At Joanne Bagshaw & Associates, we provide systemic sex therapy for individuals and couples in Columbia, Maryland, who want to feel more connected, improve communication, and create more fulfilling relationships. In a community like Columbia, where many people are balancing careers, family life, and long-term partnerships, intimacy can sometimes take a back seat to daily responsibilities.

• Context and culture are key aspects of our lived experience and impact our relationships. All of the therapists at JBA are trained to understand the role that hierarchical systems play in limiting our ability to experience joy and pleasure.

• People are complex, and so are their problems. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to helping you and your partner access joy and pleasure.

• Humor is self-care and healing. One of the essential skills a therapist needs to work on at JBA is a good sense of humor. Appropriate humor that is not sarcastic or hostile reduces conflict, brings people closer, relieves stress, increases perspective-taking, feels good, and adds levity. Good therapy can challenge you, inspire you, show you how to grow and change, and make you laugh.

• We practice what we preach. In our personal and professional lives, we are pleasure seekers. We value quality relationships, strive to dismantle systems of oppression (because equality is good for everyone), have fun, and prioritize self-care.

Our work creates space to slow down and explore how relationship patterns, stress, personal history, and cultural influences shape your experience of connection and sexuality. We help you look underneath surface issues and create meaningful, lasting change.