch practitioners can restore this missing layer of embodied understanding. Presenters will highlight how touch professionals, specifically cuddle-therapy practitioners, provide valuable in-person observations that help therapists understand how clients move, interact, and connect in real space.
Participants will learn practical strategies for building ethical, cross-disciplinary partnerships that enhance assessment, deepen trust, and strengthen client care. Through case studies and guided reflection, we will explore how embodied collaboration restores what digital therapy leaves out: helping clients reconnect with their bodies, their relationships, and the healing power of presence.
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Sex and intimacy for AA men is often heavily rooted in historical trauma, cultural expectations, and rigid misaligned forms of masculinity. Many AA men are socialized to equate worth, value, and esteem with dominance, control via performance while not displaying vulnerability and avoiding connectedness or general emotional expression. These frequently harbor themselves in relationships and show clinically as anxiety, relational issues, men's issues, and general challenges with identifying (or recognizing) emotional needs for self and partners.
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This presentation explores a growing but rarely discussed dynamic in modern relationships: well-intentioned men who hesitate to initiate intimacy out of fear of crossing boundaries, being perceived as disrespectful, or “not being a good guy.” While rooted in empathy and respect, this hesitation can lead to confusion, emotional distance, and unmet needs for both partners. The talk reframes this tension and offers a healthier model for navigating desire, communication, and mutual consent.
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This presentation explores an innovative and playful approach to therapy by incorporating dating simulation video games into clinical work, particularly within the realms of sex therapy and trauma-informed care. Play has long been recognized as a powerful therapeutic tool, and video games—especially those that simulate dating and relationship-building—offer a unique, low-risk platform for clients to explore emotional intimacy, communication, and consent. This approach can be especially meaningful and adaptive for neurodivergent individuals and those impacted by sexual trauma who are interested in starting or reengaging with relationships and sexual expression. For these clients, the dating world can feel not just overwhelming, but at times paralyzing, due to the emotional, physical, and psychological responses trauma may trigger.
Traditional therapeutic approaches may not always address these challenges in ways that feel accessible or relevant to younger, disabled, or neurodivergent clients, or those who are more responsive to interactive, experiential modalities. Furthermore, many clinicians report feeling underprepared or uncertain about how to support clients through issues of sexuality and trauma without increasing the risk of vicarious trauma for themselves. Incorporating dating sims into therapy offers a creative and non-threatening way to open dialogue, model healthy interactions, and process relational dynamics in a virtual space that feels safe and controlled.
This presentation will provide an overview of dating simulation video games, explain how they can be used intentionally in therapy sessions, and highlight the therapeutic benefits supported by emerging research. Attendees will learn how to evaluate and select appropriate games, navigate potential challenges, and integrate this playful yet powerful tool into sex therapy and trauma work. Ultimately, this session aims to equip providers with a novel intervention that is both effective and trauma-informed, empowering clients to reengage with relationships and sexuality at their own pace.
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Despite significant advances in sexual health discourse, clinical practice remains largely organized around behavior, identity, and function, reflecting the broader mentalization of our culture and leaving embodiment largely unaddressed. Many clients arrive having intellectualized their sexuality without ever having felt it. They perform desire without sensing it, lose self-reference in intimacy, or organize around expectation rather than sensation. These patterns reflect not only relational history but how conditioning lives in the body and shapes sexuality itself.
Erotic Sovereignty, a somatic and psychosocial framework I developed over years of clinical practice, returns sexuality to the body, positioning it as a living, breathing, embodied dimension of human experience rather than a compartmentalized behavior or fixed identity. It organizes sexual healing around the restoration of self-reference and agency within intimate life. When self-reference is lost, sexuality becomes organized around adaptation rather than aliveness. Cultural, relational, and developmental conditioning become encoded in the body, organizing how individuals experience desire, intimacy, and erotic expression.
Drawing from somatic psychology, attachment, and movement-based embodiment approaches, this presentation will explore how sufficient support and nervous system regulation create the conditions for awareness. Awareness, in turn, restores choice. Clinical pathways will be outlined for supporting clients in recognizing conditioned patterns, differentiating impulse from embodied truth, and reclaiming authentic erotic expression. This framework advances clinical and cultural understandings of sexuality toward embodied selfhood, agency, and aliveness.
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Trauma is not polite or courteous. It does not wait for your mind to be ready, and words to form. It can settle into hips that tighten without permission, jaws that clench before a hard conversation, nervous muscles spasms, pelvises that brace against intimacy that was meant to be safe. In startle responses that arrive before the thought does. In the body's relentless, loyal, often exhausting attempt to protect you from something that already happened.
