Empowering Sex Therapy through New England and beyond
At The Sexual Wellness Collective (Swell Co.), we believe that sexual wellness is not a luxury, an afterthought, or a mechanical function to be fixed. It is a fundamental element of human wholeness, self-expression, and relational vitality.
We brought our practices together to build New England’s premier home for integrative sex therapy and intimacy coaching—a space built on the radical belief that you deserve a sex life and a relationship with your body that feels liberating, authentic, and joyful.
Our Clinical Pillars
De-Pathologizing Pleasure & Function: We move far beyond traditional medicalized models that reduce sexual wellness to mechanics or diagnostic codes. Whether navigating desire differences, anxiety, pain, or shifting life stages, we care for the whole person—mind, body, nervous system, and history.
Undoing Cultural & Inherited Shame: So much of what holds us back sexually isn't an individual flaw; it’s the result of societal scripts, purity culture, religious trauma, or rigid expectations. We provide a compassionate, brave container to help you untangle what you were taught from what you actually want.
Somatic & Relational Depth: Healing doesn't happen strictly from the neck up. Our work integrates somatic awareness, relational dynamics, and emotional processing to help you get out of your head and into your body through felt, embodied presence.
Radically Inclusive & Culturally Responsive: We are sex-positive, LGBTQ+ affirming, trauma-informed, and non-monogamy/kink-knowledgeable. We meet every identity, body, and relationship constellation with deep reverence and absolute safety.
How We Support You: Our Practice Foundations
While our specialization centers on sexual wellness and intimacy, our underlying practice is built to care for the whole person and your broader relational ecosystem.
Integrative & Multi-Modal Frameworks
We weave together trusted, research-backed therapies—including Gottman Method, Narrative Therapy, CBT, and Relational-Humanistic approaches—tailoring a treatment plan specific to your unique emotional and relational needs.
Radical Empathy & Unapologetic Authenticity
We bring our real selves to this work. Expect transparent, direct, and compassionate care where you can drop the performance and show up exactly as you are.
Comprehensive Care & Accessibility
We offer specialized telehealth therapy across New England and beyond, alongside immersive in-person retreats, workshops, and global coaching designed to support you wherever you are on your journey.
While our clinical backgrounds bring unique lenses—from somatic bodywork and perinatal care to trauma recovery and reproductive health activism—our underlying philosophy is entirely unified.
We don't view you through a lens of pathology or brokenness.
Instead, we work collaboratively to dismantle the societal, cultural, relational, and internal barriers standing between you and deep connection.
Our Therapeutic Expertise
Low Desire & Libido Disconnects
Low desire isn't a personal failure or a missing light switch. Whether navigating mismatched sex drives in a partnership or a personal drop in libido, when life gets overwhelming, the nervous system throws on the emergency brakes. Your body will choose survival over getting turned on every single time. We move beyond the "shoulds" of spontaneous desire to look under the hood at your unique brakes and accelerators. Together, we dismantle performance pressure, quiet the shame, and retrain your system so authentic desire can show up naturally, on your terms.
Relational Intimacy & Erotic Communication
Nobody naturally knows how to communicate about sex (even if you’re comfortable talking about it); we inherit clunky scripts, cultural taboos, and unrealistic expectations that fail us in adulthood. We skip generic advice to help you and your partner(s) move past misunderstanding and get radically clear about what you actually want. Whether you are navigating long-term partnership, non-monogamy, polyamory, or alternative relationship styles, we build a shared language rooted in clarity, boundary-setting, and consent—bridging emotional safety with authentic erotic charge.
Trauma Healing & Body Reclamation
Trauma and chronic stress don't sit quietly in your thoughts—they lock up in your tissues, posture, and nervous system, regardless of your background or anatomy. When your body is stuck in defense mode, intimacy can feel unsafe, overwhelming, or completely numbing. We don't just talk about the past; we work directly with the body. Through mindfulness, body awareness, and compassionate re-authoring of your story, we untangle stored tension and quiet the shame so you can reclaim your body as a place of safety, presence, and pleasure.
Anxiety, Perfectionism & Erotic Self-Esteem
You can’t overthink your way into arousal. A loud inner critic, body doubt, and chronic perfectionism pull you out of the present moment and lock your system in fight-or-flight. We help clients of all genders break the anxiety loop by targeting it from both top-down psychological insight and bottom-up nervous system regulation. When we quiet the internal noise and settle your body's alarm response, your confidence, self-worth, and capacity for real pleasure take back the wheel.
