Women's Sex-Love Addiction Help and Treatment
Where do women struggling with relationships and/or sexual addiction go for cutting edge resources? Where can they find women-specific treatment? 12-Step programs, Women-only Inpatient and Intensive programs listed here, along with some specialty mixed-gender groups.
If you or someone you love has a problem, getting specialized therapy to help navigate the journey can make a vital difference. You can find a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) in your area, or arrange distance therapy, through the Find a Therapist page on the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) website at www.iitap.com, or by calling 1-866-575-6853. Research therapists who are comfortable and experienced working with women. You may also take more comprehensive self-assessment tests at www.sexhelp.com. See the Resources section for more information. There are also selected specialty recovery coaches experienced helping women heal from intimacy, relationship, porn and sex addiction or related problems.
If you suspect you are addicted, you may also find help by attending several 12-Step sexual recovery meetings to see if you can relate to what you hear. I wrote Are Women Safe in 12-Step Recovering Meetings, that article may be helpful to you. If you suspect a loved one is addicted to sex, you can attend an open 12-Step meeting in a sexual recovery fellowship to learn more; there are fellowships for partners and families of sex addicts to get more support. Some 12-Step fellowships have their own self-assessment tests on their websites.
12-Step Programs for Sexual Addiction
Support sites for those struggling with their own sexual or relationship addiction.
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA): 713-869-4902, www.saa-recovery.org
Sex Addicts Anonymous has its own website just for women. This web page has over 50 pages help you find safety, meetings, connection, sponsors, diversity and inclusion, stories both written and recorded, links to literature, publications and periodicals (like SAA’s bi-monthly The Outer Circle with “Dear Grace” articles), newsletters and blogs, notices of events, and much more:
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA): www.slaafws.org
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA): 800-977-4325, www.sca-recovery.org
Sex and Porn Addicts Anonymous (SPAA): http://spaa-recovery.org/
Sexual Recovery Anonymous (SRA): www.sexualrecovery.org
Support for people whose lives have been affected by someone else’s sexual or relationship addiction.
Male Partners of Female Sex Addicts resource site, www.malepartnersoffemalesexaddicts.com
Codependents of Sex Addicts (COSA): 866-899-2672, www.cosa-recovery.org
CoSex and Love Addicts Anonymous Connecticut (COSLAA): 860-456-0032,www.coslaa.org
S-Anon: 615-833-3152, www.sanon.org
Support for couples affected by addiction, often with a sex addiction focus.
Recovering Couples Anonymous (RCA): 877-663-2317, www.recovering-couples.org
Gender-specific INPATIENT THERAPY PROGRAMS:
LIVE ON SITE, LONGER, +MEALS included
The Meadows’ Willow House Relationship Healing for Women - Arizona
https://willowhouseforwomen.com/
The Glass House, formerly called Five Sisters Ranch in California
https://glasshouseintensives.com/
For Psychiatric Issues like Borderline PD, Bipolar, Dissociative Disorders, consider:
Del Amo Hospital in Torrence, CA
https://delamohospital.com/treatment-programs/what-we-treat/trauma-recovery
Clearview Treatment Programs, CA
https://www.clearviewtreatment.com/womens-treatment-center/
The Center at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington
Post Traumatic Disorders Program
4228 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington, DC 20016-2138
(800) 369-2273
https://psychinstitute.com/
River Oaks
1525 River Oaks Rd West
Harahan, LA 70123
(near New Orleans)
1-800-598-2040
riveroakshospital.com
Sheppard-Pratt
6501 N. Charles Street • Baltimore, MD 21204
1-410-938-5078
INTENSIVES: ACCOMMODATIONS TYPICALLY OFF-SITE, SHORTER TERM
Kelly McDaniel's Ready to Heal Therapeutic Intensive Retreat - Heartbreak Intensives
Individual one-to-one work for 2 – 3 days, focused on healing “Mother Hunger”. Individually tailored weekend experiences for each woman.
Kelly McDaniel LPC, NCC, CSAT
Nashville, TN 37215
830-992-3536(o)
210-826-8377 (m)
kellymcdanieltherapy.com
Author: Ready to Heal: Breaking Free of Addictive Relationships, order: www.gentlepath.com
Also available as ebook, and Mother Hunger: How Adult Daughters Can Understand and Heal from Lost Nurturance, Protection and GuidanceCenter for Healthy Sex
Marnie Ferree's Bethesda Workshops - Healing for Women
http://www.bethesdaworkshops.org/staff/marnie-c-ferree/
Bethesda Workshops are in Nashville, TN
4 days, Individual and Couples workshops
Treating only sexual & love addiction and intimacy disorders - Healing for Women - only for adult females who personally struggle. A Christian and Clinical intensive that is the equivalent of 8-12 months of weekly individual therapy; cost includes meals and lodging for duration of workshop; scholarship money and non-interest payment plans available.
