Chances are, you know someone who struggles with feeling safe and intimate in their personal relationships. It’s a common human problem, and one with many potential solutions.
One of these solutions is what’s known as intimacy coaching.
If you’re keen to deliver online intimacy coaching workshops, packages, and programs for your clients, we recommend you start your Quenza $1 trial. Quenza’s online toolkit will give you everything you need to offer high-quality digital coaching solutions that will enhance your clients’ relationships and wellbeing from any device with an internet connection.
What is Intimacy Coaching?
Intimacy coaching is a type of coaching that provides individuals with issues surrounding physical and/or emotional intimacy with guidance and direction to improve their relationships and inner sense of safety and wellbeing.
Intimacy coaching is a type of coaching that provides individuals with issues surrounding physical and/or emotional intimacy with guidance and direction to improve their relationships and inner sense of safety and wellbeing.
Like all forms of coaching, it is built on the foundation of a trusting relationship between coach and client. Intimacy coaches help their clients explore attachment issues, practice opening up and being vulnerable, and enhance their emotional awareness.
Intimacy coaches may also work with their clients on building their comfort with physical intimacy, both their own self-touch and physical intimacy with others.
6 Things Intimacy Coaches Do
So what does an intimacy coach actually do to facilitate client healing and growth?
There is a wide variety of exercises and techniques, and the ones employed will depend on the client’s needs and the coach’s area of expertise.
However, here are some of the common things an intimacy coach might do:
- Guide their clients through exercises and activities that help them get to know themselves and their wants and needs better. Quenza’s Your Emotion Masks exercise, shown above, is just one example.
- Assign thoughtful reflection questions and prompts to build their client’s self-awareness.
- Walk clients through meditation and mindfulness exercises to help them feel more grounded and present in their body.
- Talk through emotional attachment issues to identify and heal attachment wounds.
- Give homework assignments to help their client connect with their loved ones on a deeper level.
- Counsel couples on shared intimacy issues.
In all types of coaching, the exact activities will vary based on what the coach and client agree is best, but much of the program will probably fall within the categories above.
Training in Intimacy Coaching: 3 Certifications
Intimacy coaching is fairly new in the realm of coaching, and as such, there is more flexibility and less structure around how to become qualified as a coach.
Before diving into the certifications, it’s good to have an idea of the skills and abilities that you need to be a successful intimacy coach.
Here are some of the basic skills you’ll need:
- A warm, personable, and approachable vibe that allows your clients to feel comfortable and at ease around you.
- The ability to convey a new way of relating to one another, through both your content and your personal relationship style.
- The ability to provide love, care, and support to your client so they can in turn provide love, care, and support to their loved ones.
- A frank and honest communication style, that’s also kind and compassionate.
- An understanding of human psychology and social aptitude.[1]
If you don’t have a solid grasp of all of these skills, you may want to work on building them before you get started on the path to becoming an intimacy coach.
It will be much easier to hit the ground running if you already have the basics nailed down.
If you feel like you’ve got the skills and you just need the qualifications, there are several options available.
The right one will depend on your values, your personality, and which direction you’d like to go.
Here are a few of the available certifications:
Course | Details |
|---|---|
 | This internationally recognized program prepares you for working with clients as a coach or therapist.
It’s accredited by the American College of Sexologists International and is approved as continuing education units (CEU) by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT). The training is now 100% online, although you can opt in to a 5-day in-person immersion retreat. They offer two trainings a year, one in spring and one in fall. |
| Name | Somatica Sex and Relationship Coach Training |
| Institution | Somatica Institute |
| Good For | All levels and professionals |
| Website | https://www.somaticainstitute.com/training-dates-tuition/ |
Course | Details |
|---|---|
 | This program is offered by the Sexual Health Alliance and is approved as continuing education by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT).
With this training, you’ll be prepared to do sexuality coaching, training sessions, courses, and workshops in addition to intimacy coaching. It includes 4 online modules and 3 live online two-day training sessions. |
| Name | Sexual Health Alliance Certified Sexuality Coach & Consultant Training |
| Institution | Sexual Health Alliance |
| Good For | All levels and professionals |
| Website | https://sexualhealthalliance.com/sexcoachcertification/ |
Course | Details |
|---|---|
 | This program from Sex Coach U is the only sex coach training program recognized by the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS).
