Our Better Half

Our guest this time is Dr. Margaret Nichols. Dr. Nichols, Ph. D., is a psychologist, AASECT certified sex therapy supervisor, founder, and first Executive Director of the Institute for Personal Growth, a psychotherapy organization in New Jersey specializing in clinical work with the sex, relationship, and gender diverse community. She is the author of  The Modern Clinician's Guide to Working with...

Join us for an exciting conversation with inventors Michael Weiss-Malik and Elizabeth Dell, co-founders of Groove Thing, a way to bring music vibrations inside your body, an astounding invention. They say it's a way to "transform your body into a concert hall." Not a sex toy, not a musical instrument, it's more of a tactile music experience and a synthesis of music and sensation. For older adults,...

Join a few of our co-hosts for a light, lovely, humorous, and educational romp through some challenges of ageism and how they combat ageism through sexual pleasure.  If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on Facebook and Instagr...

Our guest this time is Dr. Damon Constantinides, a queer and trans psychotherapist, sex therapist, sex coach, and trainer living and working on Lenape land. His work focuses on centering the lived experiences of queer and trans folks using a narrative and relational clinical approach. Dr. Constantinides believes that we can only do this work in community and offers a weekly consultation group for...

Our guests this time are the dynamic duo, mother/daughter team of The Buehler Institute, Dr. Stephanie Buehler and Anneka Buehler. Stephanie Buehler, MPW, PsyD, CST-S, IF, is a licensed psychologist, AASECT-certified sex Therapist and Supervisor, and Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health. She is the President of The Buehler Institute and LearnSexTherapy.com , w...

Dr. Laurie Betito is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in sex therapy. She has been a practicing psychotherapist for over 30 years. Nearly three decades ago, she began her radio career as a co-host on MIX 96 in Montreal, a station that broke barriers by launching The Love Line , a weekly call-in show dedicated to sex and relationships. In 1999, she joined CJAD 800 with her own nightly...

Dr. Callie Freitag is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Her work focuses on safety net policies related to aging, disability, and poverty. Prior to that, Callie was a policy analyst & advocate focusing on aging and long-term care policy in California. We recorded this conversation on January 6, 2025, a difficult day in America, wh...

You are invited to an intimate and insightful conversation with our co-hosts. Rosara poses a question about couples who've literally lost touch with each other sexually and, in many cases, physically. Sabitha, Jane, and Rosara discuss their ideas about bridging the canyon, paddling across the ravine, finding their way back to each other, healing old wounds, embracing the vulnerabilities, and refra...

This episode explores the significance of intergenerational learning and social/racial justice within the sexual health field. We had the joy of interviewing Mariotta Gary-Smith about her experiences of mentorship from Black women/femme elders that also inspired the trajectory of her career as a social justice actionable agitator. Mariotta Gary-Smith (she/her/Queen [reserved]) is a 3rd generation...

Our guest this time is Dr. Daniel N. Watter. Dan is an existential sex therapist and he has so much to say about appreciating sexuality as we age instead of extolling the virtues of youthful sexuality. He has a fresh approach to the connection between death anxiety and sexuality. Dan talks with us about the existential importance of the penis and the idea that the penis is speaking but sometimes i...

Our guest this time is James Wilson, the Executive Officer of the Theatre and Performance program at the City University of New York Graduate Center. His research and teaching interests include African American theatre and performance, gender and sexuality studies, and musical theatre history. He is the author of two books and today we'll be talking about his book Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocola...

In this episode we interview Dr. Lexx Brown-James, President of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). Dr. Lexx is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an AASECT certified sexuality educator and supervisor. Dr. Lexx is also the Director of the University of Michigan's Sexual Health Certificate Program and is the first Black woman to be elected...

Jacqueline Boyd brings passion and expertise to the field of aging and LGBTQ+ advocacy. A dynamic speaker, facilitator, and entrepreneur, Jacqueline is the owner of  The CarePlan , the country's first LGBTQ+ centered care management and care development company. As part of The Care Plan's leadership, Jacqueline has consulted with national and local organizations such as AARP, SAGE, Howard Brown He...