Healing for Women Workshop: In only four days, women are invited to determine their sobriety and identify the triggers and rituals that threaten it, as well as the boundaries that protect it. They also complete a Trauma Egg to help them understand the engines that are driving their acting out. Most importantly, they can deeply connect with other women on a healing journey and work with a female therapist who has long-term personal recovery experience as an female sex and love addict.
This program begins Wednesday at 1:00 pm (Central) and continues through Saturday at 6:00 pm. The affordable price includes all lodging, meals, and transportation to and from the conference hotel, as well as the airport.
Many groups are still meeting via Skype or similar technology years after their workshops! Even if women are already engaged with an excellent recovery coach or a CSAT, women can greatly benefit from this intensive (10-12 clinical hours daily!), supportive process.
Bethesda Workshops is a 501c3
Marnie Ferree - Executive & Clinical Director www.BethesdaWorkshops.org
For more info call: 615-467-5610
Publication: No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction by Marnie C. Ferree
Sex and Love Addiction 11-Day Intensive at Center for Healthy Sex is built upon the tenants of Interpersonal Neurobiology using Alexandra Katehakis’s Psychobiological Approach to Sex Addiction Treatment (PASAT). The program is highly relational and, therefore, deeply trauma based incorporating material from McDaniel's, "Ready to Heal” research from "Making Advances,” and art exercises by Marilyn Murray, including the original Trauma Egg. Clients report completing the programs with their dignity restored, sound recovery skills and a felt sense of the issues they need to continue working on.
and…
Women’s Love Addiction Weekend Workshop: Are you ready for a healthy love and sex life?
This 3-day workshop takes an integrated approach to treating love addiction, drawing on the latest therapeutic interventions and science-based research about intimacy, desire, love, sexual health, and happiness. This is an experiential workshop providing the tools needed to break free of problematic relational patterns to start developing a core sense of authentic emotional intimacy. Clients will learn what love addiction is, examine their own destructive cycle, explore its historical roots, and deconstruct the cultural beliefs about sex, love and femininity that fuel it. Additionally, they will deepen their understanding of healthy romantic relationships, create a personalized plan to help reduce harmful behaviors, and learn how to expand their capacity for personal integrity, intimacy and erotic radiance. Cost $395 (does not include housing)
Alexandra Katehakis, Ph.D., MFT, CST-S, CSAT-S
Clinical Director, Clinical Sexologist
Center for Healthy Sex
10700 S. Santa Monica Boulevard
Suite 311
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-843-9902
www.centerforhealthysex.com
Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows
A 5-day intensive for female sex and love addicts. Journey of a Woman's Heart: Finding True Intimacy is the name of our women's only sex and love addiction workshop. We help women to explore the ways in which their addictive behaviors and relationships are
major obstacles in finding the true intimacy they desire. We also incorporate The Meadows' commitment to focus on trauma by delving into relational trauma that set up current addictive and problematic relationship behaviors and patterns.
Journey of a Woman's Heart: Finding True Intimacy
Wickenburg, AZ
5-day intensive (Monday-Friday)
Created by The Meadows Program Directors in collaboration with Alexandra Katehakis, We draw from the work of Dr. Patrick Carnes, Kelly McDaniel and maintain commitment to The Meadows’ focus on application of the best trauma modalities currently supported in the field.
This workshop is created for women who want to explore unhealthy sexual patterns and behaviors that deeply impact their ability to connect relationally in healthy ways. Whether the issues involved are past or present trauma, cultural messages, or negative beliefs, all can serve as roadblocks to true intimacy. Understanding the neurobiology that leads to sexual obsession and compulsivity offers a foundation to shame reduction, and the alleviation of self-loathing. Emotional regulation, body image, triggers for sexual acting out, and grief related to the myriad of associated losses are just a few of the many issues that are explored. Methods of enhancing esteem from within, rather than seeking validation from other sources are instilled. Critical to ongoing recovery, the ability to differentiate the behavior from one’s worth offers the participant greater compassion for self. Participants garner necessary tools and develop their own individual recovery plan. This workshop offers each individual a safe, supportive environment in which to explore sensitive issues.
