Stefani Goerlich
Biography
Stefani is a Clinical Sexologist and Forensic Social Worker who writes, teaches, and presents on topics related to gender, sexuality and relationship diversities. She lectures on Sexual Trauma, Trauma-Informed Care, Sexual Dysfunction and Differences, and Digital Sexual Health at the University of Michigan’s Sexual Health Certificate Programs and the University of Minnesota’s Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health, maintains a private practice focusing on sex and relationship therapies for GSRD clients, and frequently serves as a subject matter expert and teaching/consulting witness for attorneys around the country.
Stefani’s primary areas of academic interest are in social perceptions of deviance and how we conceptualize healthy sexuality and relationships, how these conceptualizations shift over time, and how they impact people (particularly erotic minorities) in forensic & clinical settings. In addition to critical/transformational approaches to forensic sexology, her secondary areas of interest include the intersection of intimacy and technology and psychotherapy for/with religious minorities.
Degrees and Certifications
Licenses
- Michigan: LMSW-C
- Ohio: LISW
- Arizona: LCSW
Certifications
- AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (and Supervisor-in-Training)
- ABS Board Certified Diplomate of Sexology
- SASH Certified Sex Offender Clinician (CSOC)
- SASH Certified Problematic Sexual Behavior Therapist (CPSBT)
- SASH Certified Sexual and Relational Trauma Therapist (CSRTT)
Awards and Honors
- 2021 AASECT Sexuality Book Award
- 2022 SSTAR Book Award
- 2022 SASH Media Award
- 2024 AASECT General Audience Book Award
Recent Publications
- The Leather Couch: Clinical Practice with Kinky Clients (Routledge, 2020)
- Kink-Affirming Practice: Culturally Competent Therapy from The Leather Chair (Routledge, 2022)
- With Sprinkles On Top: Everything Vanilla People and Their Kinky Partners Need to Know to Communicate, Explore, and Connect (Sounds True, 2023)
- Goerlich, S. 2023. Cradle and all: outcome differences between kink-affirming and kink uninformed therapies for a complex client with paraphilia. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 39(3), 997-1020.
- Goerlich, S. (2024). Threading the Needle: Ethical Practice with Kinky Clients. In The Professional's Guide to Sexuality Consultation (pp. 87-101). Routledge
- BDSM & Kink: The Basics (Routledge, 2024)
- Goerlich, S. (2024). A roomful of leopards: differentiating intimate partner violence from consensual kink. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 14(1), 59-78.
- Securing Sexuality: A Clinician’s Guide to Emerging Issues at the Intersection of Intimacy and Technology (forthcoming, 2025)