Certification FAQs

Sexuality education, sexuality counseling and sex therapy are separate disciplines, not levels of expertise within one discipline or field. When considering the certification for which you wish to apply, you should consider your existing field of expertise and work. Are you primarily an educator, perhaps leading workshops, teaching classes, or organizing and facilitating seminars? Are you primarily a counselor, perhaps working in a clinical or medical setting, giving specific suggestions and advice? Are you primarily a therapist, working with people in individual, partner or family sessions on various sex-related issues? Each of these disciplines requires its own set of skills and knowledge. Use these questions to guide you in your choice of application, or ask a Certified Supervisor, perhaps one that you hope to have as your supervisor, for help with this decision.

The first step in becoming a part of the AASECT family is to join as an AASECT member. As a member, you will become a part of the AASECT community and have free access to our member listserv (google group) where our members are extremely active in sharing ideas, thoughts, recommendations, and information about the industry. Please feel free to review our additional member benefits and become a part of our community today!

Certification

If you are interested in pursuing AASECT Certification, we invite you to first review the Certification types and decide which Certification sounds like the best fit for your career path. From there, you can review the different requirements for Educators, Counselors and Therapists.

Education/Courses/Programs

If you are looking for courses/training programs to meet the requirements for certification, we suggest reviewing our listing of AASECT Approved Continuing Education Providers. You will find a listing of individual and organizational providers that offer a wide range of courses, training programs, and continuing education that can be used toward meeting the coursework requirements for AASECT Certification and Certification Renewal. Feel free to visit their websites and contact them directly for more information on how their courses and programs can help fulfill the requirements you are looking to meet. You can also review our Continuing Education Calendar, which contains a list of the upcoming courses that are approved for AASECT CE credits – both online and in-person.

You may want to ask these providers:

1. How does your program help me meet the certification requirements?
2. Do you provide support in completing the educational sections of the AASECT certification application?
3. How many hours does your program provide?
4. Will your program meet all the hour requirements for the application? (e.g., Sex Therapists need 90 hours of human sexuality training and 60 hours of Sex Therapy Training)
5. Do you offer supervision as well?

Supervision

If you have additional specific questions about your qualifications or are ready to begin the certification process, we encourage you to connect with an AASECT Certified Supervisor who will be able to guide you through the process of AASECT Certification. In addition to the required hours of Supervision needed for Certification, part of the role of the AASECT Primary Supervisor is to guide and mentor their supervisees through the process of AASECT Certification and assist with the application process when you are ready to submit your Certification application. Your AASECT Primary Supervisor must provide a minimum number of individual hours of supervision. Each professional certification discipline has different rules governing how many supervision hours can be group supervision versus individual. Be sure to check the requirements page of your preferred discipline. In addition to 1 primary supervisor, you may work with up to 3 other supervisors to expand your experience within the field. Out of your 3 supervisors, 1 may be from a cross discipline for up to 5 hours. Most AASECT Certified Supervisors will meet remotely or in person, so it is not necessary to limit your search to your area.

Some questions you may want to ask:

1. What is your approach to supervision?
2. How do you see your role and my role?
3. What is your professional philosophy/approach?
4. What is the cost of supervision?
5. What is your availability? 
6. How do I schedule time with you?
7. Do you offer group and/or individual sessions? 
8. Do you offer any type of tracker or support for completing my certification requirements?
9. Do you have a particular area of specialization?
10. How do you evaluate my work as a supervisee?
11. How will I know the status of my progress in supervision?

Mentoring Program

Once you are an AASECT member, we also would encourage you to check out the AASECT Mentoring Program.

AASECT currently accepts certification applications from individuals from Canada, Israel, and Mexico, in addition to the U.S.

Sex therapy is a subspecialty of psychotherapy, focusing on the specific concerns related to human sexuality. People of all ages, creeds, health status, ethnic backgrounds, whether partnered or single, may benefit from working with a psychotherapist who specializes in this area. AASECT Certified Sex Therapists use specialized clinical skills and theoretical knowledge to help people solve their sexual concerns.