Contact: Intake Manager 800.244.4949 ext.4191
Rio Retreat @ The Meadows
Main: 1-800-MEADOWS ext 84144
www.themeadows.com
The Meadows: Love Addiction / Love Avoidance Workshop - Wickenburg, Arizona - Based on Pia Mellody Model
https://rioretreatcenter.com/workshops/relationships/love-addiction-love-avoidance/
Love addicts assign too much value, time, and attention to another person, while neglecting to care for or value themselves. Focus on the partner is obsessive, and fear of abandonment drives the obsession. Love addicts can be addicted to anyone: lover, spouse, friend, parent, or child. It is a painful, obsessive, and addictive process that negatively impacts not only the love addict, but also the individuals with whom he or she is in relationships. In this workshop, self-love and self-care are enhanced, as is tolerance for feeling instilled.
The love avoidant systematically uses relational walls during intimate contact in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed by the other person, associating "love" with duty or work. The love avoidant's greatest fear is that of vulnerability, which is explored throughout the workshop. During this process, authenticity is encouraged, and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility is released. This workshop intervenes on the destructive cycles of both the love addict and the love avoidant, offering them intimacy with healthy boundaries.
Call 866-330-3258
Psychological Counseling Services (PCS) - Scottsdale, AZ
Offers an 8-day outpatient Intensive program that is geared toward women and men with sex and love addiction and is heavily trauma-focused. The Intensive at PCS was the first intensive outpatient program in the country, started by Ralph Earle more than 40 years ago. Clients do 64 hours of intensive work in each 8-day block (Saturday through Saturday) with 35 hours of individual therapy, 20 hours of group therapy and psycho-education, and 9 hours of inner child workshop. About 20% of clients will stay for a second or third week. Individual work includes EMDR, psychodrama, somatic experiencing, art and music therapy, equine therapy, and other techniques.
The program is offered 52-weeks a year and enrolls 6-8 clients per week. The intense nature of the program can bring about substantial change for the addict and/or the partner. The program is not gender-segregated and deliberately mixes women with men and addicts with partners in order to increase empathy and understanding across genders. We work with individuals, couples, and families that are stable enough to manage an outpatient program and interested in getting a big head start on the issues that drive their unhappiness and individual/family dysfunction. Marilyn Murray, the inventor of the Trauma Egg and Circles of Intimacy, is an integral part of our program. We Also focus on brain health from an
integrative medical perspective, seeking to facilitate onging therapy work with nutrition, exercise, improved sleep habits, brain games, and supplements. The intense nature of the program can help bring about substantial change for the individual with sequelae of trauma.
Clients stay in either nearby sober-living homes or in local hotels. We are gay-affirming and welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds. We have a staff of 27 therapists dedicated to the Intensive, including PhDs, MFTs,
LCCs, nurses and physicians.
PCS 8-Day weekly Intensive Program
www.pcsearle.com
Marcus Earle, PhD, CSAT, Clinical Director
Rick Isenberg, MD, CSAT, Medical Director
5730 E. Angus Drive
Scottsdale AZ 85251
Intake/Info: 480-947-5739
Five Sisters Ranch - recently redeveloped as The Glass House in California
https://www.fivesistersranch.com/
The Glass House is the new version of the Five Sisters program. They offer a 3 Week Intensive for women who are experiencing relationship challenges and feeling destabilized. This program is a combination of the one week Women’s Strength of HeartIntensive and is immediately followed by the Women’s 12 Day Intensive. The combined programs are bridged with a day of self-care and a day of personalized equine. If you are interested in an extended stay, please read through the two programs, Women’s Strength of Heart Intensive and the Women’s 12 Day Intensive, and call to discuss the particulars of a personalized program.
Onsite workshops -near Nashville, TN - Mixed Gender
Offers a 4 1/2 day Healing Love and Relationships program.
It addresses core wounds driving self-sabotaging behaviors and the need for
external validation and approval.
For information contact
Toll Free: 800-341-7432
Nashville Area: 615-789-6609
The Green Shoe Foundation
greenshoe.org <http://greenshoe.org>)
a non-profit week long trauma intensive in Edmond, OK (just outside OKC).
The organization accommodates men and women for a one week intensive at no
cost. Clients pay travel, hotel and meal costs. The team that works with
them is well qualified in addressing trauma and it is awesome to know of a
resource for those clients who do not have significant financial
resources. Please have clients contact the program directly to see if they
qualify for services.
