An open-minded approach to therapy and education about sexuality and relationships

I am Linda Kirkman PhD, a sexologist; sex therapist, counsellor, sex educator and researcher. I am the immediate past Victorian/Tasmanian President of the Society of Australian Sexologists, and have stepped back to vice president to allow others to contribute.

About me: Sex therapist, counsellor, sexuality educator

Sexuality has always fascinated me. It is mysterious, hidden, yet always present in popular culture, institutional control, and how we are categorised. I started teaching sexuality to 13-year-olds as part of health education, beginning in 1990, writing the curriculum myself, starting with communication and conflict resolution. Same-sex attraction, bisexuality, transgender experience, and pleasure were included. I wanted to give students the skills and understandings to enable positive sexual identity and experiences.

With an arts degree background, to get health teaching and counselling qualifications I did a graduate diploma in health science, which included the social work counselling skills subjects. This ultimately led to sex research via a health science masters and a PhD. Work shifted to women’s health promotion and academia. I take in a huge and varied assortment of professional development, conferences, scholarly articles, workshops, festivals, books, podcasts, and blogs which continue to expand my knowledge and understanding of the vast diversity that is sexuality, sexual expression, and relationships. My bemusement with the sex, gender, and relationship categories comes from not really identifying with fitting into any of them properly; now I happily identify with the delightfully unspecific term, queer.

Counselling, voluntary and paid, has been part of my life since 1988 when I qualified as a breastfeeding counsellor. Nursing Mothers’ counselling training was excellent; listening microskills, empathy, making suggestions while not giving advice are principles I still use. Secondary student welfare counselling, women’s health counselling, followed by tertiary student welfare support, Lifeline telephone crisis supporter training and volunteering have kept me current, with supervision, and confident I have something to offer. Bringing together counselling and sexuality—becoming a sex therapist—is a logical next step.

My psychosexual therapy goals are to support people to work on the concern/s they present with, through first assisting them to feel safe, valued, connected and heard. As a sexuality educator I’m inclusive, supportive, evidence-based, and consider the appropriate pedagogy when planning a presentation. Making it fun is part of that.

See the sex therapy tab for specifics about cost and availability of psychosexual therapy.

Go here for copies of Linda's publications and conference presentations.

Where am I?

I am based in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.

New COVID-19 measures starting 6 Jan 2022

I’ve decided to rarely see people in person until further notice because of the pandemic. This keeps both my clients and me safe and reduces anxiety about risk and exposure. We will prioritise Zoom and voice calls instead.

Contact me to make a sex therapy appointment, discuss professional development, or plan a workshop. Use the contact form on this page, email linda@lindakirkman.org or call 0419 402 373.

M: 0419402373 E: linda@lindakirkman.org T: @lindathestar

Relationship skills for life

©Linda Kirkman 2022