WELCOME TO THE PRESENCE OF BASA
Good fortune shines on our lives as awareness and education is offered.
Once the premier surrogate partner bay area training, support and education group
from the San Francisco Bay area, now returned to bring forth awareness,
education and possibilities for change for the better. Organized from 1985 through 1997,
now BASA is back to continue our contribution to positive sexual self-esteem.
In 1981, Barbara Read pioneered a specific training for women and men who would become
'Body Therapists.' This became the model for sexual surrogate partner therapy in the
San Francisco Bay area. Barbara graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and worked at the Center for Sexual Studies as a 'Change Agent Counselor'
in Hartford, Connecticut. Due to seeing many clients suffering from a dysfunctional sex life
or no sex life at all, she was chosen to attend the SAR - Sexual Attitude Restructuring
program offered at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in
San Francisco. She obtained her degree during that time as Doctorate of Human Sexuality.
The sexual revolution of the late 1970's and early '80's and the open-minded
and intelligent atmosphere of San Francisco created the right environment to bring forth
a direct body approach to sexual counseling. Barbara's program was inspired
by Hartman and Fithian and the extensive work of Masters and Johnson. M and J,
as they were known in the field of sex therapy, began working with surrogate partners,
usually nurses, to assist married men by teaching and coaching them directly
through a hands-on approach. This came to be called Sensate Focus Therapy
or Surrogate Partner Sex Therapy.
All valid surrogate partner therapy includes working with a verbal therapist,
preferably a qualified sex therapist. The client works with the verbal therapist
for a period of time in which past traumas, unresolved childhood issues,
intimacy concerns and social-sexual dysfunctions are discussed
until the client reaches a comfortable level of communication.
If the client is unable to find an appropriate partner to be intimate with,
then a surrogate partner is brought into the therapeutic and healing process.
It is this triad that sets the Work apart from any other sexuality counseling,
teaching, coaching or intimacy work with clients.
Through teaching, counseling, coaching and therapy, we help clients to heal
from past wounds that have created some sort of dysfunction in their ability
to create intimate relationships. The therapy is called brief therapy because
there is a sequence of steps to progress through, mastering awareness
and communication skills.Relaxation, learning receptivity and non-demand
touching are the foundations of surrogate partner body therapy, always working in
conjunction with a qualified verbal therapist or sex therapist.
My training came about accidentally. I was completing my thesis for my Bachelor's
degree at the New College of California in 1985. I had been teaching
Chuluaquai-Quodoushka for a few years and was convinced this was the best sex
therapy for anyone. For my course completion I needed to compare and contrast
different methods of viable sex therapies.
I took the Sexual Attitude Restructuring program from the Institute
for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. The SAR was required by
Dr. Read in order to continue to study surrogate partner body therapy training.
She was assisted by Cheryl Cohen (now Cheryl Cohen-Greene)
who taught me and the other trainees how to set up our home office
and handle financial arrangements. Barbara taught us the hands-on techniques
of relaxation, sensate focus exercises, body image work, sensuous bathing,
social-sexual communication skills and intimacy touch for pleasure
or what is usually called non-demand touch.
In the teachings and traditions of Chuluaquai-Quodoushka coming through the lineages
of the Mayan, Toltec and Mixed Blood Cherokees, Rites of Passage ceremonies
are a part of ‘normal’ life. When a child goes into puberty,
a large ceremony is performed and the child is received back into the tribe
as an adult. Young adults are then expected to understand sexual values and
activities associated with intimacy and relationships.
An older person chosen by a council of grandmothers was appointed
to each young adult to teach and coach sexual play. Because sexual life
force energy ignites a fire from within, these trained and sensitive
people were called FireWomen or FireMen. When I heard these teachings
I thought back to my first sexual experience and what little education I had received.
I actually thoughta woman would only become pregnant if she was married and
the union had been sanctioned by God. I knew I wanted and needed to bring back
the sexual rites of passage ceremonies for the sake of each young generation.
Surrogate Partner Body Therapy was the closest to FireWoman ways.
However, all clients were in such a dysfunctional state
that I was only able to work from the western medical model perspective. Sometimes
'over-age' virgins came into therapy and their progress was truly a rites of passage.
As in the movie, 'The Sessions,' the story is about a disabled
person who does not want to die a virgin so he works with a surrogate partner
named Cheryl Cohen-Greene. The movie does not depict the true succession of
sessions with a surrogate partner as there are 10 to 14 steps in the healing therapy model.
Clothes do not come off in the first session. Many aspects of deep relaxation are taught
along with individual body caresses, such as a hand, a foot, a face, a back,
before any undressing occurs. Erotic touch is certainly not
the focus of the Work. Erotic energy comes naturally when a person feels comfortable
in their own skin and can communicate their needs, wants and desires.
I gained my Masters in Counseling Psychology degree from the
University of San Francisco. I started working as a Massage Therapist in 1986
and received extensive training in Ericksonian Hypnosis
and Re-Evaluation Counseling. Throughout the past decade,
I have continued my Work and increased my experiences of
sexual healing through studying shamanic ceremonies, LightWork therapies,
addiction recovery counseling and guiding apprentices through Rites of Passages
including fulfilling their Sacred Dream.
I taught a healing arts Mystery School for 10 years.
www.GreatTurtleMysterySchool.net
I worked as a sexual surrogate body therapist with some of the most renowned sex
therapists of the greater Bay area of California. Their education was a Ph.D.
program from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality
located in San Francisco, California. My deepest respect and regards for their Work
as the verbal therapist. Their extensive education and compassion
is what made my Work with clients successful.