Purity Culture, Religious Trauma & Sexual Shame
If you grew up in an environment where sex was taught as dirty, dangerous, or a source of guilt, those messages don't magically vanish in adulthood. They show up as pelvic tension, dread, performance anxiety, and deep-rooted shame. We specialize in the delicate work of de-programming purity culture conditioning and restrictive societal narratives for all identities. We’ll help you separate your upbringing from your actual values so you can step into a sexual identity that feels safe, joyful, and entirely yours.
Neurodiverse Relationships & Mixed-Neurotype Intimacy
Navigating a relationship between neurodivergent (ADHD, Autistic, AuDHD, sensory-sensitive) and neurotypical partners—or between different neurotypes—requires throwing out standard relationship rulebooks. Differences in processing styles, sensory profiles, executive functioning, and emotional expression often lead to unintentional misunderstandings, sensory overwhelm, or feeling like you're speaking entirely different languages. We help partners bridge the gap without forcing anyone to mask or abandon their authentic needs. Together, we decode your unique nervous system triggers, navigate sensory dynamics around touch and intimacy, and build explicit, compassionate communication styles that foster genuine safety, equity, and erotic connection.
Orgasm & Performance Challenges
If reaching climax feels like running a marathon inside your own head, or if performance pressure leaves you stressed and out of control, you're trapped in spectator mode. We drop the finish-line mentality and use body-based tools, mindfulness, and sensory retraining to quiet the mental noise, lower the anxiety, and put you back in control of your pleasure and pacing.
Betrayal & Infidelity
When a breach of trust occurs—whether through emotional affairs, physical infidelity, or broken relational agreements—it shakes the foundational ground beneath your feet. Betrayal triggers acute nervous system trauma, leaving partners trapped in hypervigilance, grief, anger, and deep insecurity. We provide a grounded, non-judgmental container to help you process the shock, establish emotional safety, and untangle the pain. Whether your goal is to rebuild trust, redefine your relationship agreements, or navigate a conscious separation, we guide you through the raw work of repair and reclamation.
Sexual Pain & Pelvic Discomfort
When sex becomes something you have to brace for, even the idea of pleasure disappears before you even start. If you're dealing with pelvic pain, burning, or involuntary muscle clamping, your body has linked intimacy with self-protection. Trying to tough it out or "just relax" only reinforces the cycle. We work from the inside out to break that fear-pain feedback loop, helping your system unlearn the urge to guard so you can safely inhabit your body again.
Outercourse & Sex-Positive Pleasure Frameworks
Sex is so much more than intercourse—and expanding your options doesn't mean giving up what already works for some. When penetration becomes the only metric that counts, it creates misunderstandings and goal-oriented stress. We teach inclusive, pleasure-first frameworks and outercourse practices that take the rushing out of intimacy. By expanding your sensual repertoire, we take the pressure off performing and unlock deeper, full-bodied connection—however you and your partner(s) best enjoy it.
Consensual Non-Monogamy, Polyamory & Kink-Affirming Care
Opening a relationship, navigating polyamory, or exploring kink should never be treated as a symptom of a problem or something to "fix." Yet, many individuals and relationship constellations struggle to find therapeutic care that is truly knowledgeable, non-pathologizing, and affirming. Whether you are curious about expanding your relational boundaries, navigating jealousy and compersion, establishing clear agreements, or integrating kink and BDSM into your erotic life, we offer a safe, culturally competent container. We help you move past societal judgment and unlearn normative relationship scripts so you can build ethical, deeply connected relationships that honor your authentic desires and boundaries.
Hormonal Shifts & Life Transition Sexual Wellness
Hormonal shifts fundamentally alter blood flow, arousal, body confidence, and energy. Whether navigating postpartum shifts, perimenopause, menopause, gender-affirming care, or age-related vitality changes, you don't have to just "deal with it". We pair evidence-based sexual health insights with somatic tools to help you adapt to your changing body and reclaim a vibrant, evolving connection to your sexuality.
Meet Ashley + Danielle
Quick Facts about Dr. Ashley Sweet
Ph.D., LMHC, LCPC, CST, CCHt
Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Sexology
Licensed Mental Health Counselor / Clinical Professional Counselor (MA, ME, NH, CT, VA, VT, ID & FL)
AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist
Certified Hypnotherapist
Clinical Researcher, Abortion Counselor, and Social Justice/ Feminist Activist
Quick Facts about Dr. Danielle Armour
Ph.D., LICSW, LCSW, CST, RYT
Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work, and a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Sexology
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker / Licensed Clinical Social Worker (MA, ME, NH, VA, VT & ID)
AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist
Registered Yoga & Breathwork Teacher (Somatic & Mind-Body Integration Expert)
Author of Awaken Your Body, Awaken Your Desire
It’s time. Do you feel it?