Kate Parkinson, MFT, CSAT, CHFP
Facilitates individual intensives for female sex and love addicts.
Marriage Family Therapist
Trauma Specialist
Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
Certified in EMDR
recoveryofselfcounseling.com
(650) 380-0526
415 Cambridge Avenue Suite 13
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Candi R. Kaatz, LMFT, CSAT, EMDR
Runs family of origin-based relational trauma 4-day intensives for women. Pia Mellody-trained.
www.CandiKaatz.com
615.392.0441
2000 Warfield Drive
Nashville, TN37215
Desert Star Addiction Recovery Center – Tucson, AZ
Grace: Gender Specific Intensive Outpatient Unhealthy Sexual and
Relationships Program
Individual and Group Therapy Psychiatric and Psychological Service
Families Workshop ACU-Detox
Couples Workshop On-site 12 Step Meeting
http://www.desertstararc.com/programs/
520.638.6000
7493 N. Oracle Road, Suite 203 | Tucson, Arizona 85704
Jennifer Jones MS, LPC CSAT, CCP - Affiliated Wellness Group
https://www.affiliatedwellnessgroup.com/staff
Trauma specialist who offers regular week Intensives; customized to
assess & address dissociation, create a self care aftercare plan and work
on early attachment deficits with Ego state work, EMDR including resourcing,
sensory work and acupuncture (if desired).
Psychotherapist, EMDR, CSAT
Certified Esogetic Colorpuncture Practitioner
Esogetic Colorpuncture LayPerson Class Instructor
Reiki Master Practitioner
4650 N Port Washington Rd
Lexington Entrance Suite 120
Milwaukee WI 53212
414-335-3024 mobile/referrals/consultation
Erin L. Wysong, MS, LPC, LCDC, NCC, CSAT - Dallas, TX - Reclaiming Authenticity, a Family of Origin Intensive
An intensive workshop for individuals who want to understand the impact of developmental and relational trauma from birth to eighteen on their current lives and adult relationships, and get on a path to heal and move forward. You will investigate the origins of adult dysfunctional behavior and identify childhood wounds/adverse experiences that fuel symptoms such as low esteem, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, chronic pain, workaholism, perfectionism, sex and love addiction, eating disorders, and relationship difficulties. The focus is not on blaming childhood caregivers, but rather healing trauma through examining unresolved, less than nurturing events from the past. You will learn how to move beyond your past and reclaim your authentic self.
https://www.irrdallas.org/workshops/groups/reclaiming-authenticity-workshop
Phone: (214) 906-5138
Address:
4144 N Central Expy Ste. 380
Dallas, TX 75204
United States
Email: erin(at)irrdallas.org
Cara Weed, LCSW, CSAT - Love Addiction, Love Avoidance
This 3-day workshop is also a family-of-origin workshop. Participants will also explore how their current relational patterns have been impacted by family of origin, including the patterns of love addiction and love avoidance.
Love addiction is profoundly painful. Love addicts assign too much time, attention and value to another person while neglecting to care for themselves. Love avoidant systematically uses relational walls during intimate contact in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed in relationships. Participants will gain a greater awareness of how these cycles have been evident in their own adult relationships as well learning how to overcome these dynamics.
This experiential workshop consists of two "processes" that focus on how/where participants get stuck into "addictive/avoidant" cycles and how to strengthen functional adult behaviors when those cycles get activated.
Workshop Specifics call 757.513.4217
Kathy Higby, LMFT, MA, CSAT, CSTP, Reiki Practitioner - Portland, OR USA
This program is for women (and couples and families) who wish to break the crippling bonds of the past, gain access to their feelings, and are willing to take the risks necessary to move from fear to choice. Past hurts can be a hindrance to the present and to the future. The creative, free self may have been beaten down, abused, belittled and stifled. Often we have enlisted the aid of unhealthy behaviors or substances to hide the pain, yet we have an incredible resilience and once that power is tapped - miracles happen. Ms. Higby has been working as a therapist for over 30 years and has seen countless miracles happen for those able and willing to do the footwork. This program is dedicated toward helping to provide a safe place for individuals, couples, families and groups to heal the traumas of the past, deal with the present, and make new choices for the future. Techniques such as Somatic Transformation, Family Sculpture, Humor, Play, Imagery, Inner Child Work, Music, Drawings, and Feedback are used to unlock feelings and aid growth.
