Linda De Villers, PhD

Private Practice; Adjunct Professor of Human Sexuality, Pepperdine University

Therapist

Degree

Degrees: Ph.D., Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario; Post-Doctoral Internship in Sex Therapy at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA.

About

My work first gained national visibility when I conducted research on the sex and exercise connection. More recently, I have conducted research on the food-sex connection. I believe in a holistic approach that includes the importance of healthy lifestyle habits in creating a robust and satisfying sex life, and I help people achieve that. For a year, I served as the sex columnist for Health magazine, owned by Time, Inc. I've served on the boards of AASECT, The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the Group Psychotherapy Association of Southern California, and the Los Angeles County Psychological Association. Currently, I am on the AASECT Sex Therapist Certification Committee. For recreation, I remain active as an avid tennis player. I also love world travel (fluent in French), film, the arts, and cooking (I've also written a recent book, Simple Sexy Food).

Specialization

1)Sex and Relationship Therapy: I specialize in helping people with a wide range of sex and relationship difficulties, including related anxiety and depression. 2)Supervision of professionals seeking AASECT sex therapy certification; 2)Sex-positive speaking/media engagements and workshops on diverse sexual topics.

Philosophy

Our sessions focus on discovering positive, creative solutions to your sexual difficulty in an atmosphere of warmth, wit, and mutual respect. It's a gentle, positive, and collaborative approach that may include helpful between-session activities drawn from my book, Love Skills: A Fun, Upbeat Guide to Sex-cessful Relationships. Beyond that, I love introducing clients to diverse resources and strategies specifically designed to assist you in reaching your personal sexual and relationship goals. My approach to supervising aspiring sex therapists is similar.