Cay L. Crow, LPC, AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist

In order to be a good Sex Therapist, one must be a good general therapist able to deal with whatever walks in the door. You will find through your training in counseling, psychology, social work, or marriage and family therapy that you are more interested or more adept at working with certain issues than others. Pay attention to your biases (we all have them) and incorporate them into your training.

To find out what it takes to be an AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist, go to www.aasect.org. There are three levels of certification; a Sex Educator, Sex Counselor, and Sex Therapist. AASECT is the only international organization that certifies sexuality professionals. AASECT is also a great place for students to learn about sexology.

If you plan to obtain a Ph.D in a human service field, you can be certified as a Sexologist by the American Board of Sexology. Check them out at www.americanboardofsexology.com.

If you are interested in the reserach aspect of sexology, then check out the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (Quad S) at www.sexscience.org. Quad S also has a list of graduate schools where you can obtain a degree in the sexual sciences.

Another organization to check out is the Society for Sex Therapy and Research at www.starnet.org. I have attended their last few conferences and really enjoyed the mix of research and applied sexology.

 Internships? Supervision?

Since I am a one-person operation, I do not have internships available and I cannot provide "shadowing" for a student to learn how to do sex therapy.  Sorry about that.

I am in the process of obtaining certification as a Supervisor through AASECT. Once I have this certification, I can offer supervision for those who want to be AASECT-certified.

Florida is currently the only state that requires certification and specific training for those calling themselves a Sex Therapist. Hopefully, every state will regulate the profession eventually.

I am more than happy to meet with under-graduate or graduate students wanting to learn more about sexology. Peruse my website and the websites above before we meet; that way you will have more specific questions about the direction that you need to take.

One of the first educational experiences important to a future career in sexology is understanding what I like to call your "edge." By that I mean the limitations of what you can and cannot work with effectively. The best way to find your edge is by doing a Sexual Attitudes  Reassessment (SAR) seminar. The SAR was a creation of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco (www.iashs.edu) back in the 1970s. The SAR has become an integral part of training in sexuality and it is recommended that a student of sexuality do the SAR early in their training. SARs are offered by many organizations including AASECT, Planned Parenthood, and several universities.