In this presentation, we will move beyond the traditional understanding of trauma as something stored solely in the brain. We will explore the emerging research on psychosomatic memory, cellular retention, and the physiological architecture of what hasn't yet been processed. We will examine the early signs, the whispers before the scream of trauma attaching to the body. We will engage in practical, replicable approaches to locating what has been inaccessible: through breath, movement, creativity, and the modalities that bypass the thinking mind and speak directly to the remembering body.
Attendees will experience a grounding breath practice designed to regulate the nervous system before we begin. We will integrate bilateral stimulation as we move through key concepts; not as a treatment, but as an embodied introduction to how the brain and body can process simultaneously. We will leave with a framework: a way of understanding the emotional, physical and sexual uncharted archives that is trauma, and how we help turn it gently, patiently, one aligned move at a time toward resolution.
This is not about revisiting what has been broken or what happened. Instead, it’s about recognizing what your body has been carrying for you, and finally with compassion, curiosity, and precision letting some of it go.
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Many clients who struggle sexually are not impulsive or dysregulated. They are controlled. They are disciplined, responsible, and emotionally contained. They follow rules. They value order. And in the bedroom, those same strengths often block desire, arousal, and pleasure.
This presentation explores how overcontrolled coping disrupts sexual intimacy and creates what I call the paradox of pleasure: the harder clients try to “do sex right,” the less satisfying it becomes. Overcontrol shows up as sexual perfectionism, performance anxiety, emotional inhibition, rule-based duty sex, difficulty initiating, and struggles with orgasm. These clients are often physically present but emotionally distant. Traditional sex therapy approaches that focus on education or behavioral exercises often miss the deeper rigidity driving the problem.
Drawing from Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), this session offers a clear framework for understanding the biosocial roots of overcontrol and how it shapes sexual functioning. Participants will learn how diminished reward sensitivity, threat sensitivity, and high inhibitory control interact with rigid beliefs about what sex “should” look like. We will examine common treatment pitfalls, including pushing exposure too quickly, reinforcing perfectionistic goals, or mistaking control for trauma.
Attendees will leave with practical, actionable strategies for working with overcontrolled clients in sex therapy. Interventions include self-enquiry, social signaling work, radical openness practice, and structured erotic play tasks designed to build flexibility and emotional connection. The therapist’s role in modeling imperfection and shifting the focus from performance to connection will also be highlighted.
This session challenges clinicians to rethink assumptions about “healthy sexuality” and consider how control, not chaos, may be the core barrier to pleasure. Participants will gain tools to help clients move from mechanical sex to meaningful intimacy by learning how to make nice with naughty.
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Sexual trauma treatment frequently reduces PTSD symptoms without restoring sexual desire, embodiment, or erotic aliveness. This clinical gap leaves many survivors with diminished distress yet persistent sexual numbness, avoidance, or disengagement.
This presentation introduces an integrative, embodiment-centered clinical framework for reclaiming sexual desire after trauma. Drawing from trauma treatment, somatic therapy, and contemporary sex therapy, the model positions pleasure not as a late-stage outcome, but as a mechanism of healing that emerges through safety, agency, and reconnection with bodily sensation.
Attendees will learn how to differentiate regulation from embodiment, assess trauma-related barriers to pleasure, and ethically sequence interventions that support movement from dissociation toward sensory awareness, curiosity, and relational desire. Case material and practical clinical language will be provided to support real-world application within trauma-informed sex therapy.
This training offers clinicians a clear pathway for addressing one of the most persistent challenges in sexual trauma recovery: the restoration of desire, pleasure, and sexual well-being.
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Taboo sexual interests are often framed in psychological discourse as either cultural curiosities or clinical risks. This session offers a person-centered framework that understands taboo desires as psychologically meaningful sites of ethical self-examination, autonomy development, and values clarification—without presuming pathology or therapeutic intent.
Drawing on sex-positive psychological research, moral philosophy, and applied educational practice, the presentation reframes taboo not merely as a reflection of social prohibition, but as a domain where individuals test boundaries of agency, consent, and self-governance. The social separation between private sexuality and public identity creates a unique reflective space in which individuals may encounter aspects of self that are otherwise inaccessible in normative contexts.
To structure this inquiry, the session introduces a five-category, person-centered heuristic —the Gross, the Boundary of the Body, the Scary, the Framework, and the Un-Personing—and examines each category as a symbolic psychological domain rather than a prescriptive set of behaviors. Discussion focuses on what these domains reveal about disgust regulation, bodily autonomy, fear processing, social scripts, identity suspension, and locus of control, with explicit emphasis on consensual adult contexts.
