A confidential place to talk through intimacy, communication, self-image, and the effects of stress or health changes, at a pace you set. Delivered by Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. Psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP). Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Available in person at five Edmonton and St. Albert locations, and virtually across Alberta. Sessions are 50 minutes.

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You Might Be Wondering Whether Male Sexual Health Counselling Is Right for You

You may be asking yourself whether this is actually a problem or just something you are supposed to manage on your own. Maybe you have wondered whether it is physical or whether it is in your head, and whether saying any of it out loud to a stranger would make it worse. That uncertainty is a reasonable place to be. Most people who look up this topic are not sure what they are dealing with yet.

Some of what brings people here looks like this. Avoiding closeness with a partner because of what might follow, and then feeling worse about the distance. Rehearsing a conversation with a doctor or a partner for weeks and never having it. Noticing that something has shifted since a health change, a medication, a breakup, or a stretch of hard months at work, and not knowing where the change came from.

These are common reactions to a private worry that carries a lot of pressure, not evidence of a defect in you. Sexual health touches identity, relationships, and self-worth all at once, which is part of why it is difficult to raise. Guidance from the Public Health Agency of Canada notes that discomfort around these conversations can deter people from seeking care at all (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], 2024).

You may wish to keep reading and see what this kind of counselling actually involves, and what it does not. Nothing here requires you to decide anything today.

Who We Help

This service may be a reasonable fit if you are:

• A man wanting to talk through changes in intimacy or sexual connection.
• Finding conversations with a partner about sex difficult to start or to finish.
• Noticing that self-image, confidence, or body-related worry is affecting closeness.
• Adjusting to the emotional side of a health change, a diagnosis, or medical treatment.
• Working out differences in desire, preferences, or boundaries within a relationship.
• Single, dating, partnered, married, or separated, and wanting to think through what you want.
• Supporting a partner or family member and trying to understand what help exists.

This service may not be the right fit in these situations:

• You need urgent safety support. Please use the crisis resources below.
• You have physical symptoms. Pain, sudden physical changes, questions about medication effects, or concerns about sexually transmitted infections need assessment by a physician, nurse practitioner, or sexual health clinic. Counselling cannot determine the cause of a physical symptom.
• You need a formal psychological assessment or a report. Assessments are a separate service at Wholesome Psychology and are not part of counselling. You can review the sexual functioning assessment service if that is what you are looking for.
• You need legal, forensic, or court-directed work. These needs sit outside this therapy service.

If You Need Support Right Now

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service. If you need immediate help, please use one of these:

• 911 if you are in immediate danger, or go to your nearest emergency department.
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, available 24/7.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What This Service Is

Male sexual health counselling is a talking service. It gives you a private, structured setting to look at the emotional, relational, and behavioural sides of sexual health concerns, and to decide what you want to work on. Your therapist's role is not to define your experience for you or to tell you what your sex life should look like.

It is equally important to be clear about what this service is not. It is not medical care, and it does not replace physical examination, medication management, or testing for sexually transmitted infections. It is not a legal or investigative process. It is not crisis intervention. It also does not include psychological assessment or diagnosis, which are handled separately at this clinic.

The pace belongs to you. You decide what you talk about, how much detail you give, and when. What you share is treated as confidential within the legal and ethical limits described further down this page, and your therapist will walk you through those limits before you share anything personal.

Signs Sexual Health Concerns May Be Affecting You

People notice this in different ways. You do not need to recognize yourself in all of these, and none of them tells you what is causing the change:

• Avoiding intimacy, or finding reasons to be busy when closeness might come up.
• Worry or tension building in the hours before a partner comes home.
• Replaying past experiences and predicting how the next one will go.
• Feeling embarrassed or ashamed in a way that spills into other parts of the day.
• Pulling back from a partner who has not done anything wrong.
• Difficulty talking about sex at all, even with someone you trust.
• Changes in how you see your body, your age, or your masculinity.
• Sleep, appetite, or concentration shifting alongside the worry.
• A sense that something changed after an illness, an injury, a medication, or a period of high stress.

