Part 2: Helping Couples Heal with Carol Juergensen Sheets
Carol Juergensen Sheets and Dr. Rob continue their conversation about healing as a couple. Carol defines the six primary needs of every person, ways to create meaningful connection, and what it means to be brave and do it anyway throughout a couple’s healing journey.
TAKEAWAYS:
[1:23] Where do couples start with healing?
[3:27] Transactional sex versus emotional connection.
[4:13] First steps with couples work – what do you need that you aren’t getting?
[6:03] Defining the 6 primary needs of every person.
[9:40] Creating meaningful ways for connection.
[11:56] Helping couples heal starts here.
[14:15] Do you know your own strengths?
[15:05] Be brave and do it anyway.
RESOURCES:
Sex and Relationship Healing
@RobWeissMSW
Sex Addiction 101
Seeking Integrity
Free Sexual Addiction Screening Assessment
Partner Sexuality Survey
Carol Juergensen Sheets
Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.
QUOTES:
● “You need to be seen as a couple that is not in distress.”
● “Create ways that you can look forward to connection.”
● “I want couples to work through their trauma with each other.”
● “You have to do what will make your partner feel safe.”
--------
21:55
--------
21:55
Part 1: Helping Couples Heal with Carol Juergensen Sheets
Carol Juergensen Sheets joins Dr. Rob for an in-depth conversation about what it really takes for both partners to heal after betrayal and trauma. Carol focuses on empathy in recovery, understanding triggers, and the signs that indicate that it is safe for a couple to move toward each other again. She also addresses the importance of support groups in healing and answers the classic question – do women really need other women?
TAKEAWAYS:
[2:56] Carol has been supporting healing in sex addicts couples since 2005.
[5:55] Betrayed spouses aren’t crazy, they’re traumatized.
[7:57] The Early Recovery Couples Empathy Model.
[10:38] The danger of fact checking and hypervigilance after trauma.
[14:10] The sustaining hope of feeling connected to your partner.
[15:25] Empathy broken down into 4 actionable parts.
[20:05] How to desensitize the desire to shut down after being triggered.
[22:52] Am I contributing to this relationship or contaminating it?
[26:33] When is it safe to move toward the coupleship again?
[28:25] Shifting away from if/then interactions toward stability.
[31:11] Healthy detachment leads to healing.
[36:07] Do women really need other women?
RESOURCES:
Sex and Relationship Healing
@RobWeissMSW
Sex Addiction 101
Seeking Integrity
Free Sexual Addiction Screening Assessment
Partner Sexuality Survey
Carol Juergensen Sheets
Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.
QUOTES:
● “I don’t want someone calling me 24/7, I want them to develop a fellowship out there that can also help to guide them.”
● “You can’t just stop negative behaviors, you have to replace them with something good.”
● “You can be in conflict but not withdraw.”
● “Am I contributing to this relationship or contaminating it?”
--------
40:03
--------
40:03
Part 2: Sexuality After 50 with Dr. Kennedy
Dr. Jenn Kennedy and Dr. Rob continue their conversation about finding satisfaction and intimacy after 50. They consider what it means to truly become a better person and partner, to evolve beyond betrayal toward empathy and intimacy. We often think that intimacy equals sex, but Dr. Kennedy challenges that notion and defines what a satisfied, committed relationship can really look like in the later years of life.
TAKEAWAYS:
[1:45] The impact of infidelity on a committed sexual relationship.
[7:20] Infidelity in a mature vs. younger couple.
[13:03] Intimacy, not just sex, is the ultimate goal.
[17:40] From discovery to reconnecting sexually, eventually.
[27:07] Moving from ‘I’m sorry to ‘I’m sorry I put you through that’.
[32:40] Reintroducing touch and talking without the expectation of sex.
[38:13] Scheduled sex and other tactics for navigating sexuality in older age.
[43:20] Train your mind to choose your partner.
[44:57] Battling the psychological landmine is not required to resume intimacy.
[46:40] What if we just don’t want to have sex anymore?
RESOURCES:
Sex and Relationship Healing
@RobWeissMSW
Sex Addiction 101
Seeking Integrity
Free Sexual Addiction Screening Assessment
Partner Sexuality Survey
Dr. Jenn Kennedy
Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.
QUOTES:
● “The breakdown in intimacy after infidelity is real.”