Call for more information (503) 998-1865, or see http://ac-ces.com/kathy-higby.htm, or email for more info: kred12@yahoo.com.
Belinda Berman-Real, M.A., M.F.T., C.S.A.T. - Trauma Recovery Groups
Offered about 5 times per year: small, highly intensive workshops for up to no more than four people. For three days, we explore what happened to you in your childhood and we do very deep, richly emotional, release work. Participants routinely report that this three day intensive experience has had the power to transform their lives. It is often said that the workshop is equivalent in its healing capacity to several years of weekly therapy. The techniques employed in this workshop come largely from the work of my mentor, Pia Mellody, with whom I co-led such groups for about ten years. I am also informed by the pioneering trauma work of Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., the creator of Internal Family Systems Therapy.
For more information:
Belinda Berman-Real
256 Concord Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-6707
belberman@aol.com
Please note that she does not take insurance.
TEEN PROGRAMS
Bethesda Intensive workshop for teen females ages 15-18
(18-year-olds still in high school) and their parents (Nashville, tn)
This clinical intensive workshop is family-based, rather than a program just for the adolescent girls themselves. Whoever is identified as the girl's parents (whether parents or step-parents - those who have primary residential and legal responsibility for the teen) are REQUIRED to attend.
The workshop is a group process where multiple families attend at the same time (normally four to six families). The participants move between brief educational segments, activities, and group settings. Some of the groups are separate gatherings of the girls and another group for the parents, where each population has a safe space to share their challenges as a family. Other groups are family therapy (with the girls and parents together) in a multi-family group setting with a male and female group leader. The intensive is active, experiential, and engaging for both the teen and the parents.
The inaugural Healing for Teen Females & Parents Workshops took place in 2018
The workshop fee includes all lodging and meals for all family members attending. (Families will be housed in an executive suite at a nearby hotel.) Insurance does not cover the cost, but a no-interest payment plan is available.
See Bethesda's website has complete information:
http://www.bethesdaworkshops.org/workshops/healing-for-teen-females-and-parents/
While none of the programs below proclaims to specialize in sexual compulsivity treatment for teen girls/young women, they do treat many underlying causes and conditions of the self-soothing or self-numbing behaviors. Do your research carefully, but here is a start:
4928 N 4500 West
Cedar City, UT 84721, United States
Phone: 855-667-9388
Fax: (435) 865-9584
Email: contact@discoveryranchforgirls.com
ReStart Services for Internet/Screen/Video-Gaming Addictions
Innovative care begins with brilliant, dedicated, and experienced people. And we’re not talking about our staff here (although they are brilliant too.) We’re talking about the like minded people who join us for an intensive screen free experience.
Is it tough? It can be. Is it difficult? It most certainly is. But the people who abandon their devices for a period of time, build a plan for sustainable digital use, and go out and live their plans. Well, they’re just absolutely astounding.
And we get the privilege of connecting, and witnessing change every day. Ordinary people, living extraordinary lives-taking their digital dependence, and channeling it in life enriching ways. Perhaps that’s why our outcomes are so good. Because the people who join us, well, they are just that good too. They just need a little nudge, and mentors who care.
And that’s where we come in. We offer world-class video game addiction treatment, in addition to our Internet gaming disorder treatment and support for mental health conditions.
800.682.6934
Newport Academy - near Los Angeles, CA
To protect the privacy of our residents, we do not disclose the address of our residential teen treatment facilities to the public. If you are interested in learning more about our locations, please contact us at 888.934.1222.
Inner Change - Multiple residential programs across the U.S. for adolescent girls, variety of levels of care.
Other Resources FOR WOMEN:
Naked in Public: A Memoir of Recovery From Sex Addiction and Other Temporary Insanities
In this intensely personal memoir, Staci Sprout offers a vulnerable account of her recovery journey from the painful world of sexual intrigue and addiction to recovery, family healing, and true love.
I've made a more complete list of links to ten other women's sex and love addiction memoirs on my blog, here: http://www.stacisprout.com/new-blog/2018/1/31/womens-sex-and-love-addiction-memoirs-with-first-sentences
For an extensive list of more books, online resources, special programs, check out:
http://www.stacisprout.com/best-resources-for-women-in-relationship-and-sexual-recovery/
If you have any resources you’d like to see added or corrected on this list, please contact me with your information. It is ever evolving! :)
Last update 12.15.2021