Overview

This compassionate, comprehensive guide offers hope for those seeking to reconnect—or connect for the first time—with their sexual selves. Addiction, trauma, and shame can shatter your experience of intimacy and sexual joy. But healing is possible—and you are not alone. Awaken Your Sexuality addresses the complex intersections of trauma, addiction, and sexual healing with depth and sensitivity. Written by leading experts, this groundbreaking guide unlocks the path to pleasure, intimacy, and connection. Inside, you’ll discover: Practical exercises to process sexual history and heal from past wounds Ways to explore and embrace pleasure without judgment Support for your unique journey to healthier intimate relationships Real-life stories of sexual recovery Drawing from cutting-edge research and decades of clinical experience, Awaken Your Sexuality goes beyond traditional recovery literature and considers sexuality an integral part of what it means to be whole and well. Statistically, 1 in 6 women experience sexual violence, and many turn to substances or compulsive behaviors to cope. This book offers a lifeline—a compassionate guide to reclaiming your sexual agency, joy, and power. You deserve pleasure. You deserve healing. You deserve connection. Your sexual recovery starts here. A must-read for survivors, therapists, counselors, and anyone committed to sexual healing and empowerment.

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9781636340920

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Reviews

In a culture saturated with sexualized content but lacking real conversations about intimacy and sexual health, Drs. Stephanie Covington and Vanessa Carlisle offer a powerful, insightful master class on embracing our sexuality and reconnecting with our authentic selves in recovery. -- Candice Norcott, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist * associate professor, and clinical director of the Obstetrics & Gynecology Mental Health Program at the University of Chicago * As a woman in long-term recovery, I know how often our bodies, sexuality, and pleasure are left out of the healing conversation. Awaken Your Sexuality is a brave and necessary invitation to reclaim what addiction, trauma, or shame may have silenced. It speaks directly to our lived experience and centers intimacy—not just sex—as essential to recovery. The authors remind us that recovery can hold all of who we are—and that pleasure, connection, and belonging are ours to claim. -- Dawn Nickel, PhD * founder of SHE RECOVERS Foundation * Awaken Your Sexuality puts women and nonbinary people at the center of a topic that too often leaves us out: how to thrive as a sexually authentic and vibrant human being, no matter the specifics. Through thought-provoking questions, personal stories, cultural analysis, and practical exercises, Covington and Carlisle guide readers through a gentle, powerful, and healing path of sexual self-discovery. -- August McLaughlin, author, journalist, and host/producer * Girl Boner Radio * Stephanie Covington and Vanessa Carlisle’s book Awaken Your Sexuality: A Guide to Connection and Intimacy After Addiction and Trauma gives the reader tips and stories that explore the sexual and sensual self—especially for those who experienced childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault—and that reclaim the inner self and integrate with the outer world. This book nurtures the reader to empower a sense of sexual self-awareness and authenticity. Becoming self-compassionate in one’s own recovery is essential. For this survivor of childhood sexual abuse who has moved to being a sexual thriver, this book is a positive guide that promotes a lifelong journey to enjoy! -- Cynthia Moreno Tuohy, DR, HHL, BSW, NCACII, immediate past executive director and past president of NAADAC * author of <I>Rein In Your Brain: From Impulsivity to Thoughtful Living in Recovery</I> * Awaken Your Sexuality is the book I needed when I was newly sober, and it still helps me after ten years of recovery. Covington and Carlisle have an inclusive insight that brings nuance to the intersection of trauma and intimacy.  -- Tawny Lara * author of <I>Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze </I> * Awaken Your Sexuality is a wise, gentle guide for women on the path of sexual recovery. Bolstered by decades of research and grounded in lived experience, Covington and Carlisle welcome readers into a transformational process of self-reflection. Everyone will recognize parts of themself in the collected stories of women and nonbinary people who have developed self-compassion and learned to embrace their own pleasure. With helpful exercises and plenty of encouragement along the way, this book is a must-read for all of us who want deeper connection and intimacy in our sexual lives. -- Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA, Adv. CASAC, CADC II * Harvesting Happiness Lifestyle Management Consulting * Drs. Covington and Carlisle guide their reader through reconnection to self while deconstructing systemic myths and increasing survivors’ hope and pleasure. This book is a needed tool for anyone exploring connections between sexuality, healing, and recovery. -- Theodore Burnes, PhD * professor of Clinical Education and licensed clinical psychologist at the University of Southern California * Covington and Carlisle balance honest explorations of harmful sexual history and seeking sexual safety with an invitation to explore sexual pleasures. Awaken Your Sexuality is essential reading given the slumbering state of American substance use programs yet to wake up and become curious about the rich and essential sexual lives of the people they treat. -- Douglas Braun-Harvey, MFT, CST-S * co-founder of The Harvey Institute *

Author Information

Stephanie S. Covington, PhD, LCSW (she/her) is an internationally recognized clinician, organizational consultant, lecturer, and author in the fields of addiction and trauma. Dr. Covington serves as the co-director of the Institute for Relational Development and the Center for Gender & Justice. For nearly four decades, she has created gender-responsive and trauma-informed programs and services for use in public, private, and institutional settings. Author of the first manualized treatment program for substance use disorder, Dr. Covington went on to create twelve trauma-informed, gender-responsive treatment curricula. Her most recent works include the 30th anniversary edition of bestseller A Woman’s Way Through the Twelve Steps and Hidden Healers: The Unexpected Ways Women in Prison Help Each Other Survive.  www.stephaniecovington.com  www.centerforgenderandjustice.org  Vanessa Carlisle, PhD, MFA (they/them), is an author, coach, and educator in the fields of gender, sexuality, and trauma. Dr. Carlisle’s lived experience includes over twenty-five years in sex work and fifteen years of advocacy for the sex-working community. As a survivor of both intimate partner and institutional violence, Dr. Carlisle now crafts programs that combat stigma and improve conditions for their communities, including trauma-informed self-defense training, somatic coaching, and end-of-life care services. Along with many essays and articles, Dr. Carlisle authored the award-winning novel Take Me with You about a queer sex worker who must face her grief to be able to build the life she wants.  www.vanessacarlisle.com 

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