New words need to go here!
“Pleasure is the measure” Dr. Emily Nagoski
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Selecting a sex therapist is a deeply personal decision. You aren't just looking for a clinician—you are looking for an intentional space where your identity is respected and your pleasure is prioritized. Led by Dr. Ashley Sweet and Dr. Danielle Armour, SWELL Co. brings a modern, activist-minded, and clinically rigorous framework to intimacy care. Here is what sets our collective approach apart:
A Feminist & Systemic Lens
Traditional therapy often treats sexual issues as purely "mechanical" or individual failures. We view them through a systemic, feminist lens—acknowledging how cultural expectations, gender roles, purity culture, and power dynamics directly impact your intimate life. We don't just troubleshoot a symptom; we address the broader cultural scripts that created it.
Beyond "Function" to True Fulfillment
Many providers focus solely on basic "sexual functioning"—the baseline ability to perform or tolerate sex without distress. Our goal is genuine sexual fulfillment. Simply "functioning" isn't the end goal; feeling fully empowered, embodied, and joyful in your sexuality is the destination.
Specialized AASECT-Certified Expertise
While many clinicians offer general relationship advice, true sex therapy requires rigorous post-graduate specialization. As AASECT Certified Sex Therapists and Doctors of Clinical Sexology, Dr. Sweet and Dr. Armour bring advanced training in reproductive health, pelvic floor dynamics, and somatic sexology. Our care bridges biological understanding with deep psychological insight.
De-Programming the Shame Cycle
We specialize in the quiet, transformative work of dismantling sexual shame. Rather than offering superficial quick fixes, we help you unpack deeply rooted anxiety, medical trauma, or religious conditioning. We cultivate an actively shame-free space where no topic—from kink and consensual non-monogamy (CNM) to pelvic pain and desire gaps—is off-limits or judged.
Visualizing Your Transformation
Clients often arrive at SWELL feeling trapped in a restrictive Performance/Shame loop—where anxiety fuels avoidance, physical tension, and emotional distance. Through our work together, we guide you into a Pleasure/Connection loop, anchoring your intimate life in bodily autonomy, somatic ease, and authentic relational warmth.
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Not at all. Sex therapy is highly beneficial for individuals wanting to explore their sexual identity, heal from trauma, or address physical concerns like erectile dysfunction or painful sex before entering a new relationship.
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Difficulty with orgasm (anorgasmia) is often linked to "spectatoring"—which is monitoring yourself during sex rather than feeling the sensations. In our sessions, we use a pleasure-positive framework to dismantle the "orgasm-as-a-goal" mindset, which actually makes reaching orgasm more likely.
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Sex should never be painful. Whether you are dealing with vaginismus, dyspareunia, life changes, or challenges in technique, we work together to understand the body’s "no" response. Our approach integrates education and somatic healing to help you reclaim your body as a source of safety and pleasure.
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Increasing intimacy in a relationship isn't about convincing or coercing your partner; it’s about creating the emotional, physical, and somatic conditions where desire can naturally surface. When one partner wants more frequency, trying to "convince" them often backfires—it creates pressure, turning sex into an obligation or a task on a to-do list, which active desire cannot survive.
Here is how we approach desire dynamics in sex therapy to build genuine, mutual connection:
Understand Spontaneous vs. Responsive Desire: Many people assume desire always strikes out of nowhere like lightning (spontaneous desire). However, many individuals experience responsive desire—meaning interest emerges only after feeling relaxed, emotionally connected, and physically safe without the immediate expectation of intercourse.
Remove Performance Pressure: When sex feels like a test or a obligation, the nervous system shifts into avoidance. Replacing initiation with non-demand physical touch (cuddling, massage, holding hands) helps your partner’s nervous system settle without anticipating pressure.
Identify and Address Sexual Accelerators & Brakes: Based on the Dual Control Model of sexuality, desire requires pressing the "accelerator" (context, romance, novel experiences) while easing off the "brakes" (stress, fatigue, body insecurities, resentment, or physical pain).
Shift from Demand to Curiosity: Instead of focusing on frequency, focus on fulfillment. Ask curious, non-judgmental questions about what helps your partner feel relaxed, connected, and embodied in their daily life.
Sex therapy offers a direct, structured framework to help couples move away from pursuer/distancer dynamics and co-create an intimate life that feels deeply satisfying for both partners.