Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009 - (Page 3)

Member Spotlight Stephanie Buehler, PsyD Irvine, California 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. S tephanie Buehler found AASECT about five years ago. “AASECT attracted me because of the certification process,” she says. “Because I didn’t know that much about sex therapy, I knew I needed support and guidance, and it seemed that AASECT would give that to me.” Soon after she joined AASECT, Buehler contacted Stephen Braveman to supervise her sex therapy cases. “Stephen helped me manage my counter-transference so that I could focus on my clients’ clinical issues, and of course, he taught me what issues to explore with my clients.” Braveman also encouraged Buehler to attend the AASECT conference in Portland that year and complete her first SAR. “I was so glad I did,” Buehler says. “I really felt that I was not only among like-minded people, but that I had found my ‘tribe.’ I knew that being a sex therapist was a role I wanted to fully embrace.” Buehler did not pursue her interest in sex therapy until a few years after she got her doctorate in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) in San Diego, in 1999. “At that time, I was invited to open an integrated wellness center with an endocrinologist,” Buehler says. “She encouraged me to learn about sex therapy because many of her patients complained about low sex drive, but their hormones were within normal ranges. It seemed like an interesting niche to me, because it combined my interest in mind/body medicine and systemic therapy.” A few years later she left the wellness center and started The Buehler Institute. She now has two other therapists working for her (one is AASECT member Michael Smith) and they specialize in treating individuals and couples with sexual concerns. “It’s been a very satisfying venture,” she says. Before she became a sex therapist, Buehler published or edited dozens of publications for an educational publishing company, Teacher Created Materials, including three children’s books. Currently, Buehler is the editor of the Women’s Sexual Health Journal, published by the Women’s Sexual Health Foundation. She has two blogs: The Buehler Institute blog and the newly launched The Blog Erotic (www.theblog erotic.com). She is the author of Female Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Dysfunction, published in Current Sexual Health Reports (Fall 2008), and this spring, Buehler will be launching an e-book: Sex and Passion — The Essential Guide Now and Forever. Buehler has further written 25 articles for the upcoming Encyclopedia of Sex and Society, published by Brown Reference Group. Buehler has been married to Mark for 23 years, “which is a surprise for both of us,” she remarks. “Somehow a committed, monogamous relationship is what works best for both of us, and we’re very content.” They have one daughter, Anneka, 17, who is desperate to get out of “the bubble” of Orange County, Calif. and go away to college. Buehler is therefore preparing for an empty nest. She likes going places with friends, visiting museums, eating good food and enjoying the blessings she has in her life. Buehler describes two big influences on her professional career. Her mentor and dissertation chair at CSPP, Felice Levine, trained as both a family therapist and a psychoanalyst, and had an interest in chronic illness. For three hours a week, over three years, Buehler had the benefit of group supervision with Levine. “From her I learned how to think both developmentally and systemically, which I think is why I took so well to sex therapy,” she says. Her other mentor was another instructor at CSPP, Neil Ribner. Ribner taught the art of circular questioning. “I don’t know if all my clients agree, but I think one of the things that has helped me as a clinician is phrasing my questions in a way that eliminates defensiveness and more gently helps clients glimpse what I see.” “One of the best moments in my career,” Buehler says, “was getting my certification as a sex therapist” (in April 2006). She admits she gets a big high whenever a reporter or anyone seeks her because they consider her an expert. “That’s enough to puff up my ego for a day or two.” Buehler loves the AASECT listserv. In 2007, she hosted an AASECT fundraiser in her home. Buehler hopes that once her daughter goes to college, she will have more time to devote to the organization. — Hani Miletski “I think one of the things that has helped me as a clinician is phrasing my questions in a way that eliminates defensiveness and more gently helps clients glimpse what I see.” — Stephanie Buehler March 2009 Vol. 43, No. 3 | www.aasect.org Contemporary Sexuality 3 http://www.theblogerotic.com http://www.theblogerotic.com http://www.aasect.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009

Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009 Contents Member Profile AASECT Conference Registration Form and Information Quick Hits: Sex in the News Book and Media Reviews Educational Opportunities

Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009

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