In most states and provinces, sex therapy is not a separately licensed or regulated profession, just as child psychotherapy or geriatric psychotherapy is not government regulated beyond granting the basic license to practice therapy. To assure the public of highly qualified practitioners, AASECT provides voluntary certification to those therapists who have completed the rigorous certification process. Only those therapists who have met these qualifications may designate themselves as “AASECT Certified Sex Therapists.”

There are many reasons for a person to seek sex therapy. People experiencing concerns about arousal, performance, or satisfaction are likely to seek sex therapy. Among these problems are decreased or increased desires for sexual intimacy, or in the case of a couple, mismatched or discrepant desire or interest in sexual intimacy. People of all genders can experience concerns about arousal, performance, lovemaking skills, the experience of orgasms, or sexual satisfaction.

Additionally, concerns about sexual trauma in one’s background, medical conditions that affect one’s sexuality, sexual pain disorders, concerns about gender identity or sexual orientation, and issues around sexual compulsivity or addiction are frequent concerns that people discuss with an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist®.

The sex therapy process is very similar to that experienced with other mental health practitioners. The AASECT Certified Sex Therapist® will meet with the person as an individual or with a couple in an office setting or virtually, where an extensive history of the concerns will be taken. The AASECT Certified Sex Therapist will note both the psychological and the physical components and will establish one or more diagnoses. After this, a treatment plan will be proposed with the individual’s or couple’s involvement in its development. In some instances, the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist may work closely with the person’s physician, nurse, or other therapist or counselor to establish causes and remedies for the problems.

Depending on the diagnosis, the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist will educate the person or couple about the issue and discuss possible options for change. This educational process may occur through suggested reading material, through watching educational audio-visual materials, through discussion with the therapist, through attending workshops, or all of these therapeutic processes. Sometimes having more information will allow the problem to be resolved. Sometimes more specific or intensive therapy will be needed.

If more specific therapy is needed, the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist may suggest a regular schedule of office appointments. Often, homework exercises will be suggested to be practiced individually or as a couple in the privacy of their home between office appointments. The homework may be as general as communication exercises or as specific as actual sexual suggestions, depending on the progress in therapy and the person’s level of comfort with accepting direction.

In no instance and under no circumstances will an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist observe a therapy patient/client having sex nor engage in any kind of sexual activity with a therapy patient/client, whether in the office or in any location. To do so is a breach of ethics, and in some states and provinces is a crime. For more information on AASECT professionals and touch, see Touch and the AASECT Professional and the AASECT Code of Conduct.

Supervised clinical work is the crux of AASECT Certification. It is in the therapy milieu in which competency is demonstrated. Once you have attained the required academic and clinical practice criteria, you will need to obtain hours of supervised clinical practice offered by an AASECT Certified Sex Therapy Supervisor®. You must have a signed contract with an AASECT Certified Sex Therapy Supervisor prior to beginning to count the hours toward supervision. You will need a minimum of 50 hours of supervision unless you have been a practicing Sex Therapist for at least 10 years. In that case, you will need a minimum of 25 hours of supervision. A listing of AASECT Certified Sex Therapy Supervisors is available here.

For more information on the education and training requirement, please see the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist Requirements Page.

You should focus on courses that give you a broad basis in the humanities, in biological sciences, and in psychology and sociology. Obviously, if your school offers any courses about Human Sexuality or related topics (gender, relationships, etc.), take as many courses as you can.

In addition, you should learn as much as you can about your own self and your capacity to set aside your own judgments when responding to the needs of others. An AASECT Certified Sex Therapist is first and foremost a good psychotherapist, so you want to also take as many courses as possible which will help you become a psychotherapist.

It is strongly preferred that applicants complete an academic (college or university) program in Sex Therapy or a comprehensive Sex Therapy Program. Many potential AASECT Certified Sex Therapists obtain some of their specialty training through attendance at AASECT conferences and institutes, and other AASECT Approved or Sponsored workshops offered in various locations.

This"piecemeal" approach is best when combined with a more comprehensive program. Face-to-face supervision with an AASECT Certified Supervisor cannot be used toward the required Core Knowledge Areas of the Sex Therapist Certification Application.

