The Scoop: As a sex and relationship therapist, Dr. Chris Donaghue is on a mission to empower singles and couples to pursue fulfilling sexual relationships. He has traveled the world to educate and support people who have questions about their sexuality, relationships, and other personal issues. Whether Dr. Chris is giving a lecture to a crowd or working one on one in private therapy sessions, his supportive and straightforward advice fosters healthy dating habits and sexual attitudes.
Every so often, after speaking at a college or conference, Dr. Chris Donaghue will get a question from the audience that isn’t about sex or relationships — it’s about his personal mission as a sex therapist and educator.
Some people are curious about how he got into his field and why he chose to specialize in sex therapy. Some aspiring therapists even ask what coursework or degrees they should pursue if they want a similar career.
Dr. Chris Donaghue is a sex therapist, author, and lecturer with a sex-positive message.
Dr. Chris answers that his career sprang not from traditional education but from a desire to make a difference in today’s sex culture.
“My work is rooted in activism, and the best education is what I found outside of school,” he told us. “It’s in the books I read and the trainings I chose.”
Dr. Chris has completed doctoral work in clinical psychology and earned his certification as a sex therapist and sexologist. Over the years, he has built on his academic knowledge by collaborating with sex experts and working with patients in his private practice in L.A. Many popular media outlets, including CNN, The TODAY Show, The New York Times, and Cosmo, have featured his advice on dating, relationships, and sexuality.
Dr. Chris has gone beyond the classroom to discover what it means to cultivate a satisfying and stable relationship. His professional experiences have shaped his perspective and convinced him that many dating norms and sexual biases need to change for people to be truly happy.
In his private therapy practice, Dr. Chris encourages his clients to liberate themselves from the body-shaming, slut-shaming, and sexually repressed culture permeating society.
“My mission is to dismantle much of what education teaches in psychology and focus on the systematic causes of most so-called disorders,” he said.
A Certified Sex Therapist Driven by Activism & Compassion
Dr. Chris has spent his career striving to free people from the phobias, biases, and false beliefs that keep them from maintaining healthy sex lives. This certified sex and relationship therapist tackles personal issues without judgment and guides his patients from hurt to healing.
Anyone in Los Angeles can reach out to Dr. Chris by email and schedule a therapy session. He works with both individuals and couples, and he can also offer coaching by phone.
Dr. Chris inspires love and self-acceptance in therapy sessions.
“My therapy style is direct and action-oriented,” he explained. “I focus on liberation and ending cultural oppression. As a sex therapist, I don’t do therapy on sex, I use sex therapeutically.”
Dr. Chris helps his clients reject societal norms and write their own rule books when it comes to love and desire. He can help individuals overcome body image issues, sexual compulsivity, sexual dysfunction, trauma, and other obstacles on the way to building sustainable personal relationships.
“I help people of all ages, gender expressions, and sexualities. In fact, my work challenges most identity labels, as they are needed for liberation, community, and to gain rights, but with sex and relationship they trap us and limit our full honest expression of self.”
Dr. Chris has the credentials to back his advice. He is a proud member of the American Association of Sex Counselors, Educators, and Therapists (AASECT), the Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), and the American College of Sexologists (ACS). He has also lectured at UCLA, Princeton, and other renowned universities.
Sharing an Empowering Message in Books, Videos & Podcasts
Dr. Chris works hard to reach a broad audience with his sex-positive message. He has appeared on “The Doctors” to give general dating assessments to singles. He has offered sex and relationship tips on his nightly Loveline radio show. He has traveled around the world at speaking events and book tours that empower women and promote sexual health.
“Sex Outside the Lines” helps people accept their desires and express their sexual needs.
In 2015, Dr. Chris penned and published his first book, “Sex Outside the Lines,” which challenges the misconceptions many people have about sex. The book guides readers through a sexual awakening and encourages them to seek pleasure in safe and healthy ways.
“After reading this book, I feel liberated,” said one Amazon customer in a review. “Dr. Donaghue did a great job at not only presenting the information, but applying it to case studies and through real-life examples through his work as a sex therapist.”
Inspired by the success of his first book, Dr. Chris wrote “Rebel Love” to further confront and dismantle the toxic rules and habits in traditional, patriarchal dating.
This renegade sex therapist has gained an international following by continually putting himself out there and highlighting the importance of authenticity, consent, and respect in sexual relationships. Dr. Chris currently has over 17,000 Twitter followers and over 58,000 Instagram followers.
“I curate my social media to be therapeutic for those unable to work with me clinically,” he said.
When asked what he’s got going on now, Dr. Chris told us that he’s writing two more books, organizing a book tour, and training professionals through the Sexual Health Alliance (SHA). He’s the Director of Education at SHA and is excited to see its programs gaining traction among sex experts and therapists.
“The SHA program is a great place for professionals to train in sex therapy,” he said. “We work hard to keep it current, relevant, and radical.”
Striving to Dismantle Toxic Beliefs & Habits in the Bedroom
Dr. Chris has received positive feedback from many clients, readers, listeners, and followers who have taken his advice to heart and used it to improve their love lives and relationships.
Dr. Chris offers resources for sexually active singles and couples everywhere.
Many people have written thank-you emails or direct messages thanking Dr. Chris for making them feel more secure with their body and their sexuality. Some say his insights have given them greater confidence in the dating scene, while others say they used his tips to strengthen their relationships.
Whenever Dr. Chris posts on Facebook, his fans typically respond with compliments, clapping emojis, and lots of love. “Thank you for the post, Dr. Chris,” reads one comment. “Very interesting and affirming.”
Dr. Chris maintains a sex-positive, body-positive, and people-positive space in his private practice and social media pages, and his message has resonated with people from all walks of life.
“The work of mental health is not conformity or uniformity, but building confidence in our mental and sexual creativity and diversity,” Dr. Chris said. “It’s a journey we all need to go on, and there are few resources where we can do this work. I’m thankful I can be one of them.”
Dr. Chris Donaghue Liberates Singles & Couples
When people ask Dr. Chris how he became a sex and relationship therapist, his answer is pretty simple: He followed his passion. He listened to people, and he learned how to support their emotional journeys and sexual awakenings.
Now, as a trained sex therapist, his vision is to create more healthy, loving relationships by starting heartfelt dialogues with singles and couples around the world.
Dr. Chris welcomes clients who feel sexually repressed or unfulfilled and teaches them to become more confident sexual beings. Through impassioned therapy and advocacy work, Dr. Chris hopes to support a movement away from old-fashioned and patriarchical ideas of sex and toward a more modern, loving, and egalitarian dating world.
“Every one of us is raised in the same sex- and body-shaming culture, and we all need to do the work of ending this internally and externally,” Dr. Chris said. “The best part of my work is being able to be both an activist, healer, and liberator.”
