For OB-GYNs and gynecologic clinicians

When a sexual concern needs more time than a visit allows

I’m Joseph Maron, MS, LPC, a sex therapist seeing Pennsylvania adults by telehealth. While you provide the medical care, I work alongside you on the desire, pain, body-image, and relationship pieces.

Immediate openings

Telehealth only · Adults in Pennsylvania · $195 per 50-minute session · Private pay, superbills provided

The consult is for your patient. The call button is for you. More practice details

Consider a referral when your patient…

  • Is distressed by low or changed desire.

    Desire often responds to context, not only hormones.

  • Has pain with sex that has turned into dread.

    Pain and fear of pain can keep each other going.

  • Is struggling sexually after birth.

    Body image, sleep, mood, and healing can all play a part.

  • Is dealing with sexual changes around menopause.

    Hormones help with some of it; desire, pain avoidance, and body image often need more.

  • Has a vulvar condition that affects sex.

    Lichen sclerosus and vulvodynia often reach into intimacy.

  • Mentions trauma, shame, or strain around sex.

    A history of sexual abuse is linked to more sexual distress.

Common reasons to refer

  • Low or mismatched desire
  • Arousal or orgasm concerns
  • Pain with sex, vaginismus, vulvodynia
  • Lichen sclerosus and other vulvar conditions
  • Sexual changes after birth
  • Perimenopause and menopause changes
  • Sexual concerns for trans and nonbinary patients

Tandem care, not a hand-off

Your care

The medical care stays with you: evaluation and diagnosis, hormonal and vulvar treatment, and referral to pelvic floor PT.

Sex therapy

I work with your patient on desire and what affects it, the cycle of pain and fear, and body image and shame. The pacing is trauma-informed.

With your patient’s permission, I coordinate with you so both plans support each other.

A first conversation can simply be about whether a referral might fit. Please wait to send records or identifying details until we’ve set up a secure way to share them.

To refer

Your patient requests a free 15-minute consult at JosephMaronLPC.com. Or call 215-804-9315. Want to talk a referral through first? Call me at the same number.

Telehealth only · Adults in Pennsylvania · Private pay, superbills provided

Tell your patient: sex therapy is talk therapy. No touch, no exam.

Doctoral student in human sexuality, Widener University · Certificate in Affirmative Therapy for Transgender Communities · ADHD-CCSP · LGBTQ+ affirming

A referral does not confirm availability or establish a treatment relationship. This practice is not an emergency or crisis service. Call or text 988, or call 911 for an emergency.

Handouts to print or share

One page for you and a two-sided handout for your patient. The patient handout is also a web page, so you can send a link instead of printing.

  • For OB-GYNs and gynecologic clinicians

    When a sexual concern needs more time than a visit allows

    The essentials of this page on one sheet, to keep or pass to a colleague.

    Provider sheet · one page · PDF · 140 KB

  • For patients in gynecologic care

    When sex isn’t feeling the way you want it to

    Desire, comfort, and closeness can shift with birth, hormones, health, stress, and relationships. Sex therapy can work alongside your gynecologic care.

    Patient handout · two sides · PDF · 176 KB

Why it fits

Medications alone do not resolve female sexual dysfunction; treatment has to be multifactorial.1 In a randomized trial in women with lichen sclerosus, psychosexual counselling added to usual care improved sexual function and quality of life.2 Psychological treatments, including CBT and mindfulness-based approaches, improve sexual function and sexual distress compared with no treatment in controlled trials.3 Most of this evidence is from cisgender women.

1 Weinberger et al., Sex Med Rev 2019. 2 Vittrup et al., J Low Genit Tract Dis 2022. 3 Frühauf et al., Arch Sex Behav 2013; Liu et al., J Sex Med 2026.

What I tell your patient about sex therapy

Sex therapy is talk therapy about sexuality, intimacy, and relationships. There is no touch, no exam, and nothing physical happens in sessions.

Sex therapy does not replace medical care or the care you provide. New or sudden changes deserve a medical check. If a medication seems to be affecting someone’s sex life, I ask them to talk with their prescriber before making changes.

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