Rather than evaluating taboo desires against external moral hierarchies, the framework emphasizes internal ethical criteria including consent negotiation, accountability, self-knowledge, and agency. Parallels are drawn to established psychological constructs such as values-based action, self-determination, narrative identity, and ethical decision-making.
Through conceptual models, case vignettes, and guided discussion, attendees will gain language and tools for engaging taboo material with clarity, ethical rigor, and cultural humility. This session is relevant to clinicians, consultants, counselors, educators, and researchers seeking a nuanced approach to taboo and sexual diversity that neither sensationalizes nor pathologizes non-normative desire.
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Menopause unfolds within relationships, yet partner engagement is rarely addressed in clinical and therapeutic care. Research in sexual medicine and relational science demonstrates that relationship quality significantly influences sexual satisfaction, distress levels, and treatment outcomes during midlife transitions. At the same time, partners often misinterpret shifts in desire, mood variability, and sexual responsiveness, contributing to avoidance and escalating tension. This session explores the relational dimension of menopause and introduces practical, evidence-informed strategies for engaging male partners constructively. Drawing from contemporary desire theory and biopsychosocial models of sexual health, attendees will gain adaptable tools to reduce blame, improve communication, and support collaborative intimacy during the menopausal transition.
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The way that we experience our bodies affects virtually every domain of our sexual lives, from our willingness to initiate sex to our comfort trying new sexual activities to our capacity to experience orgasm. Many people have complicated or negative feelings about their body image, which can disrupt their relationships with their bodies’ experiences and sensations. In this workshop, we will first recount the existing research literature on body image and sexuality. We will then provide a host of strategies that can be used with clients who want to improve their body image on their own and with their partner(s). The session will end with an embodied connection exercise for all workshop participants so attendees can experience the benefits of positive embodiment and grounding connection.
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International college students represent one of the fastest-growing student populations in the United States, yet their sexual health needs remain underexamined in clinical, educational, and therapeutic settings. This presentation offers a cumulative five-year research trajectory beginning with a 2021 master’s thesis at the University of Central Oklahoma examining sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among South Asian international students, and extending through doctoral and faculty research conducted at the University of Cincinnati and Boise State University. Drawing from quantitative analyses of multi-institutional datasets, systematic reviews, and original survey research, this session synthesizes findings across studies on condom use, intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, menstrual health, depression, stress, sleep disturbances, and academic performance among international college students. Particular emphasis is placed on culturally mediated sexual norms, stigma, religiosity, immigration-related stressors, and acculturative pressures that shape help-seeking behaviors and risk profiles.
Findings demonstrate consistent associations between psychosocial stressors and sexual decision-making, including barriers to condom negotiation, underutilization of sexual health services, and increased vulnerability to violence. The research further identifies protective factors, including resilience, social support, and culturally responsive campus interventions.
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Too many people living with chronic pelvic pain spend years - sometimes a decade or more - bouncing between providers, being told their pain is "normal," "in their head," or "just stress." By the time they land in your office, whether you're a therapist, a physician, a pelvic floor PT, or a coach, the damage goes far beyond the physical realm. Their trust in the medical system is fractured, their sexual confidence is eroded, and their relationships are strained.
In this session, I'll walk attendees through what I see every day as a pelvic pain specialist: the scope of underdiagnosis, the real harm of medical gaslighting for both men and women, and the powerful but often overlooked connection between pelvic pain, dyspareunia, and diminished desire and sexual wellness. We'll explore why pain during sex doesn't just hurt in the moment - it rewires how people relate to intimacy, pleasure, and their own bodies.
I'll also introduce a newly published treatment algorithm for chronic pelvic pain and share the PRM Protocol, a multimodal framework that addresses both the neuromuscular and psychosocial sides of this condition. My goal is to give attendees practical tools - not just theory - so they can recognize when a client's sexual concerns may actually be rooted in untreated pelvic pain, and know exactly when and where to refer them for the kind of comprehensive care that changes outcomes.
Whether the attendee is a sex therapist/mental health provider who's never thought much about pelvic pain or a medical professional looking to deepen their understanding of the sexual wellness piece, this session will meet attendees where they’re at so they can take away what they need most. This session is available as a 60-minute or 90-minute breakout session format.
