To help everyone in developing and honoring a healthy self-acceptance of who they genuinely are—no matter their age, gender, sexual orientation, creed, religion, race, national origin, ancestry and disability, marital or familial status—while extending the same grace and decency to everybody else, no matter theirs.
Our goal is to have a beneficial influence on clients by providing nonjudgmental positive regard while presenting accurate information, effective relating skills guidance, and supportive encouragement leading to informed, healthful choices and behaviors.
We treat every client with dignity and respect by promoting lasting psychological empowerment in a manner congruent to each person's self-determined goals, values and beliefs.
To support each person's right to sexual privacy, choice, expression and fulfillment.
From numerous studies conducted over the past century sexologists have discovered that people engage in affection, physical intimacy, and sex for a variety of reasons including love, companionship, bonding, emotional connection, procreation, pleasure, conformity, excitement, boredom, validation, power, stress reduction, and many other motivations.
Sexuality is not just something we do as people, but is rather a core aspect of who we are as individuals. It’s subtle—and at times not so subtle—“primary directive” is deftly woven throughout our very being.
The state of human sexuality, with its pervasive and profound influence upon our lives, it is an inescapable fact of life. To deny it is to deny ourselves of its benefits, rewards, and pleasures, while depriving ourselves from experiencing a deeply rich and vitally important part of what it means to be fully human and truly happy.
All living entities are genetically programmed to sexually engage for the survival of the species, a fact which impacts heavily upon life choices and everyday decisions. To disown our sexuality is also to disown our innate wholeness and to diminish our overall individual personhood.
Concern with or interest in sexual activity is perfectly natural, and is in fact, a healthy sign of what it means to possess sexual potency. The facts irrefutably speak for themselves: Our sexuality is an integral part of human character, well-being, and happiness.
It is our goal to provide counseling that assists clients in claiming and celebrating their sexuality in a safe, nonjudgmental, sex-positive manner which respects personal dignity and is congruent to that individual's own desires, values, and beliefs.
As we say here in the Hawaiian Islands—mahalo, thank you—for giving yourself this time to explore our site in your own journey of intimate self-discovery.
Our hope is to encourage you to to love kindly, and to give yourself permission to experience and celebrate your sexual self—while concurrently developing your emotional capacity to love and be loved in return—richly and in ever-expanding magnitude.
Please call for your free consultation to find out how we can help you.
Aloha!
Sexual Rights are Human Rights
We now present the “Sexual Bill of Rights” below, which contains the "10 Basic Sexual Rights " as stated by the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, California. It also includes an additional four Basic Sexual Rights of our own, comprising a total of "14 Basic Sexual Rights."
Please note: Regarding consensual sexual behavior, Dr. Bouchard does not moralize, criticize or judge.
Nevertheless, in regards to acts of sexual misconduct,
Dr. Bouchard's position on the unassailable Right of Sexual Consent is unambiguous:
Any and all forms of sexual misconduct, including abuse, assault, constraint, coercion, exploitation, fraud, harassment, human trafficking, intimidation, rape, ritual abuse and violence, as well as any and all nonconsensual [involuntary] behaviors or attempted behaviors of a sexual nature perpetrated by anyone against another person—child or adult—are without exception categorically vile, unacceptable and unequivocally incompatible with the values of sexual self-determination, personal sovereignty, and individual free will expression.
In plain-speak: WITHOUT FREELY GIVEN CONSENSUAL AGREEMENT any and all forms of unwanted and forced upon sexual contact against a person's will are without exception categorically unlawful, morally loathsome and criminally prosecutable.
Sexual Bill of Rights
14 Basic Sexual Rights
1. The freedom of any sexual thought, fantasy or desire.
2. The right to sexual entertainment, freely available in the market place, including sexually explicit materials dealing with the full range of sexual behavior.
3. The right not to be exposed to sexual material or behavior.
4. The right to sexual self-determination.
5. The right to seek out and engage in consensual sexual activity.
6. The right to engage in sexual acts or activities of any kind whatsoever, providing they do not involve nonconsensual acts, violence, constraint, coercion, fraud, or children under the age of 18.
7. The right to be free of persecution, condemnation, discrimination, or societal intervention in private sexual behavior.
8. The recognition by society that every person, partnered or un-partnered, has the right to the pursuit of a satisfying consensual socio-sexual life free from political, legal or religious interference and that there need to be mechanisms in society where the opportunities of socio-sexual activities are available to the following: disabled persons; chronically ill persons; those incarcerated in prisons, hospitals or institutions; those disadvantaged because of age, lack of physical attractiveness, or lack of social skills; the poor and the lonely.
