We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matthew Lachman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matthew below.

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

When I began my journey in the field of sex therapy, I never expected to open my own private practice and be successful. I thought I would stay at an already established mental health center and work there until I retired. I do not know why I thought this. If you ask anyone of my siblings, friends, or colleagues, I was never someone to sit and stay in one spot for long. I started my sex therapy journey right around the time I was 30. I was already established in my career as a licensed professional counselor and I was working at the number two hospital in the country, The Cleveland Clinic. I loved my job. My co-workers were amazing and some of the best people/clinicians I have ever worked with in my life. I could have seen myself staying at that job for the rest of my life if it wasn’t for the feeling that I was not living to my true potential. I never fully felt satisfied doing general mental health work. I always felt like there was a piece missing in my professional life and after two years at my job, I realized it was sex therapy. One day, I was sitting at my desk, reflecting on my career up to that point and thinking about my future when it hit me, I needed a change. At this point, I had already switched careers a couple of times and realized that although I had found my home in mental health, I hadn’t found my purpose yet. I was thinking back to my graduate schooling and remembered I had taken a class in Human Sexuality and absolutely loved it. But did sex therapists exist in the Midwest? The answer was , yes, but not a ton. At the time, my boss was also my state supervisor for counseling. I went to her and told her that I wanted to pursue this new journey and see where it took me. She supported me every step of the way. After some internet sleuthing, I found my way to a local sex therapist and began working at their practice. After a year of navigating a full-time job and working 10-12 hours extra at the private practice, I was ready to go out on my own. This is truly where the gun began.

I credit my time at the Cleveland Clinic for helping me understand the complexities of running a business. Any clinician can open up their own private practice, but to be successful, one has to balance when to be business-minded and when to be therapy-minded. One of the biggest challenges was finding a space to practice. Luckily. after a year of hopping around in other clinician’s spaces, I found a spot right down the road from me.

My advice for young professionals is to not be afraid to ask for help, reach out to your support system, and network. Get involved in as many consultation groups and professional business organizations that are going to put you in front of not other other clinicians, but also professionals who will remember who you are the next time they think therapy. Also, don’t be afraid to find a specialty. Whether it is sex therapy, EDMR, couples therapy, or group work, you do not need to be a master of everything to be successful.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My journey to sex therapy has been a circuitous one. I grew up an athlete and after graduating college in 2011, went into a graduate program focused on sport psychology. I thought I would use my passion for sports and mental health to aid athletes in their journies. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I did not find this path to be the most fulfilling. After I graduated, mentors thought I would do well in the counseling field so I entered another graduate program in clinical mental health. This was my first exposure to sex therapy work as I took an elective entitled Human Sexuality. This was back in 2015 so although I thought it was fun, I was still trapped in my own sex negativity and never thought I would use it. After graduating, I had a few jobs in community mental health and employee assistance program work, but nothing felt fulfilling. After some reflection and personal growth, I remembered the human sexuality course I took and how much I loved it. This motivated me to find sex therapy again and as they say, the rest is history.

As an AASECT certified sex therapist, my primary focus is working with human sexuality and all that it entails. I am an LPCC-S in Ohio, which basically means I am independently licensed and at the top of the licensing structure. So while I could work with any kind of issue a person is facing, my focus is primary in working with the LGBTQIA+ population and sex therapy. I work with individuals, couples, and the polyamorous community. I am trained to work with sexual dysfunctions, out of control sexual behavior, and basically everything related to sex negative messaging that we receive. If I had to choose a specialty, it would be consensual non-monogamy.

I am most proud of the reputation I have cultivated over the years and connecting with other therapists. Building a network is huge in the private practice world and although you would think. every therapist is ethical, they aren’t, so I pride myself for protecting my clients and fostering growth. When it is all said and done, the mission of Cleveland Sex Therapy is to promote sex positivity and inclusivity. I tell people I am pulling them out of “the Matrix of sex negativity.” Unfortunately, my clients are getting younger and younger and don’t understand the reference to “The Matrix” movies, so maybe I should think of another analogy.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Early in my sex therapy career, I had to report unethical behavior to federal investigators, our state licensing board, and our sex therapy certification board. As a licensed clinician, I never thought I would be put in this situation. Thankfully, I had a phenomenal support system professionally and personally that helped me navigate it. When I became licensed, I never suspected to come across unethical behavior by other clinicians. You could call me naive, but truthfully, I used to view the profession through a solely optimistic lens and I believe this opened me up to be manipulated by unethical individuals. Nowadays although I am still optimistic, I am more realistic in my expectations and have learned to be more discerning with whom I allow myself to become associated with in the field.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In general, I pride myself on being as genuine as I can be with other people. As humans, we are pretty perceptive and can see through people acting fake or inauthentic. As a queer person, I think how I navigated my sexual identity development has helped me understand how tough it is for people to be vulnerable and exploratory. Because of this, whenever I interact with clients, potential clients, other clinicians, and professionals, I don’t see the point in acting any differently than who I am. There is a lot of power in knowing your competency levels and not pretending to know what you don’t know. So besides putting myself out there at networking, I am very active in handling my business and connections in my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.clevelandsextherapy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clevelandsextherapy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClevelandSexTherapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-lachman-med-ms-lpcc-s-cst-6a319494/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNwVtudz_ID5s5tvTngZ_Q