I would also welcome the opportunity to join an expert panel discussion on topics like the intersection of pelvic pain and sexual health, medical gaslighting and patient advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration in sexual medicine, or emerging treatment approaches for genito-pelvic pain disorders. I think a panel format is a great way to have a real conversation with other specialists and engage directly with the audience - which is often where the best learning happens.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
We’re honored to be supported by our 2026 Sexological Conference sponsors. Their commitment to advancing sexual health, inclusive sex education, and professional development in sexology helps make this event possible.
Become a Sponsor for the 2026 Annual Sexological Conference!
Gain visibility among sexologists, therapists, educators, and healthcare professionals shaping the future of sexual health.
Conference Venue: Grand Hyatt Denver
SHA’s 2026 Annual Conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt Denver Downtown, October 15–17, 2026. Known for its modern luxury, exceptional service, and top-tier location, the Grand Hyatt remains one of the highest-rated hotels in Downtown Denver. Located in the heart of the city, the hotel is just minutes from Union Station, Coors Field, the Colorado Convention Center, Michelin-starred restaurants, parks, nightlife, and boutique shopping. It’s also pet-friendly, making it a convenient and comfortable stay for all attendees.
Secure your room early at the Grand Hyatt Denver and enjoy the full conference experience onsite with the SHA community.
Become SHA Certified, Enroll Today!
Imagine completing your Certification in Sexology+ (including a personalized AASECT transcript/application), saving you hundreds of hours of time and money. You’ll also be gaining every CE you need, all supervision, SARs plus plenty more you haven’t even thought of yet. When you become SHA Certified, you’re not just checking boxes and doing the bare minimum; you’re going above and beyond while also joining a global community of sex therapists, educators, counselors, coaches, and medical practitioners who are shaping the future of sexology.
Instead of piecing together conferences one by one and hoping they align with International standards or the (US AASECT requirements), you can enroll in SHA’s Sex Therapy, Sexologist, Sexuality Counselor, Sex Educator or Sex and Relationship Coach Certification Program, where every training is intentionally curated, tracked, and streamlined to support your AASECT path. No guesswork. No overwhelm. Just a clear, supported journey from start to finish.
As an SHA Certified professional, you’ll gain:
Access to a thriving global community of practitioners and leaders
Expert faculty, mentorship, and guidance every step of the way
Exclusive SHA trainings, tools, and support you won’t find anywhere else
A complete, organized portfolio for international associations (including AASECT-aligned hours)
If you’re ready to take your sexual health education further—and become truly sexceptional—apply to become SHA Certified today. Your future clients (and your future self) will thank you. Apply HERE.
SHA 2026 annual sexological conference KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Chris Donaghue, PhD, CST
Keynote speaker
Dr. Chris Donaghue is an international lecturer, therapist, and educator. Dr Donaghue is the Director of Clinical Education for The Sexual Health Alliance (SHA), host of the LoveLine podcast, weekly expert on “The Amber Rose Show”, and frequent co host on “The Doctors” tv show. He previously hosted WE tv’s “Sex Box”and Logo tv’s “Bad Sex”. He is published in various professional journals and top magazines, and has been featured on The Today Show, VICE, CNN, HLN, OWN, Nightline, Dr Drew and in Newsweek, New York Times, Daily Beast, Mens Health, Cosmo, and National Geographic. Author of the book, “Sex Outside the Lines: Authentic Sexuality in a Sexually Dysfunctional Culture”. Dr. Donaghue has lectured at prestigious Universities including USC, UCLA, and Princeton as well as being the keynote at various professional conferences such as Chicago Ideas Week, American Association for Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), and The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS). Dr. Chris Donaghue is a Doctor of Clinical Sexology and Human Sexuality, Doctoral trained in Clinical Psychology, Licensed Clinical Therapist, a Certified Sex Therapist and a Certified Sexologist. Dr. Donaghue practices general psychology and specializes in individual and couples sex, relational, and marital therapy. His work also includes sexual compulsivity, sexual anorexia, sexual dysfunctions, and non-traditional sexuality, identities, and relationships. His work is also with diverse individuals, including all gender expressions, sexual orientations, and Kink/BDSM/Poly issues. His office is located in Los Angeles.
Ashley Winter, MD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Ashley Winter is a board-certified urologist and fellowship-trained sexual medicine specialist with extensive experience caring for patients of all genders. In 2024, she joined the nationally recognized Rachel Rubin MD urology and sexual medicine practice, where she provides comprehensive care for sexual health, urinary health, pelvic floor disorders, and hormone optimization.