It is offered in 21 courses divided into 4 online modules and comprises over 750 hours of training. It will prepare you to provide sex and intimacy coaching to your clients. |
| Name | Sex Coach U Core Certified Sex Coach Program |
| Institution | Sex Coach U |
| Good For | All levels and professionals |
| Website | https://sexcoachu.com/ |
Any of these programs will give you the knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide intimacy coaching to your clients, but make sure to do your research to find the one that fits you best.
Best Digital Solutions and Resources For Coaches
Once you’re qualified and ready to get started with your intimacy coaching business, it’s time to think about the details: the tools and resources you’ll need to run a successful practice.
If you’re like most coaches, you didn’t get into coaching to do administrative tasks and fill out paperwork—you did it to help people. But the reality is that you’ll need to do at least some of the administrative stuff to support your practice.
However, the good news is that there are many solutions available for the more mundane work of keeping your business humming along.
For example, there are coaching apps and software that can help you:
- Schedule sessions with clients
- Prepare and send invoices to your clients
- Chat privately and securely with your clients
- Take and store session notes
- File and organize feedback forms and documents
- Work with insurance companies
- Interact with your clients over video chat
- Share program content with your clients
- Track and report out on client progress
There are many solutions available that can help you with the tasks above, but it’s tough to find one that can “do it all.” You’ll likely have to choose two or more options to cover all of your practice’s unique needs.
Use this guide for help: 5 Best Coaching Apps: An Ultimate Software Guide For Coaches [2022]
But if you’re ready to get started right away, one solution that you’ll definitely want to check out is Quenza.
8 Ways To Use Quenza For Intimacy Coaching
Quenza is a one-of-a-kind tool for connecting and working with clients. While many other solutions offer things like scheduling, note-taking, and invoicing, Quenza gets to the heart of a coaching practice: delivering content and engaging with clients.
Here are just a few of the ways you can use Quenza to up your coaching game:
- Instead of emailing your clients a form for them to fill out or an exercise for them to try, you can quickly, easily, and securely create and send content via the Quenza platform.
- If you’re not sure exactly what content you’re looking for and need some inspiration, check out Quenza’s Expansion Library of activities and exercises; you can use them as-is, or modify them for your clients.
- And even better—you’ll know when your client has completed the activity you sent them, and you can see their results immediately.
- Use the reporting tools to create a PDF of your client’s results that you can view and share with your client, as shown above.
- If you want to follow up with your client on their results, you can use the chat function to communicate conveniently and securely.
- Once you’ve discussed progress with your client, you can take notes and store them in your client’s profile within Quenza, where you can also find things like contact information, as shown below.
- If you have a well-established program of content, you can create a Pathway: a sequence of activities that will deliver your content to your client on your timeline.
- If you work with couples or groups, you can use the groups feature to guide several clients through a particular Pathway at one time.
With a tool like Quenza, you can up your coaching game and reach your clients more effectively.
Final Thoughts
It takes a special individual to guide and support people in building better intimate relationships with their loved ones, especially with so many external factors that can take us away from the people we love.
It’s a big responsibility to take on the role of an intimacy coach, but it also comes with big rewards. If you’re ready for the responsibility and the rewards, use the information in this piece to get started with your $1, 1-month Quenza trial.
Happy coaching!
Frequently Asked Questions
There are several types of intimacy coaching, including relationship coaching, sex coaching, and somatic coaching. Relationship coaching focuses on communication and connection, while sex coaching addresses sexual issues. Somatic coaching combines physical and emotional awareness providing a holistic approach to deepen intimacy.
Yes, intimacy coaching can be done online. With the advancements in technology, there are various digital coaching solutions available, such as Quenza, that provide online tools for intimacy coaching, allowing coaches to connect and work with clients remotely from any device with an internet connection.
Some common misconceptions about intimacy coaching include the belief that it’s only for people with sexual problems, only for couples, only for people in long-term relationships, only for people with serious issues, and only about sex. However, intimacy coaching can benefit individuals and couples at any stage of their relationship, and can help with a wide range of issues related to emotional and physical intimacy. The goal of intimacy coaching is to help individuals and couples develop a deeper connection and a more fulfilling relationship overall.
