Center for Healthy Sex was co-founded by Alexandra Katehakis, PhD, MFT, CST-S, CSAT-S, and Douglas Evans in 2005. Their stated mission is to offer men, women, and couples a safe place to receive professional psychotherapy to resolve shame, guilt, deception, or other barriers to healthy eroticism. Katehakis serves as the center's clinical director. She treats affect dysregulation, the result of in-depth studies of attachment theory and interpersonal neurobiology as a member of Allan Schore’s study group since 2006. Alex Katehakis is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist and Supervisor, Certified Sex Therapist and Supervisor, and trained practitioner of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy. Katehakis became certified as a sex addiction therapist by Patrick Carnes, Ph.D, and worked at the Sexual Recovery Institute for eight years where she served as clinical supervisor for two years before opening Center for Healthy Sex. She is the author of Erotic Intelligence: Igniting Hot, Healthy Sex While in Recovery from Sex Addiction and Sexual Addiction as Affect Dysregulation. She is also the co-author of Making Advances: A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts and Mirror of Intimacy: Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence. Douglas Evans, the center's executive director, graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in psychology and marketing, and has served as a volunteer counselor at the Southern California Counseling Center, and studied spiritual psychology at the University of Santa Monica. Center for Healthy Sex employs a team of professional counselors that include marriage and family therapists, certified sex addiction therapists, and certified sex therapists.
Programs and services
Center for Healthy Sex develops and hosts a range of programs open to the public that provide educational opportunities for therapists, clients, and anyone interested in further developing relationship skills and sexual intimacy. These include podcasts, free monthly lectures with continuing education units for sex therapists and sex addiction therapists, online tests, and online classes. Center for Healthy Sex is a licensed continuing education provider with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and an AASECT approved continuing education provider. CHS provides group therapy, an individual outpatient intensive program, individual therapy, couples therapy, and trainings in sex and love addiction treatment and sex therapy.
