SPECIALTIES

Addiction, Couples/Marital Issues, Dating/Being Single Support, LGBT Issues (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender), Sexuality

Credentials

ACSW, LMSW, MA, MSW, PhD

Additional Expertise

Relationship Coach, Sex Coach, Sex Therapist, Social Worker

About Joe Kort

Originally I was trained to do individual therapy. People would get better and then go home to their partners and it wouldn't translate and people's relationships would suffer. So I brought in the partners and they would fight in my office. I would send one partner to the lobby to stop the fight and the other would tell me things they didn't want the other to know. I would send that partner out and bring in the other from the lobby only for them to tell me things they didn't want the other to know. I would bring them both in at the end, they would continue their fight and everyone, including me, was miserable! 

Since then, I have become trained as a relationship therapy and people no longer fight in my office and their individual therapy get become bridged into their relationship to make things solid individually and relationally! Thank goodness!

Now, I am a relationship and sex therapist, author, coach and facilitate workshops. and have been in practice since 1985.

I specialize in IMAGO Relationship Therapy, sexual addiction, responsible non-monogamy/monogamy, childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse, sex therapy, gay affirmative therapy, mixed-orientation marriages, EMDR, depression and anxiety.

My therapy services are for gays, bisexuals and lesbians as well as heterosexuals. 

My books:

10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do to Improve Their Lives
10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do To Find Real Love 
Gay Affirmative Therapy for the Straight Clinician: The Essential Guide, will be published by W. W. Norton and Company in 2007.

I earned my Master’s in social work and in psychology from Wayne State University. I received my doctorate in clinical sexology through the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists in Orlando, Florida.

Since 1985, I have specialized in conducting therapy with straight, gay and lesbian clients and offered weekend workshops and retreats for singles and couples.

I provide training to straight clinicians about Gay Affirmative Therapy around the country. As a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and Workshop Presenter (www.imagotherapy.com), I also conduct workshops and speak at workshops across the country four to six times a year.

I maintain an updated website at http://www.joekort.com

Some workshops that I have done:

Integrating Love, Sex and Intimacy – Erotic Intelligence
What is the difference between lust, romantic love and attachment? How does each one help us find and get the love we want? This workshop will help unlock the mystery of why you desire the things you do. What sexual desires and fantasies do you most admire or dislike? Your peak erotic experiences and fantasies have coded information about you that can help you understand yourself better.

Sex with the City: Treating Sex Addictions
While the prohibitions around discussing addiction to alcohol and drugs have been largely lifted, the taboo around sexual addiction is still powerful and silencing. Yet sexual addiction and compulsivity are on the rise, and many clients and therapists are in the dark about how best to treat sexual acting-out behaviors. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to assess sexual addiction and help clients gain control over their sexual behavior. You’ll discover how the client’s erotic love maps, which include fantasy and ritualized behavior, can provide the blueprint for recovery, and learn a variety of treatment interventions for clients and their partners. We’ll also discuss recent research on effective medications for sexual addictions and assess if and when you should prescribe them.

Gay-Affirmative Couples Therapy for Straight Therapists
You’re a gay-friendly couples therapist, and even though you’re straight, you’re sensitive to homophobia and heterosexist attitudes. So you’re able to do effective therapy with gay and lesbian couples, right? Wrong. Without specific training, both straight and gay couples therapists can unintentionally harm their clients. In this workshop, you’ll gain new understanding of the special clinical issues, such as transference, stages of coming out, and the connection between sexuality and shame, involved in working with gay and lesbian couples. Via discussion, guided imagery, and case examples, you’ll learn about the “doubling” factor in gay and lesbian couples, responsible nonmonogamy among gay male couples, and loss of sexual desire among lesbian couples. You’ll leave with specific interventions and assessment tools that promote gay-affirmative couples therapy.

The New "Mixed" Marriage: When Gay and Straight Spouses Stay Together
What do you do when, in the course of couples therapy, one spouse comes out to the other as gay? In a rush of countertransference, many therapists see divorce as the only option. Yet, given time, such couples may decide to remain together, with certain adjustments. This workshop will explore the treatment issues for the new mixed marriage, from how therapists can recognize their countertransference and keep it from interfering to ways they can tailor therapy to the couple's unique needs. Participants will learn how to facilitate dialogue between the partners to deal with the straight spouse's reactivity and the gay spouse's guilt, and how to help the couple decide what's best for them.

Find more sex advice here.

Joe Kort Articles