The Sexual Wellness Sessions

Whilst we have come a long way in breaking down the silence around infertility, conversations around male infertility and male fertility issues are still broadly undiscussed. Common perception and assumptions around infertility are that it's a 'woman's issue', but it's estimated that 7% of all men are impacted by infertility; and an estimated one in seven couples in the UK experience infertility which highlights the huge gap in how often people are navigating these emotional and physical challenges, in comparison to how much they are talked about. *   Two men who have personally navigated this in their lives are hosts of The Male Fertility Podcast Ciaran Hannington and Shaun Greenaway, who met through sharing their infertility experiences online, and decided to try and be the resource and help that neither of them could find when they needed it. Shaun and Ciaran talk about how the impact of infertility is limitless and puts pressure on mental health, relationships, self-esteem and self confidence; and how it brings up so many questions in relation to being a partner, fatherhood, masculinity and vulnerability. In this conversation they are both so honest about their own experiences - from being told for the first time that they were experiencing low sperm count and azoospermia ( the medical condition of a man whose semen contains no sperm ) through to decision making, medical treatments, the impact on their mental health and relationships, sperm donation and creating their families.    Trigger Warning - This episode contains reference to suicide.   * figures taken from The Infertility Awareness Report 2024     Follow Shaun on Instagram at @knackered_knackers Follow Ciaran on Instagram at @themalefertilitypt Follow The Male Fertility Podcast on Instagram @themalefertilitypodcast   This series has been brought to you by the luxury sexual wellness brand Lelo, who are offering listeners 30% off all Lelo products purchased on BeautyBay.com  Use the code KMOYLE30 until 11.59pm on 31st December 2024.   The Sexual Wellness Sessions is hosted by Kate Moyle, a Psychosexual & Relationship Therapist and Certified Psycho-Sexologist, and author of The Science Of Sex : Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. Follow Kate on Instagram at @KateMoyleTherapy   DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast, and always seek the advice of your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider.

The impact of cancer can touch every part of our lives, but many people with cancer report that the impact that is rarely discussed is that on sex, pleasure, intimacy, relationships and dating. The experiences, treatments and changes that we go through are so layered in terms of the physical, emotional and psychological and it's impossible to separate the different parts out as we are in constant relationship between our bodies and how we think and feel about them, and this is something that cancer can completely hijack, which can have huge implications when it comes to sex and intimacy.  Someone who has personally experienced this is Lauren Mahon, who after being diagnosed with breast cancer in her early thirties has become a tireless campaigner for breast cancer awareness through her online community Girls vs Cancer and as one of the hosts of the award winning podcast You, Me And The Big C with her great friends the late Dame Deborah James and Rachel Bland. Lauren is an advocate for talking about all aspects of cancer, and when it comes to the topic of sex lives she launched the Get F*cked campaign through Girls Vs Cancer which is helping to offer some guidance and resources to those who feel like they don't know where to start with getting to know themselves sexually again, both physically and emotionally through diagnosis, treatment and beyond. This conversation covers so much, and Lauren openly goes into how cancer has shaped her sex life and relationships, from first discovering the lump which she would then find out was cancer during a self-pleasure session, through to how she shares that she had cancer when she's dating, and how her expectations and non-negotiables for sex have changed.  Follow Lauren on Instagram at @IAmLaurenMahon   This series has been brought to you by the luxury sexual wellness brand Lelo, who are offering listeners 30% off all Lelo products purchased on BeautyBay.com  Use the code KMOYLE30 until 11.59pm on 31st December 2024.   The Sexual Wellness Sessions is hosted by Kate Moyle, a Psychosexual & Relationship Therapist and Certified Psycho-Sexologist, and author of The Science Of Sex : Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. Follow Kate on Instagram at @KateMoyleTherapy   DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast, and always seek the advice of your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider.

Miscommunication in relationships is inevitable. We misunderstand each other, misinterpret and make assumptions about what our partners are thinking and we all bring our own thoughts, feelings and experiences to our relationships - but what happens if it feels like we aren't even speaking the same language? In this episode Anne Hodder-Shipp discusses her theory of the 18 Modern Love Languages which is a revamp of the love language concept. They talk us through how we think about, understand and communicate love in an almost unlimited number of ways, and how some of our ideas about these 'love shoulds' are the things that may be causing disruption to our relationships in the first place. Anne describes this idea of the modern love languages as expansive and non-hierarchical, and talks about how they are changing and adapting in the fast paced modern world that we are living in. She also encourages us to consider our own definitions of love, what it feels like to be loved and to recognise the individualness of this, rather than feeling that we don't feel love because it doesn't align with what we were told it should be.  Anne Hodder-Shipp, CSE (she/they) is an AASECT Award-winning certified sex educator and relationship coach. They are the founder and lead educator at Everyone Deserves Sex Ed, a sex ed and professional development organization, and the creator and author of  Speaking from the Heart: 18 Languages for Modern Love – which has an accompanying guide - The Speaking from the Heart Workbook: A Practical Guide to the Modern Love Languages. Follow Anne on Instagram at @TheAnneHodder   This series has been brought to you by the luxury sexual wellness brand Lelo, who are offering listeners 30% off all Lelo products purchased on BeautyBay.com  Use the code KMOYLE30 until 11.59pm on 31st December 2024.   The Sexual Wellness Sessions is hosted by Kate Moyle, a Psychosexual & Relationship Therapist and Certified Psycho-Sexologist, and author of The Science Of Sex : Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. Follow Kate on Instagram at @KateMoyleTherapy   DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast, and always seek the advice of your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider.

Seeing things differently in relationships is inevitable - we can never expect to be 100% perfectly aligned with another person; but what about the stuff that we don't or can't see because it's in our blind spots? In this conversation I delve into the question 'What Am I Missing?' when it comes to sex, relationships and intimacy with Emma Reed Turrell, the author of the new book with this same title. Emma talks about how we have a societal blindspot when it comes to our perception of romance and how these ideas of what she describes as 'known-unknowns' and 'unknown-unknowns' can show up in our relationships, dating lives and intimacy in a variety of ways, shaping our experiences, often without us realising.  Alongside her work as a Psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell is a writer, speaker and podcaster. She co-hosted the Best Friend Therapy podcast with Elizabeth Day which has recently finished,  and now hosts her new podcast Friendship Therapy – stories of real people real friends. She has two published books Please Yourself : How To Stop People-Pleasing and Transform the Way You Live and What Am I Missing. Follow Emma on Instagram at @EmmaReedTurrell   This series has been brought to you by the luxury sexual wellness brand Lelo, who are offering listeners 30% off all Lelo products purchased on BeautyBay.com  Use the code KMOYLE30 until 11.59pm on 31st December 2024. The Sexual Wellness Sessions is hosted by Kate Moyle, a Psychosexual & Relationship Therapist and Certified Psycho-Sexologist, and author of The Science Of Sex : Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. Follow Kate on Instagram at @KateMoyleTherapy   DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast, and always seek the advice of your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider.