We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LK Strader a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi LK, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I experienced brief flashes of intimacy growing up, but it was never something I could call forth at my own discretion. It was never constant. Yet, I had an incredible hunger for it. I made it my personal mission to weave intimacy into every fiber of my life. I learned how to manifest intimacy in all of my personal relationships.
My experiences gave me a new hunger: to share with other humans, the absolute joy and liberation of harnessing intimacy. My love for education and desire for helping others led me to pursue my masters degree in Psychology. I have a lot of passion for supporting people in liberation from their own trauma histories. I have drawn a lot from my experience working in community mental health services. I believe firmly in sex positivity and I have worked to promote that through teaching sexual education. I am also actively involved in the sex positive and kink communities, while remaining continually engaged with education and activism for the LGBTQIA+ community and for reproductive justice
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Sex for Humans is the culmination of everything I have learned and all that I’m so thrilled to share. I offer personalized coaching services and workshops related to sex, sexuality, intimacy and allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community, especially for parents supporting queer and trans children.
As humans, we rely on deeply meaningful connections with other humans. We can gain so much from experiencing intimate connections. Intimacy can make us feel fully alive, energized & liberated. Yet, there are often things that stand in our way. Perhaps it’s past trauma, from childhood or infidelity. Perhaps it’s simply that things have gone “stale” in a long term relationship or we’ve gotten so busy with work, kids, elderly parents, or life that we’ve lost sight of how to be fully present with our partner(s).
My sole desire is to help fellow humans rediscover the spontaneity in both themselves and their relationships to create a foundation for intimacy to grow. I believe that all of my clients hold the capacity for intimacy and see my role as helping them discover what’s standing in their way. We will work together to remove barriers and overcome hurdles to help you tap back into the energetic charge that comes with intimacy.
While sex and intimacy are often intertwined, each exist independently as well. Most people who have had a one night stand can confirm that few of those sexual encounters were intimate. Likewise, there are many ways to foster intimacy without sex. I focus on revamping intimacy inside and outside of the bedroom. Whether you need help feeling closer to other humans or navigating conversations about sexual desires, I’m here to support you.
I am passionate about working with humans seeking or engaging in all types of relationships. I work diligently to provide a judgement free zone and delight in working with people outside of heteronormative and monogamous relationships.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Passion and joy have led the way. When my father died I was given a reality check about how much I was missing out on both passion and joy, which I refused to live with after being forced to recognize the brevity of this life. Regardless of the mundane, obligatory professional pathways I’ve taken, my ability to see what was missing for me, internally and emotionally, allowed the pursuit of passion and joy to propel me. My desire for those two things were/are paramount in my journey of pursuing something greater and in alignment with my own value system.
On that journey I’ve fell in love with parts of myself that I was once ashamed of and met parts of myself I adore. Through that personal, emotional growth, I’ve found love for me and appreciation for and value in my own lived experiences. My hope for others embarking on their own journey is that they can recognize their inherent worth and feel empowered to rely on their knowing–gained through their own lived experiences. Those experiences allow them to relate to the world in a unique way and that is invaluable.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
Currently, I am running my coaching business and working full time as a therapist in a private group practice. Meanwhile, I am also studying for a major licensing exam. I am busy. The greatest challenge in juggling it all right now is trying to make time for myself and maintaining my own personal relationships outside of my career. Despite knowing it won’t be this way forever, it still often feels daunting to cancel plans to study or feeling too exhausted to join in on spontaneous offers for social engagement. This is a difficult chapter that will elicit a sigh of relief when it ends.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sexforhumans.com
- Instagram: @sex_for_humans
- Facebook: @sex_for_humans