This varies depending on the setting (hospital, clinic, private office) and the type of practice (individual therapy; group therapy). In general, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist might see five – nine appointments of 50 minutes length each per day. Usually there is a mixture of individuals and couples. Although every client is different and every sex therapist has their own style, a typical AASECT Certified Sex Therapist first will conduct a thorough assessment of a client or couple and develop a treatment plan. The focus of therapy with the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist is almost always on a sexuality issue initially. However, the therapist will be able to determine how much to focus on sexuality issues and when to focus on non-sexual issues. Sometimes a great deal of other work may need to be done, like treating depression or stabilizing the relationship, before the sexual concerns can be addressed.

An AASECT Certified Sex Therapist needs to feel comfortable with their own sexuality and have enough experience in the field of mental health to be able to respond to a wide variety of sexual and non-sexual mental health issues. It is important to keep an open mind and avoid judgments. The AASECT Certified Sex Therapist should be up-to-date on the current treatment modalities and research related to sex therapy and seek help and supervision when needed. If the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist has had traumatic experiences in the past, these should be dealt with before attempting to help others with similar problems. An AASECT Certified Sex Therapist has a good understanding of their own values and is able to understand and respect the values of their clients, even when the values are not the same; moreover, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist also follows the ethics of their profession.

Perhaps the most rewarding part for the Sex Therapist is working with an individual or a couple who wants change to occur, is accepting of the guidance and recommendations made, and takes responsibility to follow through with the treatment plan outlined for them so change can occur.

Opportunities for advancement depend on the setting where you work and the kind of professional experience you have. Some AASECT Certified Sex Therapists have had opportunities to start a sexual health clinic at a major teaching university and to teach medical, nursing, and other students. Others have opened their own clinics, written famous books, and become spokespersons for new products. Some write articles for professional journals, for popular magazines, and for newspaper columns. One of the most direct opportunities for advancement might be in an academic setting, with research and writing as the measurable criteria. For the entrepreneur, private practice has many benefits.

AASECT Certified Sex Therapist Supervisors are listed on the website. As an AASECT member, you will have access to our Member Directory which lists all of our members and their credentials. You will also have access to our AASECT Listserv where you could ask for suggestions and help with locating a supervisor.

Please make all of your information as clear as possible for the AASECT Certification Steering Committee. This will facilitate a smooth process for evaluating your candidacy. Copies of all supporting documents will need to be attached to the application. If you wish for the Committee to review syllabi that included course material in Human Sexuality, when the course itself was of a broader category, you should highlight the relevant areas of the syllabus.

You will need to submit the application online, along with the application fee. The application needs to be legible. Completing and printing it directly from a computer is strongly preferred. When the AASECT Certification office receives your application, it will be sent to the review committee for evaluation and assessment of certification criteria. Please only submit completed applications - incomplete applications will be returned and not reviewed.

Certification by AASECT is an honor and a privilege. Once certified, you will be required to renew your AASECT Certification every three years. In order to renew, you will have to show continuous membership with AASECT and a minimum of twenty 20 Continuing Education (CE) Credits every renewal period of three years. The credentials of AASECT Certified sexuality professionals are respected by the public and helps to ensure the highest quality of practice in the field of sexuality education, counseling, and therapy.

In 2001, AASECT decided to accept professionals’ requests to lower the strenuous requirements for AASECT Sex Therapist Certification. The new requirements ask for a minimum of 50 hours of supervision instead of 100 hours. The new requirements also ask for a minimum of 60 hours of training in sex therapy instead of 90 hours. The title AASECT Certified Diplomate of Sex Therapy was thus established by AASECT to recognize those AASECT Certified Sex Therapists who were certified under the previous, more strenuous guidelines, and AASECT grandfathered them into a Diplomate of Sex Therapy status. In general, the practice of sex therapy by either an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist or an AASECT Certified Diplomate of Sex Therapy is quite similar.