Dr. Winter treats patients of all genders experiencing sexual dysfunction and has a special interest in perimenopause and menopause care, low testosterone, erectile dysfunction, low libido, orgasm disorders, urinary tract infections, and pelvic floor dysfunction. She is a passionate advocate for vaginal estrogen as an essential treatment for genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), genitourinary syndrome of lactation (GSL), and urinary tract health. She also works closely with onsite pelvic physical therapists to provide collaborative care for patients with pelvic floor dysfunction and chronic pelvic pain.
Dr. Winter earned her B.S. in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from Rutgers University before receiving her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She completed her urology residency at Weill Cornell Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in male and female sexual medicine in San Diego, where she trained alongside Dr. Rachel Rubin.
Dr. Winter is passionate about caring for individuals and couples of all genders, believing that the capacity for intimacy is fundamental to helping people thrive. She currently lives in California with her husband and toddler.
Justin Lehmiller, PhD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Justin Lehmiller leads the Sexual Health Alliance Study Abroad program to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Iceland, Barcelona and more coming soon. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Purdue University. He is a Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute and author of the book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Dr. Lehmiller is an award-winning educator, having been honored three times with the Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Harvard University, where he taught for several years. He is also a prolific researcher and scholar who has published more than 50 academic works to date, including a textbook titled The Psychology of Human Sexuality (now in its second edition) that is used in college classrooms around the world. Dr. Lehmiller's research focuses on topics including casual sex, sexual fantasy, sexual health, and friends with benefits. His studies have appeared in all of the leading journals on human sexuality, including the Journal of Sex Research, Archives of Sexual Behavior, and The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Dr. Lehmiller has run the popular blog Sex and Psychology since 2011, and it now receives several million page views per year. He has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, and The Sunday Times. He has been named one of 5 "Sexperts" You Need to Follow on Twitter by Men's Health and one of the "modern-day masters of sex" by Nerve. Dr. Lehmiller has appeared on the Netflix series Sex, Explained, he has been on several episodes of the television program Taboo on the National Geographic Channel, and he has been a guest on Dr. Phil. Dr. Lehmiller has also appeared on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including the Savage Lovecast, the BBC’s Up All Night, and several NPR programs (1A, Radio Times, and Airtalk).
He is a popular freelance writer, penning columns and op-eds for major publications, including The Washington Post, Playboy, USA Today, VICE, Psychology Today, Men’s Health, Politico, and New York Magazine. In addition, the articles he writes on Sex and Psychology have been syndicated on major websites, including Business Insider, Huffington Post, and Thought Catalog. He has also interviewed several prominent authors, journalists, and psychologists about their work for his blog and podcast, including Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Lisa Ling, Drs. John and Julie Gottman, and bestselling authors Christopher Ryan (Sex at Dawn) and Lisa Taddeo (Three Women).
Dr. Lehmiller has given talks around the world on sex, love, and relationships. He is available as an expert speaker and has experience consulting on legal cases, including taking the stand as an expert witness. Dr. Lehmiller has also worked with several major sexual health and wellness brands and is available as a spokesperson, as well as a media, marketing, and product development consultant.
David Ley, PhD, CST-S
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
David Ley is a clinical psychologist in practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Ole Miss, and his Master's and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Ley is licensed in New Mexico and North Carolina, and has provided clinical and consultative services in numerous other states. He is the Executive Director of New Mexico Solutions, a large outpatient mental health and substance abuse program in Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Ley also serves on the advisory board for the Sexual Health Alliance and leads SHA’s Sexual Attitude Reassessment or Adjustment (SAR) as well as SHA’s Advanced SARs in Mexico and Jamaica.
Dr. Ley has been treating sexuality issues throughout his career. He first began treating perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse, but expanded his approach to include the fostering and promotion of healthy sexuality, and awareness of the wide range of normative sexual behaviors. Insatiable Wives is his first book and won a Silver Medal in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year contest for 2009. Dr. Ley wrote Insatiable Wives following two years of interviews with couples around the country. His controversial second book, The Myth of Sex Addiction was released in March 2012, challenging the concept of sexual addiction and exploring a different model of male sexuality. The Myth of Sex Addiction triggered a firestorm of debate, allowing people to finally challenge the media hype of this pseudo-disorder. His most recent book, Ethical Porn for Dicks, A Man's Guide to Responsible Viewing Pleasure has been a staple for any curious individual.
Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, PhD
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Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn is an associate professor in the Department of Human Communication Studies teaching sexual and relational communication as well as quantitative research methods. As a prominent sex and relationship expert, her work can be seen in the media (KTLA news, CBS, Fox, Refinery29, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, etc.) and on social media platforms where she has cultivated over 2.3 million followers. This led Paper Magazine to coin her as 'The Internet's Resident Sexpert.' Dr. Tara is also an expert and host on UK's popular TV show 'Celebs Go Dating' and she gives advice in her monthly column on Women's Health Magazine called 'Sexplore with Dr. Tara.' Her passion is to create positive change wherever she goes, which is the reason why she wanted to establish the positive change scholarship awarding a student who creates positive change in their community, in-person and online.
Dr. Tara is the host and producer of her wildly popular podcast, Luvbites by Dr. Tara. Every week on Luvbites she guides you to explore your sexuality. Learn to develop habits for long-term sexual wellness and cultivate passionate and fulfilling relationships.
Evan Goldstein, MD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Evan Goldstein is a nationally renowned anal surgeon and the Founder and CEO of Bespoke Surgical, the leading private practice specializing in an elite standard of sexual health and wellness care in New York City. His practice caters to a wide range of clientele; however, the majority of his patients are LGBTQ+. Dr. Goldstein is also the Co-Founder of Future Method, an innovative sex care brand that is the result of Dr. Goldstein’s years of experience working with his clients and understanding their sexual needs which people from a wide spectrum of sexualities have embraced.
As the preeminent expert and thought leader in the field, Dr. Goldstein is committed to education and awareness not only bringing the important issues surrounding sexual health to the forefront but also eliminating the stigma attached to anal engagement. Relating to a wider audience, Dr. Goldstein leaves the medical jargon behind and communicates in a straight-forward, direct manner, breaking down taboos and allowing for more conversational and open discussions.
Dr. Goldstein has extensive experience educating and shedding light on healthcare issues relating to both the LGBTQ+ community and mainstream audiences. He is a frequent resource for journalists and has been published in many national media outlets including NBC.com, GQ, Well + Good, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, NY Magazine, Forbes, and many others. He was named one of New York City’s top LGBTQ+ business leaders by Crain’s New York in 2020. He maintains his own collection of essays relating to his practice and daily life on Medium.com, as well as a weekly IGTV series that covers familiar issues he sees at his practice, as well as user-submitted questions and topics.
Concurrent Session Presentations
(MORE TBA Soon!)
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Dr. Amy M. Pearlman is a board-certified and fellowship-trained urologist based in South Florida, specializing in male sexual and hormonal health, genitourinary reconstruction, and gender-affirming genital surgery. She co-founded the Prime Institute, where she offers comprehensive medical and surgical care for conditions such as erectile dysfunction, testosterone deficiency, penile curvature, and buried penis, alongside innovations in male cosmetic procedures like penile girth enhancement using hyaluronic acid fillers. A passionate educator, Dr. Pearlman collaborates with multidisciplinary providers and serves on the editorial boards of Urology Times and Therapeutic Advances in Urology, and is board-member for the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. Her mission centers on demystifying men’s sexual health, encouraging healthy behaviors, and empowering patients to live authentically with confidence and understanding.
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Dr. Soum Rakshit is the Co-Founder and CEO of MysteryVibe, an award-winning sexual health company. He holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and previously worked in defense electronics, where he developed iris recognition technology for airport security. This work led to his first startup, which was acquired by a defense company. He later spent seven years in management consulting.
Dr. Rakshit founded MysteryVibe to apply his electronics expertise and medical knowledge to the field of sexual health. His company focuses on developing clinically-proven, FDA Class 2 medical devices to address issues such as erectile dysfunction, pelvic pain, and dryness, especially after major life events like childbirth, menopause, cancer treatment, or surgery. The company also produces educational content to help people have conversations about sexual health. Under his leadership, MysteryVibe has received numerous international design awards.
Beyond product innovation, Dr. Rakshit is dedicated to making sexual health solutions more accessible. He has overseen the company's achievement of FSA/HSA eligibility for all its products, and has strengthened partnerships with institutions like King's College London. He is a frequent speaker at conferences on innovation, sexual health, and the future of wellness technology.
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Dr. Tolulope Oko-Igaire, also known as “The Fixer”, is one of Africa’s leading couples, sex, and mental health therapists. She is a clinical counselor specializing in sexual health, sexual dysfunction, trauma, depression, PTSD, and family dynamics, with advanced training in Gestalt Therapy, CBT, and Psychodynamic approaches. A pioneer in advancing professional mental health counseling in regions where sexual and mental health topics remain taboo, Dr. Oko-Igaire has worked extensively with multinational organizations, government agencies, and NGOs across Africa as a speaker, facilitator, and consultant. She is the President of the Association for Counseling, Matchmaking & Psychotherapy of Nigeria (ACMPN) and the Executive Director of the Institute of Counseling in Nigeria. Dr. Oko-Igaire is a U.S.-certified Human Sexuality Specialist, holds an honorary doctorate in counseling, and is currently completing PhDs in Counseling Psychology and Sexology. She is internationally recognized for her commitment to ethical, inclusive, and evidence-based sexual health education.
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Cynthia Graham is currently a Senior Scientist at the Kinsey Institute and a Professor of Gender Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She has been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sex Research since 2009. Her current research focuses on male condom use, hormonal contraceptives, women’s sexuality, women’s sexual pleasure, sexual problems and sexual health among older adults.
She has been a member of the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team since 2000. Her research has been funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the National Institute of Health Research.
Cynthia was a member of the DSM-5 Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders. In 2023, she won the Masters and Johnson Award from the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. In 2016 she was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award and in 2019 the Distinguished Service to SSSS Award by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. In 2009 she was elected president of the International Academy of Sex Research.
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Coral is a Certified Sexologist, Sex & Intimacy Coach, Sex Consultant.
Coral is not just a mentor - she’s a movement.As a sex & and intimacy coach, Coral specializes in helping individuals navigate the complexities of sexual desires and intimate relationships, fostering radical self-awareness and autonomy.
Her own lived experience and healing journey led her to sexology. Coral’s work is rooted in empathy, respect, and a deep understanding of the human experience.
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Norma Buster is Chief of Staff at C.A. Goldberg, PLLC, a victims rights law firm in Brooklyn, NY, where she oversees business operations, marketing, and client relations. In her years at the firm, Norma has listened to, processed, and translated the stories of thousands of victims of sexual, domestic, and tech-facilitated abuse. Norma’s career stemmed from a personal experience—at 19, she became the victim of stalking and image-based sexual abuse by her ex-boyfriend.
Norma’s commitment to empowering others to demand justice for themselves goes beyond her work at the firm. She is the creator and host of the podcast Oral Arguments, where she has candid conversations with others doing significant work at the intersection of sex, tech and victims’ rights. Her advocacy and activism around the fight for sexual privacy rights have led Norma to attending events at the White House, championing major legislation, and sharing her own lived experience as a survivor and adult content creator to push for reform. Norma is also a member of the inaugural Board of Directors for MyOwn Image, a nonprofit organization with a mission to combat image-based sexual abuse and other forms of technology-facilitated gendered violence.
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Kelvin graduated with a master’s in clinical psychology from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2009. He has been a LPC supervisor for two years and he has been an AASECT certified therapist for 3 years.
Kelvin is the owner of KpaceCounseling, LLC where he serves clients in private practice. He does contract work with Full Spectrum Health as a behavioral health clinician where he works with an integrated care team delivering evidenced based care to persons of the LGBTQ+ community. Kelvin has worked for a local non-profit delivering mental health services to children and young adults that have suffered from complex trauma. With a firm foundation in trauma, he delivers trauma informed sex positive therapy to his clients. Kelvin provides services to couples and individuals dealing with sexual or relationship issues that include low desire, anxiety surrounding sex, and infidelity. His current focus is on mindfulness based interventions to manage sexual concerns and he works with persons that are either in or looking to explore non-traditional relationship orientations that fall under the umbrella of consensual/ethical non-monogamy.
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Dr. Traci A. Kurtzer, MD (she/her), is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. Until her retirement from academic medicine in 2025, she was a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Kurtzer is nationally recognized for her expertise in trauma-informed gynecologic care, menopause management, sexual medicine, and addressing the health impacts of interpersonal violence, sexual assault, and medical trauma. While at Northwestern Medicine she was the lead clinician for the Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause for over five years. In that role, she started the first trauma-informed gynecologic clinic in Chicago dedicated to post sexual assault care and providing specialized services for patients dealing with the sequelae of interpersonal violence and trauma from past medical care.
Dr. Kurtzer is a frequent speaker on topics including gender-based violence, menopause, sexual health. She is a past president of the Chicago Gynecologic Society, past co-chair of the Cook County Human Trafficking Taskforce Healthcare Committee and the immediate past president of the Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (AMWA-PATH). She has been recognized at the state and local level for her efforts to reduce community violence, particularly gender based violence. Due to these efforts and her commitment to advancing women’s healthcare she was honored with two national Women’s Health Awards by the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 2022 and the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) in 2024. She now serves as the Medical Director for Trauma Informed Solutions for Healthcare (www.TISH.care) through which she continues to advance trauma-informed practices through advocacy, education, and policy development.
