Six Steps for Starting a Sex and Intimacy Clinic!

The process of going from your typical 9-5 occupational therapy job to building a sex and intimacy clinic where you work or having your own private practice does not happen over night. But, tiny steps accumulate into big changes! As you embark on the journey you might hit resistance but don’t get discouraged. Just because no one is doing it does not mean you shouldn’t. Identifying a gap in care is exactly why you should fight to fill it. 

Read on for my top 6 tips for starting a sex and intimacy clinic or private practice!

1. Build your competency

How would you build your competency for any other topic?  You'd seek out training and CEUs.  When I first started there wasn't much out there (like none) so I dedicated my efforts to developing CEUs specifically for OTs based on research, training, and my own experience.  You can take what you've learned from the Certified Sexuality OT CEUs and apply it to your work with your clients. Practice, practice, practice! Then, I suggest doing an inservice for your fellow colleagues. This is a great way to further apply what you've learned and get your coworkers comfortable talking about sex with their patients, so they can then refer their patients to you as the Lead Sex OT. 

2. Get comfortable talking about sex

Talk to everyone you can about sex and get comfortable with it. Talk to coworkers, supervisors, leadership, and other departments at the hospital or clinic where you work. This helps you become known as the point of contact and make everyone more comfortable talking about sex. Whenever I spoke about sex, people were sometimes surprised, but no one ever ran me out of the room! 

3. Advocate for yourself

You may hit resistance from leadership so it's important to let them know why what you're doing is important. If there's a practice gap you need to identify the positive impact your work could make by filling it. What are the benefits?

• Better quality of life for clients
• Clients feel more satisfied
• Clients learn about self advocacy and have improved self esteem
• We're focusing on the person holistically
• We can help prevent or reduce the prevalence of depression, anxiety, divorce, assault, unplanned pregnancy, STIs

Is it billable? Leadership is going to want to know if the work you'll be doing is billable. Being able to explain that sex is an ADL, just like bathing and dressing and that it's included within the occupational therapy scope of practice, will be important. Addressing sex counts towards billable time through ADLs, community reintegration, cognitive reeducation - to just name a few! Read more about documentation and billing in this blog.

4. Network / Make a name for yourself

Providing an inservice in other departments (i.e. neurology, urology, rheumatology, behavioral health) can be a great way to network and build a strong case for your services. It doesn't need to be formal all of the time either. Ask a doctor to have lunch with you to discuss what you do and what you can offer clients. Having a neurologist go to your leadership and say they want YOU to help one of their patients is HUGE! Once you get enough people coming to you and asking for your assistance it's time to get a formal referral process in place! 

5. Figure out the logistics

Making the transition from acute care to starting your own outpatient clinic or private practice takes figuring out the logistics. If you're starting a clinic where you work, you'll need to establish a referral process, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and determine the time you'll be allotted to build the clinic.  If you're going out on your own (BIG FAN OF THIS!) you'll need to find an electronic medical record system to use, how you'll personally get health insurance, and how you'll manage business expenses. Hiring a bookkeeper to keep track of your business expenses and an accountant to help with doing your taxes can both be a big help. 

6. Build, grow, scale

You need to be reachable. Clients need to be able to find you and contact you. Having flyers around the hospital or on the hospital website, making a website, being listed on directories, and starting up an Instagram account are all great ways to market your service. You can reach out to other health professionals (i.e. pelvic floor therapists, social workers, behavioral health specialists, urologists, gynecologists, neurologists) and form relationships within your community whether that's at your hospital or in your local area. Let them know who you are and how you can help their clients. Send emails. Have zoom calls. Bring them coffee. Offer to take them out for lunch. Build those relationships. Think of it as you're making friends! 

It's important to remember that we're trailblazers. It takes a little rebel in you to branch out and do something different!