Hey Listeners! This episode features an interview with Dr. Reece Malone and explores the significance of intersectionality and decolonization to the sex therapy process. Dr. Malone spoke about erotic racism and its impact on desirability of bodies, the internalization of these experiences, and impact on clients. Dr. Reece Malone is an award-winning certified sexologist with a Masters of Public Hea...

Our guest this time is Sarah Dahlston, the Senior Director of Education at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist and a Certified Sexuality Educator. We recorded this episode before the November, 2024 elections. In the first half of the interview Sarah offers her perspectives post-Dobbs on reproductive justice in a different political climate, then we shi...

In this week's episode we welcome Dr. Michele Angello, a leading expert in the field of gender diversity. Dr. Angello specializes in providing therapy for gender-variant and transgender individuals, including youth and adults, as well as those who identify as genderqueer. She offers both individual and group therapy, as well as family therapy. Dr. Angello's expertise has been recognized at local,...

As an older adult, if your doctor is not comfortable asking about your sexual health but you've got questions, this episode is just what you need. Our guest this time is Dr. Jennifer Vencill, an assistant professor, board certified clinical health psychologist, and AASECT certified sex therapist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is passionate about answering patient questions and tea...

Join us for our first ever live recording at the Annual AASECT Conference in a fascinating discussion with our esteemed guest, De-Andrea Blaylock-Solar. She's the first Black AASECT Certified Sex Therapist in St. Louis. We're talking about sex, religion, exegesis , prostate cancer, embodied sexuality, widowhood, and a thing she calls Christian plus. Resources we talked about on this episode includ...

Hey Listeners! You may have guessed we are on our summer break. While we're all trying to rest and recuperate and regenerate, we're reverberating with great news! What a season we had last year! So many great guests. So many things we learned. So many laughs. And a few tears, mostly of joy, because we won a coveted award. We won the AASECT award for best podcast of the year. What an honor and what...

Join us for a fast-moving and fun conversation with Sabitha, Rosara, and Jane as we talk about sexual fantasies as we age. What are sexual fantasies? How are they useful? What's the difference between masturbatory and relational fantasies? Sabitha offered some great resources for our listeners: any of Nancy Friday's books (though they are a bit heteronormative), Jack Morin's book, The Erotic Mind...

In honor of Mother's Day, Jane, Rosara, and Sabitha are talking about mothering, the havoc it wreaks with our lives, the discoveries, and impacts on our sexuality. They also wonder aloud about daughtering, especially as their parents age. Join us for a look into the lives of our co-hosts. And let us know your thoughts. If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subsc...

Our guest this time is Mx. Sizzle, a trailblazing Persian and Kurdish hard femme who serves as a sexual health, BDSM, and kink educator. They hold a bachelor's degree from New College of Florida and a master's degree in public health from the University of Florida, with a focus on queer and transgender health. As the founder of " A Different Kind of Different, LLC ," they create safe spaces for se...

Our guest this time is Kathy Labriola, a nurse, counselor, and hypnotherapist in Berkeley, California. She has provided affordable mental health services to alternative communities for the past 30 years. Kathy is the author of four books on consensual non-monogamy including her latest, Polyamorous Elders: Aging in Open Relationships . She is extra crunchy, rides a bike, lives in a housing cooperat...

Our guest this time is the wonderful Dr. Israel Martinez, a certified sex therapist and coach with a group practice that specializes in therapy with the LGBTQ+, ethically non-monogamous, and kink/BDSM communities. He is the author of the book  Helping Gay Men Find Love: Tips for Guys on Dating and Beginning a Healthy Relationship , has been published in the book Social Workers: Finding Real Soluti...

Tushabe Wa Tushabe, an Assistant Professor at Widener University in The Center for Human Sexuality Studies, graduated from St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, in Indiana, earned a Master's in women's studies from Texas Women's University, and received a Ph. D. in Decolonial African Epistemologie from Binghamton University. Tushabe's research interests focus on decolonial and indigenous knowledges and...