Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - (Page 3) Member Spotlight Robyn Salisbury, MA (Palmerston North, New Zealand) Member Spotlight is a monthly column offering an opportunity for AASECT members to get to know more about each other. Each month, a different member’s story will be introduced. If you would like to recommend someone to be interviewed for this column, please contact Hani Miletski, PhD, MSW, Membership Steering Committee chair, at Hani@DrMiletski.com. R obyn Salisbury learned about AASECT while attending the WAS conference in Sydney, Australia in 2007. “I was impressed by the people I met and the direction the organization was heading in,” she says. Salisbury joined AASECT and “set about meeting the criteria for sex therapist certification — not an easy task when you live in another country far from the U.S.,” she says. Salisbury was certified later that same year. Salisbury graduated from Massey University at Palmerston North, New Zealand, with a master’s degree and a clinical diploma in clinical psychology in 1992. Her training as a psychotherapist always included specialization in sex therapy “which is rare in my little country,” she says. In the early 1980s, Salisbury started her training at a voluntary counseling agency (then called Marriage Guidance New Zealand) specializing in couples work. “Fortunately, my first ever supervisor was a sex therapist [Joan Lust], from whom I learned that if I did not ask couples about issues of sexuality I would not discover any sexual problems, but if I did ask, there frequently were problems,” she says. Salisbury soon realized that even as a trainee she was able to make a difference, and “got hooked” on what has become a deeply satisfying career for her. After nearly 20 years in the field, Salisbury became concerned at how few of her colleagues in the helping professions addressed issues of sexuality, and how poorly the basic professional trainings addressed sexual matters. In 2002, Salisbury founded Sex Therapy New Zealand (STNZ), a training institute for professionals seeking training in sex therapy, and a national referral network with its top graduates serving as staff sex therapists around New Zealand. As STNZ’s director, Salisbury has developed and delivered a series of training seminars around New Zealand. To date, over 200 professionals have completed her courses. Salisbury has been married to Kevin, a wheelchair technician, for 31 years, since she was 19. She says, “While I don’t accept his brag that he has taught me all I know about sex, this man has most certainly taught me how to love.” They have one son, age 28, who just moved to Australia. “No grandchildren yet! I’m ready but he and his partner are not,” she says. Her favorite leisure activities are walking with friends, great films, sewing and reading. Salisbury points out, “I’ve read widely and appreciated the work of many sex therapists, some of whom I now learn are members of AASECT.” Salisbury’s favorite book is A General Theory of Love by Lewis, Amani and Lannon (Vintage, 2001). “This beautiful book confirmed my observations of how attachment plays out in adult sexual relationships and explained the concept of limbic regulation,” she explains. “It’s a complicated theory which explains how we regulate each other in relationships and essentially why healthful, intimate relationships are so important for our well-being.” The best moments in Salisbury’s professional life happen regularly, she says, “when I’m able to help a couple achieve a breakthrough connection and I know they’re on their way, they’ll be OK.” Salisbury’s article, Out of Control Sexual Behaviours: A Developing Practice Model, was published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy in May 2008. Salisbury is proposing a model to treat out of control sexual behaviors, illustrating the model with a case study of a man who was masturbating up to six times a day, having sex with animals, and in various ways living in conflict with his moral code. She has also contracted with Random House Publishing to write a book about the essence of sexual relationships. In addition, Salisbury has written on bicultural communication from a sex therapist’s perspective. “In my country, Maori are ‘tangata whenua’ (natives of the land) and I am ‘pakeha’ (other, of immigrant heritage),” she says. “We work hard to develop mutually respectful ways of living and working together.” Salisbury hopes to contribute to AASECT’s efforts toward establishing international standards for sex therapists. “My first goal,” she says, “is to save up to attend AASECT’s conference in Arizona. I do hope to meet lots of members there.” This will be her first “real” visit to the U.S. (other than brief stopovers in Los Angeles and San Francisco). Salisbury hopes this article will be a way to begin the process of making contacts with other members of AASECT. Her email address is robyn.salisbury @xtra.co.nz. — Hani Miletski “My first ever supervisor was a sex therapist, from whom I learned that if I did not ask couples about issues of sexuality I would not discover any sexual problems, but if I did ask, there frequently were problems.” — Robyn Salisbury January 2009 Vol. 43, No. 1 | www.aasect.org Contemporary Sexuality 3 http://www.aasect.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contents Member Profile Quick Hits: Sex in the News News of Members News from AASECT's Board of Directors Educational Opportunities Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Contents (Page 2) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 3) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 4) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 5) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 6) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 7) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 8) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - News of Members (Page 9) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - News from AASECT's Board of Directors (Page 10) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Educational Opportunities (Page 11) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Educational Opportunities (Page 12)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.