Sexual grounding therapy

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Willem Poppeliers · 1990 · Netherlands

What it is

Sexual Grounding Therapy (SGT; the trainers use the name as a registered mark, Sexual Grounding®) is a body-oriented, mainly group-based developmental psychotherapy created in the 1990s by the Dutch developmental psychologist and body psychotherapist Willem Poppeliers. It grew out of Reichian body…

Format

• Format and dose.
• Between modules: attendance at a local sub-group with a qualified therapist is "strongly recommended, though not required".

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Developmental map (the "Genital Ages"). SGT organises everything around eight life ages, grouped in four pairs. Each age is worked through three movements: polarisation (feeling father and mother as distinct sources of masculinity and femininity), harmonisation (feeling them as cooperating sources) and transformation (feeling them as one inner source). Fischer's earlier account gives the same eight phases written as…
• Entry: an introductory weekend (about 2 to 2.5 days, 15 to 20 hours) is a prerequisite for the training.
• Training: residential modules of six days, four per year. The Foundation (Basic) Year covers the first two ages (Revelation and Puberty); the Advanced Training covers the remaining six. Poppeliers himself led a few days of many modules; a trainer team facilitates exercises and role-plays and a support team handles organisation.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• participants leaving activated; build time for this.
• post-workshop crashes, intrusive memories, sleep disturbance.
• strong trauma reactions in abuse survivors (only after stabilisation).
• one partner becoming the "patient"; age-related health limits on body work.
• imagery turning to abuse memories (open eyes, orient, switch to stabilisation).

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.