**** June eNewsletter ****
Happy June, fellow SSTARGazers! ✨
This month, we’re excited to share new SSTARBurst videos, upcoming training opportunities, and a new book —please see the details below. We also want to extend our thanks to everyone who joined us at the Vancouver conference. It was a truly wonderful event , filled with engaging conversations, inspiring presentations, and meaningful connections. It was a real highlight to gather with such a thoughtful and passionate community, and we deeply appreciated seeing so many of you there.
New Online Submission Form: Please submit your content using the following form:https://form.asana.com/?k=sEXk2Vl4NvJ-Di7eMIUW0w&d=8142059046716. Please select “SSTARGaze Monthly Newsletter” as your Communication Type. Submissions are due no later than five days before the end of the month (e.g., by June 20 for inclusion in the July newsletter). Be sure to include any relevant deadlines.
We’re grateful for your continued contributions to keeping the SSTAR community informed, engaged, and connected!
Have a great day ☀️,
Marie-Michèle Paquette, Ph.D.
Interim Communications Officer
SSTARBurst
Dear SSTAR Members:
It was so nice to see so many of you in Vancouver for the annual meeting a few weeks ago!! Thank you for joining us on the west coast!
Following on the heels of all the new research shared at the annual meeting, I’m excited to share more new research with this month’s SSTARburst video. In this video, you'll get to know Erin McClung and her recently published research on the effects of autonomy support when romantic relationships end.
In this video you’ll learn:
- What “autonomy support” is.
- Why it is helpful not only throughout a relationship, but also when a relationship ends.
- Clinical/real-world implications for those going through a break-up.
- Erin’s most and least favorite aspects of the research process.
Click on the image below to link to the video.
And if you missed our previous SSTARburst interviews with:
- Dr. Jared Boot-Haury
- Dr. Marie-Michèle Paquette
- Dr. Lyne Piché, and
- Dr. Bonnie Saks, you can find them here.
What is SSTARburst?
SSTARburst is a series of short video interviews—perfect for your lunch break—each spotlighting a different SSTAR member and featuring their recently published research or practical, real-world clinical or professional insights. It's all about getting to know one another, celebrating the incredible work of SSTAR members, keeping you current on research and clinical or professional practice, and building connection, collaboration, and community.
We hope you enjoy this month’s SSTARburst interview.
Warmly,
Carolin Klein, Programs Officer
and the rest of the SSTAR Team
Conferences, Workshops, Training, and Professional Groups
Title of Workshop: Open and Polyamorous Relationships in the LGBTQ+ Community
Date: Friday, June 12, 2026 | 11:10AM - 1:10PM ET, Online Synchronous
Presenters: Niki D, BSc (Hons), MA, UKCP
Contact Name: Rachel Needle, PsyD
Telephone: 561-379-7207
Email: info@modernsextherapy.com
Title of Workshop: Working with Chemsex
Date: Friday, June 12, 2026 | 9AM - 11AM ET, Online Synchronous
Presenters: Benedict Hoff, PhD, MBACP, COSRTReg
Contact Name: Rachel Needle, PsyD
Telephone: 561-379-7207
Email: info@modernsextherapy.com
Link:https://modernsextherapyinstitutes.com/product/working-with-chemsex/
Title of Workshop: Culturally Competent and Affirming Counseling with Kink Populations
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2026 | 2PM - 6PM ET, Online Synchronous
Presenters: Stephen Ratcliff, MA, LPCC, LPC, LMHC, NCC, CST
Contact Name: Rachel Needle, PsyD
Telephone: 561-379-7207
Email: info@modernsextherapy.com
Title of Workshop: Still Wanting: Menopause, Infidelity, and the Evolving Erotic Self (Conference)
Date: Friday, September 25 & Saturday, September 26, 2026 | Live In-Person
Venue: Palm Beach County Convention Center | 650 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL. 33401
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Alexandra Solomon, Dr. Marty Klein, Dr. Rachel Zar, and Amanda Ricker
Contact Name: Rachel Needle, PsyD
Telephone: 561-379-7207
Email: info@modernsextherapy.com
Link:https://modernsextherapyinstitutes.com/2026-conference/
Mary Ellen Meltzer PMHCNS-BC, CST-S and Joe Winn LICSW, CST-S are launching a sex therapy supervision group beginning on January 13, 2026. If the entire group is attended participants will accrue 12 hours of AASECT group supervision that can be applied towards their application for certification as an AASECT Certified sex therapist. To build trust and foster a community approach to working with the complexities of sexual health, we will be utilizing a once monthly, cohort based closed group model of supervision. The rate for this group is $150 for 2 hours. The dates and hours for this supervisory group are.