9. The basic right of all persons who are sexually dysfunctional to have available nonjudgmental sexual health care.
10. The right to sexual pleasure.
11. The right to control conception.
12. The right to a comprehensive sexuality education.
13. The right to access accurate and informed sexual information.
14. The right to grant, withhold or withdraw sexual consent at any time.
Sexual Rights are Universal Rights
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Dr. Bouchard’s Qualifications
& Areas of Professional Specialization
Qualifications:
Dr. Bouchard enjoys a reputation for being a nonjudgmental, talented, seasoned and generous of spirit sex therapist and relationship counselor.
In addition to being an accomplished board-certified Doctor of Human Sexuality, Clinical Sexologist, and renowned relationship expert in the fields of sex therapy and couples counseling, he is also a board-certified erotologist, sex researcher, graduate school professor of counseling psychology and human sexuality, sex offender treatment specialist, sexual health educator, former ”Sexual Pleasure Pro” online advice columnist for the pioneer women's website iVillage.com from 1998 - 2003, radio talk-show host and published author. He is an early adapter of telephone counseling and online guidance, since 1981 and 1995, respectively.
Specializing as a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) clinician, Dr. Bouchard utilizes only the most effective and proven approaches in cognitive behavior counseling and psychological empowerment.
From his Hawai'i-based global counseling practice he devotes his major time to providing discreet and confidential treatment to clients nationally and internationally, face-to-face in his Hawai'i office and via telephone distance counseling WORLDWIDE.
Areas of Specialty & Professional Accomplishments:
Pioneer Distance Counselor / Doctor of Human Sexuality & Double Board-Certified Clinical Sexologist / Professor of Human Sexuality / Professor of Clinical Psychology / Sex Therapist & Psychosexual Counselor / Marriage & Relationship Counselor / Sexual Health Educator / Safer Sex Workshop Leader / Sex Offender Relapse Prevention Specialist / Sex Researcher / Sexual Rights Advocate / Resident Online Sexual Pleasure Pro Expert @ iVillage.com / Talk Radio Sexual Advice Show Host / Sexual Advice Newspaper & Magazine Columnist / Sex, Love & Intimacy Self-Help Books Author / Sex, Love & Intimacy Public Speaker / All Around Positive Change Agent
Dr. Bouchard's
Education & Professional Profile Synopsis:
Michael Ra Bouchard, M.A., Ph.D., ACS, ABS
Double Board-Certified Clinical Sexologist
(Nationally & Internationally)
Psychosexual Counseling & Therapy
Human Sexuality & Clinical Sexology
Positive Psychology & Philosophical Psychology
Specializing in High-Quality Telephone Counseling Since 1981
Board Certifications:
Double Board-Certified Clinical Sexologist
Degrees & Education:
AA: Marketing Psychology,
University of New Hampshire, Durham, 1980
BGS: Family & Group Dynamics, graduated with honors,
University of New Orleans, 1986
MA: Clinical Counseling Psychology, graduated with honors,
(62 credit Clinical Track Double Masters Degree)
University of New Hampshire, Durham, 1989
Ph.D. Human Sexuality & Clinical Sexology, graduated with honors,
(Clinical Program)
Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, 1994
Honors & Awards
Upon completion of his counseling psychology studies, Dr. Bouchard established his sex therapy and marriage counseling practice in mid-town Manhattan in 1991. He expanded his practice to Maui part-time in 1994, before permanently relocating it and himself to Hawaii full-time in 1997.
Specializing as a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) clinician, Dr. Michael utilizes mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). From 1991-97, Dr. Michael had the highly good fortune to attend the international Albert Ellis Institute in Manhattan as both a student and a counseling client of the eminent sexologist, world renowned psychologist and "Father of REBT", Dr. Albert Ellis.
As a dedicated, well-seasoned mental health and behavioral change expert with over four decades of experience, Dr. Bouchard considers himself privileged to help people change their lives; through their gritty determination to scratch and claw their way to wholeness, his clients remind him daily he is a human being first and a counselor second.
Note: For a detailed overview of Dr. Bouchard's professional development,
click the link below to visit Dr. Michael's Free Archive to read his 60-minute longread autobiographical article—
"On Becoming a Sexologist - Dr. Michael's Story"
Dr. Bouchard’s Academic Affiliations
Dr. Bouchard is a Graduate School Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology and Professor of Human Services for University of Phoenix, Hawai'i at all four campus locations: Honolulu, Maui, Kona & Hilo. In addition, as Faculty Liaison Dr. Bouchard was instrumental in developing, administering and teaching a new graduate level Marriage & Family Therapy program for the University of Phoenix, Maui, Hawai'i Campus from 1998 to 2003. Dr. Bouchard is also a Professor of Clinical Sexology and STI/HIV/AIDS Prevention Instructor at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, 1994 to present.