● “If the addict doesn’t start to actually change and show some progress, their sex life probably isn’t going to change either.”
● “Wherever you place your focus, growth will occur.”
● “You can have great intimacy and not have sex.”
--------
54:39
--------
54:39
Part 1: Sexuality After 50 with Dr. Kennedy
Dr. Jenn Kennedy joins Dr. Rob to explore a rarely discussed topic – sexuality for the more seasoned. Dr. Kennedy tackles the two main ‘D’s’ of sexuality that bring couples into therapy after 50, considers what ‘better’ sex really looks like, and shares some of the main talking points that should be discussed in any conversation about sexuality as we age. Because like it or not, these are issues that every person has to face as they get older.
TAKEAWAYS:
[2:23] Dr. Kennedy’s third career tackles the topics that many therapist avoid.
[4:50] Generalities in sexuality expectations and roles over 50.
[8:35] Women over 50, their relationships and their sexuality.
[10:42] Presenting problems that bring couples to Dr. Kennedy.
[12:30] Dissatisfaction in a committed couple’s sex history.
[18:50] Do men know how to ask for what they want?
[24:05] Dysfunction is the greatest motivator for couples sex therapy.
[28:38] What does ‘better sex’ really look like?
[31:12] How body image impacts sexuality as we age.
RESOURCES:
Sex and Relationship Healing
@RobWeissMSW
Sex Addiction 101
Seeking Integrity
Free Sexual Addiction Screening Assessment
Partner Sexuality Survey
Dr. Jenn Kennedy
Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.
QUOTES:
● “The bedroom is a microcosm of the larger life.”
● “50 and beyond, more and more men are going to start having erectile dysfunction.”
● “The quality of the relationship has to feel work the tradeoff of the objectification of youth.”
● “When they’re able to articulate it, men say they want to be wanted.”
● “Your motivation to having sex matters.”
--------
36:59
--------
36:59
Part 2: The Benefits of Therapeutic Separation with Lindsey Stanley and Dr. Stevie Hall
Dr. Rob and authors Lindsey Stanley and Dr. Stevie Hall continue their conversation about therapeutic separation, focusing on the impact that separation can have on children at different ages and stages. They explore ways to prove safety and stability for children throughout the process, navigating family events during separation, and why couples therapy may not be appropriate during a period of separation. This conversation provides exceptional insights into a critical step of healing after betrayal that can result in a stronger partnership.
TAKEAWAYS:
[1:22] External factors that contribute to the pressure of separation or divorce.
[3:16] Explaining separation to children in healthy and age-appropriate ways.
[7:00] Taking appropriate ownership in the face of external influences and challenges.
[10:09] Providing safety and stability for children despite anger and pain.
[11:22] Navigating family events throughout therapeutic separation.
[13:45] Building trust during the therapeutic separation process.
[16:56] The challenges of therapeutic separation when affairs are involved.
[19:02] Couples therapy may not be appropriate during a period of separation.
RESOURCES:
Sex and Relationship Healing
@RobWeissMSW
Sex Addiction 101
Seeking Integrity
Free Sexual Addiction Screening Assessment
Partner Sexuality Survey
Lindsey Stanley
Dr. Stevie Hall
Seeking Integrity Podcasts are produced in partnership with Podfly Productions.
QUOTES:
“Share with children what is in their best health and wellness to know.”
“You can acknowledge the pain and hurt to your kids, but you don’t necessarily have to share all the things with them.”
“There needs to be an agreed upon script when disclosing to children.”
“Privacy and honesty are different things.”
On Sex, Love, and Addiction, Dr. Rob Weiss, sex therapist and author of a dozen books on sex and relationship healing, interviews global experts like Dr’s. Sue Johnson, Harville Hendrix, Dr. Stan Tatkin, and Helen Fisher, Dr. Kenneth Adams among others. This podcast features robust discussions focused on healing from chronic infidelity, cheating, porn, and sex addiction, along with the pain of relationship betrayal. Dr. Rob is Chief Clinical Officer for Seeking integrity Treatment Centers. He is a 30-year licensed therapist, a Ph.D. sexologist, and author Sex Addiction 101, Prodependence, and Out of the Doghouse, among other books. This podcast is dedicated to bringing information, advice, and direction from experts around the world to those seeking answers to some of life’s most challenging questions.
Ireland