Author: Forward Therapy

  • Inspiration in Treatment: The Rewards of Working as a Therapist in 2013

    How was 2013 for you? What does 2014 have in store? Do you have any New Years Resolutions? When out socially, I’m regularly told that my work must be demanding, difficult and depressing. It must take its toll on you, people say. I don’t want to pretend that being a therapist isn’t challenging and personally…

  • Can I see a Medicare Provider for Porn Addiction? Do You Accept Health Insurance?

    As a counsellor and therapist specialising in pornography use problems, these are questions I am asked often. Both men and women contact me seeking help, either for themselves or their partners, around use of pornography and dating websites. Sometimes they are concerned or convinced there is a mental health or medical condition involved and want…

  • Is this Sex Addiction? Questioning ‘Sex Addiction’ in Therapy and Counselling Conversations

    This paper examines the concept of ‘sex addiction’, and its increasing popularity since the emergence of AIDS in gay communities in the 1980s. Adopting narrative therapy’s ethical orientations of decentred yet influential positioning, and being in a ‘lifelong apprenticeship’, the author worked with a number of men to renegotiate their relationship with ‘sex addiction’ in…

  • Therapy and Treatment for Gay Mens Depression

    Is Depression more common amongst gay men? I often see this question or similar in counselling forums on Facebook and elsewhere on the net. And as a mental health counsellor who has worked with gay men for much of my career, it’s tempting to jump in with an answer. But what concerns me is what…

  • Recovering Your Life After Separation

    When her partner of 7 years announced over breakfast that he was moving out, Mia* was more in shock than anything else. The heartbreak came later. “Everything seemed fine between us. I didn’t understand why he was leaving. I knew I was upset, but I wasn’t going to let myself sit around being miserable.” Trying…

  • What is Bisexuality? And how do I know if I’m Bi?

    Individual attraction to both men and women has only been described as ‘bisexuality’ for about 100 years. What happened before that? Were people either straight or gay? I wasn’t around but I doubt it. Human sexuality is diverse and complex and always has been. It’s just our meanings and ideas about sex that remain confined.…