Experiences like these are common reactions to a stressful and private situation. They are not permanent features of who you are, and noticing them does not mean you have a disorder. What they often do mean is that the worry has been carried alone for a while, and a structured conversation may give it somewhere else to go.

How Treatment Works Here

• Find your therapist. You can use the therapist matching tool or read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page. If you would rather talk it through, the admin team can help at 780-904-4880.
• Book your first session. The first appointment covers confidentiality and its limits, informed consent, what brings you in, and what you would like to be different. You are not expected to have it all worked out beforehand.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist decide on goals and approach jointly. The plan is yours, and you can say when something is not working.
• Ongoing sessions. Follow-up sessions are often weekly or bi-weekly when that suits your circumstances, and the frequency is adjusted collaboratively. Each session is 50 minutes.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews progress with you at regular points, and the plan changes as your needs change.

There is no fixed number of sessions and no set course you have to complete. Your voice matters at every stage, including the decision to pause, change direction, or stop.

Evidence and Approaches

An honest note before this section. The evidence set assembled for this page supports how these conversations should be conducted and how sexual health is classified. It does not contain effectiveness trials for counselling in adult male sexual health. The approaches below are described accordingly, and the gap is recorded openly rather than filled with claims the sources do not support.

Person-Centred, Non-Judgmental Counselling

What it helps with: Creating a setting where sexual health can be raised without embarrassment or fear of judgment.

Evidence summary: Guidance from the Public Health Agency of Canada describes person-centred care as being respectful of and responsive to a person's preferences, needs, and values, with the person treated as an equal partner in planning their own care (PHAC, 2024). The same guidance notes that discomfort about these conversations, on the part of the person seeking care or the professional, can deter people from getting help (PHAC, 2024).

Limitations: This guidance describes how conversations should be conducted, not whether counselling changes sexual functioning. No outcome data on that question was available for this page.

Collaborative, Goal-Focused Individual Counselling

What it helps with: Working through intimacy, communication, self-image, stress, expectations, and relationship change at a pace you set.

Evidence summary: The World Health Organization groups conditions related to sexual health across several distinct domains, including desire, arousal, orgasmic, and ejaculatory concerns (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). This supports treating sexual health as a set of different experiences rather than one single problem, which is why goals here are set individually rather than from a standard template.

Limitations: A classification system describes categories and does not establish that counselling improves any of them. Individual response varies, and no comparative outcome research for this population was supplied.

Couples and Relational Counselling

What it helps with: Concerns that centre on communication, differing desire, or a change in the relationship itself.

Evidence summary: Couples sessions may be considered when they suit the concern and when everyone involved agrees to take part, and couples counselling is offered at this clinic as a related service. Your therapist can discuss whether individual work, couples work, or a combination makes sense for your situation.

Limitations: Couples work is not appropriate or required in every situation, and it depends on the willing participation of both people. No outcome research on couples work for male sexual health concerns was included in the evidence set for this page.

Counselling Alongside Medical Care

What it helps with: The emotional and relational effects of a health change, a medication, or a course of medical treatment.

Evidence summary: Clinical guidance on prostate cancer diagnosis and management from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence sits outside the scope of counselling and was reviewed only to mark that boundary (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2021). Sexual health concerns can involve physical, medication-related, or hormonal factors, so counselling may form one part of a plan alongside a physician or nurse practitioner.

Limitations: Counselling cannot identify the cause of a physical symptom or replace medical assessment. Whether combined care helps depends on the situation, and no data on combined care was supplied.

What Results to Expect

Change in this area is rarely a straight line. People often describe a few good weeks, then a setback, then a longer stretch of steadier ground. That pattern is normal and does not mean the work has failed.

Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, particularly when the main difficulty is a conversation they have been unable to start. Others prefer longer-term work, especially when the concern is tied up with a long relationship history, a health condition, or an old sense of shame. Neither path is better than the other.

Several things influence how this goes. The nature of the concern matters, as does what else is happening in your life right now, whether medical factors are involved, and how well you and your therapist work together. Outcomes vary between people, and no therapy guarantees a particular result.