Throughout her career, Dr. Kurtzer has dedicated herself to providing compassionate service and specialized care for patients with complex needs, including those with sexual dysfunction and medical trauma, as well as menopausal care for patients with challenging medical comorbidities. Due to her focus on complex, trauma-informed menopausal patient care, she won the Menopause Certified Practitioner of the Year award in 2019 from the North American Menopause Society. She is committed to improving health outcomes for midlife women using evidence-based, trauma-informed practices and providing service to medically complex patients and those with limited access to medical care as a Clinical Advisor for Alloy.
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Tisha Gray is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Sex Therapist based in Las Vegas, specializing in sex therapy and relationship therapy for individuals and couples navigating changes in desire, intimacy, connection, and the impact of sexual trauma. Her work integrates sex therapy, relational therapy, somatic approaches, and trauma-informed care to help clients create meaningful, lasting change in their intimate lives.
Gray works with thoughtful, high-functioning individuals and couples who often find themselves caught in persistent patterns of emotional distance, shutdown, longing, or disconnection despite years of personal growth and self-awareness. Rather than focusing on performance or communication techniques alone, she helps clients understand how trauma, attachment, and nervous system responses shape the way they experience intimacy and relationships.
Her therapeutic approach is relational and somatic, grounded in the belief that intimacy changes not simply through insight, but when the body no longer feels pressured, monitored, or responsible for someone else's emotional experience. She incorporates EMDR, somatic interventions, and trauma-informed therapy to help clients move beyond understanding their patterns toward experiencing deeper connection and authenticity.
Gray believes the goal of therapy is not to help people become "better" partners, but to become more honest with themselves and with each other, creating relationships that feel more grounded, responsive, and emotionally connected.
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Nicoletta Heidegger is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#110256) and award nominated Sexologist practicing in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in sex therapy as well as Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). Nicoletta received her BA in Psychology from Stanford University, her MA in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, and her Masters of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. She sees therapy clients (CA residents only) virtually and at her unique ranch office in Los Angeles. She also provides coaching, consulting, education, and retreats to folks around the world. When not seeing clients, Nicoletta creates weekly content via her hit show Sluts and Scholars: a sex positive, shame-free, educational podcast for professionals who prioritize pleasure. Nicoletta contributes regularly to a variety of columns, podcasts, classrooms, and blogs about sex, relationships, and mental health.
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Jen Meyer is the owner and founder of Jen Meyer Therapy, LLC, a private therapy practice in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. As a highly sought-after sex therapist who works with a wide variety of concerns related to sex, intimacy and relationships, Jen strives to provide every client with effective therapy treatment in an affirming and compassionate environment that gives them the greatest opportunity to travel the path towards their best self.. As a highly-motivated professional dedicated to perfecting her craft, Jen travels frequently to obtain training on the latest therapy tools and trends from the best and most well-known minds in the sex therapy world. She is also active within and has been asked to present to various profession organizations both locally and nationally that help maintain her integrated network of healthcare professionals for her clients benefit, including the following: Sexual Health Alliance (SHA), American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), Denver Sexual Medical Alliance (DSMA) and Colorado Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (COAMFT). Jen has also pursued a number of professional certifications along the way, including her CST, LMFT and LPC. She obtained a Masters of Art (MA) in Counseling from Oakland University, a fully accredited program by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), and has completed a Sexual Health Certificate Program. Jen takes pride in being surrounded by some of the best sexologists and healthcare professionals in her field, many of whom continue to be dear friends, along with many others who continue to inspire her and make her a better person and therapist.
2025 Annual Sexological Conference Best moments!
Ready to create your own conference memories?
Experience the energy, learning, and connections for yourself at the 2026 Annual Sexological Conference. Join hundreds of professionals from around the world for three unforgettable days of world-class education, meaningful networking, and experiences that extend far beyond the classroom.
What Our PAST Attendees Had to Say!
Hear firsthand experiences from last year’s participants—leaders, educators, and professionals who joined us for an unforgettable weekend of learning, connection, and growth.
Your turn starts this October
Don't just take our word for it. Join the community of therapists, physicians, educators, researchers, coaches, and sexologists who return year after year for one of the most impactful professional development experiences in sexual health. We'd love to welcome you to Denver this October.
Sexual Health Alliance has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7730. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Sexual Health Alliance is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
This event is eligible for a maximum of 20 CE hours.