· Tuesday February 10, 2026
· Tuesday March 10, 2026
· Tuesday April 14, 2026
· Tuesday May 12, 2026
· Tuesday June 9, 2026
Group starts: 1:00pm PST/ 2:00pm MST/ 3:00am CST / 4:00pm EST,
Group ends: 3:00 pm PST/ 4:00pm MST/ 5:00pm CST/ 6:00pm EST
During the group we will explore the role of assessment, diagnosis, and collaborative intervention from multiple lenses starting with the person of the therapist, their sexological world view, and expanding into the intersectional experiences of race, class, culture, heteronormativity, gender, ageism, and ableism, as well as their impacts on the construction and experience of eroticism, sexuality, sexual pleasure and functioning. As supervisors we hold an integrated perspective on theory, drawing heavily from family systems, psychodynamic, attachment theory, and various models of differentiation. We ask that you bring your cases, your curiosity, and a willingness to be both vulnerable and supportive as we work together to provide excellence to those seeking assistance in the arena of pleasure based sexual health and functioning.
Please feel free to back channel either of us for more information or to schedule an interview for admission.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Mary Ellen Meltzer PMHCNS-BC, CST-S: maryellen.meltzer@comcast.net
Joe Winn LICSW, CST-S: joe@josephwinnlicsw.net
Optimizing Sexual Experiences
Are you a therapist who works with individuals or couples distressed by low/no desire? Low/no sexual frequency? Couples distressed by sexual desire discrepancy? Are you interested in training to provide group therapy to enhance couples' sexual intimacy? Our team offers training for therapists working with sexual concerns based on our research on Optimal Sexual Experiences.
All group therapy sessions are to be conducted by two licensed mental health professionals, therefore, we require that you and your co-therapist be trained in unison. Training sessions will be limited to the first 6 pairs of therapists who register.
Dates: October 18-21, 2026, continuing December 6-9, 2026. Each set involves participation over 2 periods of Sunday-Wednesday afternoons. All conducted by online synchronous learning.
Deadline for Registration: July 31, 2026.
To begin the registration, and to ask any questions over email, please contact Carla Rosinski, Ph.D., at info@optimalsexualexperiences.com indicating your name, your co-therapist's name and your contact information. Please contact Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Ph.D., if you have any questions by phone at 613 563-0846 Monday- Friday, Noon-5:00 PM Eastern time.
This program meets the requirements for AASECT and CCPA and is approved for 30 credits. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT Certification and renewal of certification. Completion of this program does not ensure or guarantee AASECT Certification. For further information please contact ce@aasect.org
For more information and to see our recent publications please visit www.optimalsexualexperiences.com.
Dear SSTAR community,
The call for proposal is open! Visit theabsc.com/events for more info!
Book and Award
Dear SSTAR community,
I am proud to announce my new book! I have just published the second edition of Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Sexual Problems with Routledge. It has six more brief chapters than the first edition. It is written in a supervisory tone and emphasizes key concepts in helping people with their sexual concerns. Ideally the 162 pages can be read once throughout and returned to like a handbook to read a specific chapter when the therapist is dealing with a specific issue, like an unreliably functioning erection, or vaginismus. The book is available from the publisher Routledge.com for a 20% discount for $38.39 using thji code 26AFLY1. When I wrote my earlier books I did not realize that such books well serve those who provide lecture to various types of students. Hopefully, the new book will be used in graduate programs that teach about sexual life and its varied problems. Thank you for your consideration.
Steve Levine
2026 SEXUAL TIPPING POINT AWARD WINNERS
Dear SSTAR community,
We are happy to share with you the winners of the 2026 Sexual Tipping point awards!
A Sexual Tipping Point Award Certificate and a $2000 prize was presented to Lara Vaziri, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Sex Therapy & Research (SSTAR) on May 9, 2026 in Vancouver, Canada for her poster presentation on: "Informing the Adaptation of eSense-Cancer, a Digital Health Platform for Sexual Difficulties After Breast Cancer.”
A Sexual Tipping Point Award Certificate and a $2000 prize was presented to Sara Perelmuter (Weill Cornell Medicine) at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Sex Therapy & Research (SSTAR) on May 9, 2026 in Vancouver, Canada for her presentation on: "Assessment of vulvar appearance and genital self-image following complete vestibulectomy”
STP AW ARD HONORABLE MENTIONS
Piper Slonecker for her poster presentation, "Who seeks sexual health care? Demographic predictors of treatment-seeking in gynecologic cancer survivors” at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Sex Therapy & Research (SSTAR) on May 9, 2026 in Vancouver, Canada.