AASECT requires sexuality counselors and sex therapists to fulfill specific and rigorous training requirements in order to become certified. AASECT Certified Sex Therapists are mental health professionals, trained to provide in-depth psychotherapy, who have specialized in treating clients with sexual issues and concerns. They are either licensed, or in the absence of required licensure, they are certified, registered, or clinical members of a national psychotherapy organization.

Sex therapists work with sexual concerns and, where appropriate, are prepared to provide comprehensive and intensive psychotherapy over an extended period of time in more complex cases.

Sexuality counselors represent a variety of professions, ranging from medicine to the clergy. Examples of sexuality counselors are Planned Parenthood counselors, nurses and other health professionals, school counselors, and clinical pastoral care and counseling providers. Counselors assist the client to realistically resolve concerns through the introduction of problem-solving techniques of communication, as well as providing accurate information and relevant suggestions of specific exercises and techniques in sexual expression. Sexuality counseling is generally short term and client-centered, focusing on the immediate concern or problem.

Using the below P-LI-SS-IT* Model for Sexual Counseling, sexuality counselors are trained to perform the initial three steps (P-LI-SS), while sex therapists can provide all four (P-LI-SS-IT).

The P-LI-SS-IT Model for Sexual Counseling:
Permission (P): The practitioner creates a climate of comfort and permission for clients to discuss sexual concerns, often introducing the topic of sexuality, thereby validating sexuality as a legitimate health issue.

Limited Information (LI): The practitioner addresses specific sexual concerns and attempts to correct myths and misinformation.

Specific suggestions (SS): The practitioner compiles a sexual history or profile of the client:

1. Defining the issues and concerns of the client. 
2. Determining the course of how the issues have evolved over time. 
3. Facilitating the client's understanding of the main issues and providing options for resolution. 
4. Assisting the client in formulating perceptions and ideas about sources of these concerns and developing realistic and appropriate goals and solution plans.

Intensive Therapy (IT): The practitioner provides specialized treatment in cases that are complicated by the coexistence of other complex life issues which may also include psychiatric diagnoses such as depression, anxiety disorders (including obsessive-compulsive disorder), personality disorders, or substance abuse, or by interpersonal or intrapersonal conflict. Sexuality counselors are trained to identify situations that require intensive therapy and to make appropriate referrals.

(*Annon, JS (1976) Behavioral Treatment of Sexual Problems: Brief Therapy. Harper & Row, ISBN: 0-06-140265-6)

There are two basic approaches to get training toward becoming an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator®.

To begin, earn an undergraduate or graduate degree in a related field (education, health care professions), then go on to obtain further education in human sexuality and work experience in sexuality education. For example, an individual who earns a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology goes on to work as a sexuality educator in a community-based organization for four years. A less traditional example for providing education about sexuality might be a medical professional who works in either a male or female health and does education about sexual issues on a daily basis. As part of this work, the person receives further professional training in sexuality education from the place of employment, enrolls in several graduate human sexuality-related courses at a local college, joins AASECT and attends AASECT institutes, conferences (including a SAR), and AASECT Approved workshops to obtain continuing education, and works with an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator Supervisor® to meet the supervision requirement. In this ‘piecemeal’ approach, the individual is able to acquire the education and experience necessary to meet the certification requirements.

The other option is to attend one of the graduate programs in the United States that offers a degree specifically focused on Human Sexuality.

Students can get started early in their teaching experience by becoming involved with campus peer education groups or by working as a teaching assistant. Others choose to volunteer at local community organizations such as Planned Parenthood or HIV/AIDS related service providers.

There are two basic approaches to get training toward becoming an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator®.

AASECT Certified Sexuality Educators work in a variety of settings including, but not limited to, public and community health organizations, non-profit organizations, colleges and universities, religious organizations, public and private secondary schools, and in private consultation practices. Sexuality educators often do professional development training as well as direct education and work with many different populations, such as adolescents, parents, families, persons with mental and physical disabilities, clergy, teachers, counselors and therapists, businesses, and college students.

For more information on the education and training requirements, please see the AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator Requirements Page.

This link will allow you to click on your state to find AASECT Certified Sexuality Professionals that live in your area. Additionally, if you are a member, you have access to our Mentoring Program.