Dr. Bouchard's Curriculum Vitae:
Sexual Health & Pleasure Center
Private Practice Sex Therapy & Marriage Counseling
Mid-Town Manhattan 1991 - 1997
&
Aloha Sexual Health & Happiness, LLC, Professional Counseling Services
Private Practice Sex Therapy & Marriage Counseling
Hawaiian Islands & WORLDWIDE Telephone Counseling Services 1994 - Present
Emphasis: Specializing as a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) clinician, Dr. Bouchard opened his Sexual Health & Pleasure Center private practice in mid-town Manhattan in 1991, providing high-quality sex therapy and couples counseling services in New York City from 1991 - 1997.
In 1994, Dr. Bouchard returned to his childhood home of Hawai'i to open a part-time Hawai'i sex therapy office on Maui. Over the next three years he alternated between his Hawai'i and New York City offices, eventually closing his Manhattan office and permanently relocating his private practice to Hawai'i in 1997.
As a seasoned behavioral health clinician in private practice for over three decades, Dr. Bouchard employs only the most effective, evidence-based approaches in cognitive behavior therapy and psychological empowerment for adults, teens and children.
From his Hawai'i-based office Dr. Bouchard offers face-to-face sessions for individuals and couples
and
for clients from the continental United States and International Community
worldwide telephone distance counseling
* * *
Peninsula Community Health Services (PCHS) Alaska
Kenai & Soldotna, Alaska
Relapse Prevention Program Therapeutic Director & Behavioral Health Specialist 2018
Emphasis: Dr. Bouchard was specifically recruited by PCHS Kenai to help create and establish a first-of-its-kind in the State of Alaska Re-Entry Socialization Program for newly released former prison inmates. His role included designing and implementing an integrative therapeutic “second chance program” by means of individual counseling and therapy services consisting of psychotherapy, holistic support and professional guidance. The optimum goal of this relapse prevention pilot program was to strengthen the community by furthering the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated citizens back into society as increasingly well-adjusted, long-term law abiding, productive and contributing members of the Kenai Peninsula populace. During this same period, Dr. Bouchard also provided mental health care, counseling and psychotherapy to the general population of the Kenai Peninsual community as a Behavioral Health Specialist and Doctor of Human Sexuality under the auspices of PCHS Soldotna.
State of Hawai'i, Department of Human Services & Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division
Sex Offender Treatment Therapist & Relapse Prevention Therapist 1997—2008
Emphasis: Provided sex offender treatment, relapse prevention services, sex therapy and mental health counseling to the adult and adolescent populations throughout the Hawaiian Islands for the State of Hawai'i, Department of Human Services (DHS) and State of Hawai'i, Department of Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division (CAMHD) for over a decade.
Private Practice Sex Offender Treatment Therapist & Relapse Prevention Specialist
Rural New Hampshire, San Francisco, New York City & all the Hawaiian Islands 1987—present
Emphasis: Provided sex offender treatment and cognitive behavioral counseling relapse prevention services for adults and adolescents while based in New Hampshire, San Francisco and New York City from 1987 to 1997. Since permanently relocating to Hawai'i in 1997, have continued providing one-on-one sex offender treatment and relapse prevention services to clients throughout the Hawaiian Islands and continental United States, in addition to populations WORLDWIDE via telephone distance counseling.
Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco
Awarded Ph.D., Doctorate in Human Sexuality & Clinical Sexology 1994
Emphasis: Child, Adolescent & Adult Sexuality; Abnormal Psychology and Deviant Sexuality; Psychology of Behavioral Change; Specialization in Sex Therapy, Sexual Health Education & Disease Prevention, and Sex Offender Relapse Prevention Treatment. Elected as the 1991 Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality Alumni Association Academic Excellence Scholar.
University of New Hampshire, Durham
Awarded M.A., (62 credit Clinical Track Double Masters) Clinical Counseling Psychology 1989
Emphasis: Abnormal Psychology; Adolescent Developmental Psychology; Psychology of Behavioral Change; Specialization in Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling/Therapy and Sex Offender Relapse Prevention Treatment; Researched, Designed, Implemented and Evaluated the first Peer-to-Peer Outreach Safer Sex Education HIV/AIDS Prevention Pilot Program on the UNH Campus 1987 - 1989. Elected as the 1987 - 1988 University of New Hampshire Graduate School Department of Education Thomas O. Marshall Fellow for applied philosophical excellence.
University of New Orleans
Awarded B.G.S., Family & Group Dynamics 1986
Emphasis: Child & Adolescent Psychology; