Trauma-Informed Care for Vaginismus & Sexual Abuse Recovery

Sex Therapy at SOMA

Where the body holds trauma, the body must be part of the healing.

What This Work Is

Sex therapy at SOMA is somatic trauma therapy applied to the body's protective and sexual response systems. It is not couples counseling. It is not behavioral coaching. It is a clinically rigorous, nervous-system-informed approach to the ways trauma disrupts the body's capacity for safety, pleasure, and sexual functioning.

When trauma is stored in the body, the sexual response system is often one of the first systems affected, because it requires a level of nervous system safety that trauma systematically dismantles. SOMA's approach works directly with the nervous system to restore that safety, using EMDR, somatic experiencing, and certified sex therapy protocols in an integrated framework.

Vaginismus

A protective response, not a personal failing.

Understanding Vaginismus

Vaginismus is an involuntary contraction of the pelvic floor muscles that makes penetration painful or impossible. It is not a conscious choice, a character flaw, or something you can willpower your way through. It is a nervous-system-mediated protective response, your body's way of guarding against perceived threat, even when your conscious mind knows you are safe.

SOMA's approach to vaginismus works at the level of the nervous system, not the symptom. Through gradual desensitization, somatic resourcing, and EMDR processing of the underlying threat signals, the body learns to distinguish between past danger and present safety. Treatment is paced entirely to your nervous system's readiness.

When appropriate, SOMA coordinates with pelvic floor physical therapists to ensure that the somatic and physiological dimensions of treatment are aligned. This is integrated care, not siloed care.

Sexual Abuse Recovery

Reclaiming Your Body & Sexuality

Sexual abuse fundamentally alters the nervous system's relationship to the body, to intimacy, and to the experience of safety in one's own skin. Recovery is not about forgetting what happened. It is about reclaiming ownership of your body and your sexuality on your own terms, at your own pace.

SOMA uses EMDR to process the traumatic material where appropriate, somatic experiencing to restore the body's sense of agency, and sex therapy protocols to address the specific ways abuse has disrupted sexual functioning, desire, and relational intimacy.

All of this work is paced entirely to your nervous system. There is no timeline imposed from the outside. Your body sets the pace, and your clinician follows.

Important Distinction

What This Work Is Not

Sex therapy at SOMA is individual work only. It addresses the internal nervous system, trauma, and somatic dimensions of sexual difficulty. It is not couples therapy, and SOMA does not provide couples therapy.

If your primary concern is relational communication, couples conflict, or partner dynamics, SOMA can provide a referral to a qualified couples therapist. The work here is about your relationship with your own body, your own nervous system, and your own sexuality.

Your Clinician

Dr. Reyna Aday, Certified Sex Therapist

Dr. Aday holds the Certified Sex Therapist (CST) credential through AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists). This is the highest clinical credential in the field of sex therapy and requires extensive specialized training, supervised clinical hours, and ongoing continuing education beyond doctoral-level licensure.

The CST credential means your clinician has the specialized training to address the intersection of trauma, the nervous system, and sexual functioning with clinical precision. This is not general therapy with a sexual health component. It is specialized care from a clinician whose entire framework integrates somatic trauma work and sex therapy.

Dr. Aday is licensed in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New Mexico, and sees clients via telehealth across all five states.