Therapeutic fit deserves its own mention. If the working relationship does not feel right, changing therapist or approach is always an option, and asking for that change is a normal part of the process rather than a setback.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in counselling is confidential. Psychologists at this clinic are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, both of which set out obligations around privacy and record keeping (College of Alberta Psychologists [CAP], 2026; Canadian Psychological Association [CPA], 2017).

Your information is also protected by Alberta legislation. The Health Information Act (HIA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) govern how health and personal information is collected, used, and disclosed, and which one applies depends on the practice setting (CAP, 2026).

There are limits to confidentiality that apply by law and by professional ethics. Your therapist must consider disclosure when:

• There is a risk of serious harm to you or to another person.
• There is suspected abuse or neglect of a child, which carries a mandatory reporting duty under Alberta law.
• A court order or subpoena requires the release of records.

Your therapist will explain these limits clearly in the first session, before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask questions about privacy, record keeping, or who can access your file at any point, including before you book.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe what happened in detail?

No. You control what you say and how much detail you give, including in the first session. Some people find it useful to talk through specific experiences, and others prefer to work with present-day patterns such as avoidance, communication, or worry, without recounting particulars. Your therapist will follow your lead rather than press for a full account.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within limits set by law and professional ethics. Confidentiality applies to what you share, and it can be set aside where there is a risk of serious harm, suspected abuse or neglect of a child, or a court order. These limits are explained in full in the confidentiality section above and again by your therapist in the first session.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed answer, and anyone who gives you a firm number before meeting you is guessing. Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, particularly when the goal is to get a stalled conversation moving. Others prefer longer-term work. Progress is reviewed with you at regular points so the plan can change as your needs do.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit matters more than most people expect, and it is reasonable to want a different clinician. You can tell your therapist directly or contact the admin team at 780-904-4880, and they can help you move to someone else without any awkwardness. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Can I access counselling online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available across Alberta and are often easier for a first conversation about this topic. The same confidentiality standards and the same legal limits apply to virtual sessions as to in-person ones. You will need a private space and a reliable connection.

Is this only for men in relationships?

No. Counselling here may be relevant whether you are single, dating, partnered, married, separated, or thinking about a change in a relationship. The focus is on what you choose to bring.

Do I need a referral from a doctor?

A referral is not generally required to begin counselling. If physical symptoms, pain, medication questions, or sexually transmitted infection concerns are part of the picture, medical assessment from an appropriate healthcare provider is still important and can happen alongside counselling.

Can my partner attend with me?

Possibly. Couples sessions may be considered when they fit the goals of care and when everyone involved agrees to take part. Your therapist can talk through whether individual sessions, couples sessions, or a mix makes sense in your situation.

Meet Your Clinicians

Wholesome Psychology works with Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers, Certified Canadian Counsellors, Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. All psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Registered Social Workers are regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW). Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) are regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA). Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist.

Many clinicians here have training relevant to sexual health, intimacy and relationship concerns, men's mental health, and adjustment to physical health changes. Areas of focus and current availability differ from one clinician to the next, so it is worth checking individual profiles rather than assuming a match.

You can read profiles on the Our Therapists page, use the therapist matching tool, or call the admin team at 780-904-4880 for guidance on who might suit what you are looking for. Related services include sex therapy, sexuality and intimacy therapy, men's mental health, and physical health issues and mental wellbeing.

Taking a Next Step

If you would like to explore whether this kind of counselling fits, there are a few ways in. You can book a session online, use the therapist matching tool, or call 780-904-4880 to talk it through with the admin team first. You can also email info@wholesomepsychology.ca, or read the Getting Started with Therapy page to see how the process runs before deciding anything.

New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• Canadian Psychological Association. (2017). Canadian code of ethics for psychologists (4th ed.). https://cpa.ca/
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2026). Interpretive guide: Privacy legislation in Alberta (Approved November 24, 2023; revised January 23, 2026). https://www.cap.ab.ca/
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2021). Prostate cancer: diagnosis and management. https://www.nice.org.uk/
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (2024, May). A person-centered approach to sexual health. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics: Chapter 17, Conditions related to sexual health. https://icd.who.int/

This page provides general information about counselling services. It is not medical advice, diagnosis, or emergency support. Counselling outcomes vary between individuals and no specific result is promised.