AASECT Sex Therapy

AASECT Sex Therapy Requirement

AASECT requires that an applicant will have completed a minimum of sixty (60) clock hours of training in how to effectively carry out (do) sex therapy with patients/clients whose diagnoses include the ‘Psychosexual Disorders’ described in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. Of these sixty (60) hours of specialty training in sex therapy, thirty (30) hours may be earned through eLearning. The remaining thirty (30) hours (non-eLearning) must be in-person learning. (Synchronous eLearning does not apply for these remaining thirty (30) hours.)

For applications submitted after July 1, 2018 it is required that all 30 in-person hours (non e-learning) must be completed through an academic (college or university) program in sex therapy, a comprehensive sex therapy program or AASECT approved sex therapy training.

Sex therapy training must involve the learning of specific sex therapy techniques and interventions, not just theory. The training may be achieved through attending a specific sex therapy training program, taking graduate level academic courses that are specific to sex therapy techniques or by attending AASECT workshops which outline specific sex therapy techniques and how those may be applied to working with individuals and couples.  As an example: you might attend a workshop on Sensate Focus and learn the theory of this particular therapeutic technique. An additional workshop would be required on how to present this technique, what kind of language to use, how to time and pace the specific assignments, and in which order the assignments are given. Additionally, you would learn how to deal with clients who resist doing the assignments, how to help them deal with being blocked and how to deal with couples where one wants to do the assignments and the other partner does not.

Applicants must document at least three (3) hours in each content area listed below, with a maximum of twenty (20) hours in any one content area of A – G.

You can find a description of the AASECT Sex Education / Human Sexuality requirement (and our courses that satisfy these core knowledge requirements) located here.

For the most recent updates to AASECT requirements, please check the AASECT website.