Embodied Wellness
Amy Elisa Hedrick LCPC
Free introductory consultation
Amy Elisa Hedrick
Amy Elisa Hedrick is a licensed clinical professional counselor practicing in Idaho for the past 19 years, locally operating her private practice for teh past 12 years and specializing in sex therapy since 2010.
She is deeply passionate about sexual health and through that passion, she has committed her career to helping couples and individuals accept their sexual truth, optimize their sexual function, embody their authentic pleasure, and benefit from accurate, up-to-date knowledge of human sexuality.
She values empowering others to embrace their bodies and enhance their capacity for intimacy and sexual fulfillment either individually or within relationships. Her training encompasses specific concerns such as anorgasmia, painful intercourse, sexual desire discrepancies between partners, and much more . She believes in staying educated in order to maintain the highest quality of competency and expertise in her field and maintains a resolutely open mind, seeking to understand the vast variance of sexual needs, desires, expressions, and orientations unique to each person/relationship. She seeks to understand sexual behaviors in the context of the purpose they serve and adheres to a professional ethos of “do no harm”.
Approach
My therapeutic approach is based on recognizing that each individual I work with is experiencing their own unique journey, composed of their distinct personal challenges, equipped with their own resource of strength, inner wisdom, and ability to introspect.
Through this approach, I have borne witness as people become aware of the ways in which they stand in their own way, releasing past pain, and consequently alter deeply ingrained habits established from that place of pain, so that they can reach their goal of creating the life they envision for themselves while standing authentically in who they really are.
And there is no area in which this approach has been met with greater success than that of sex therapy. Long have I been driven to understand human sexuality and intimacy, immersing myself in the topic much earlier than when I began my official sex therapy training in 2010.
To be human is to have an undeniable relationship with one’s own sexuality, however entangled that relationship may be. Our individual sexual essence is unique to each one of us and is more than a physical act – it’s our divine birthright, the essence that flows through our bloodstream; the creative juice that flows through our being.
Philosophy
It is my deeply held belief that all humans deserve to express their perfectly valid and natural sexuality in whatever way is healthy and authentic to them, and further, it is our innate right to explore our sexual nature within the confines of safety, consent, privacy and freedom. Our sexual intimacy needs are no less vital for our well-being than our other basic human drives, such as food, water and air. Indeed, human babies die when denied intimate touch from a caretaker in a heartbreaking process called “failure to thrive.” We, too, fail to thrive when bereft of the intimate touch we really desire.
Whether we thrive – or fail to thrive – as adults is based on many unique factors that contribute to our personal sexual beliefs, values, desires, and expressions. These factors influence, whether subtly or obviously, how we embrace our sexuality or deny it.
That is why I value understanding sexuality from many differing perspectives, choosing to embrace unique viewpoints and sexual experiences. I assist clients in exploring their sexual history and sexual “blueprint” – composed of their own unique interests, needs and desires – so that they can gain a holistic view of their sexual truth, whatever that means to them. I provide a safe space to learn to navigate and heal through sexual trauma, to work through sexual guilt, shame and sexual abuse violations.
I am committed to assisting couples and individuals in optimizing their sexual function and enhancing their sexual pleasure in many ways. I teach radical self-acceptance of the body, offer support for clients to identify healthy boundaries within intimate/sexual situations, help them reclaim and embody their physical pleasure utilizing mindful awareness of the senses and pleasure-focused presence, I offer tools to help them communicate their needs and assist them in find balance between giving and receiving intimately. In response to each clients’ unique “goals,” I customize sexual health education, therapeutic approach and homework assignments to fit their needs, while simultaneously normalizing and accurately diagnosing sexual dysfunction. Personally, I continuously assess and challenge my own sexual values, expressions, personal sexual paradigm, and privilege – keeping an awareness of how that impacts my therapeutic work. I plan to expand my expertise into areas of educational workshops for the community and seek to improve attitudes towards sex by increasing access to sex education and improving attitudes towards sex in our community.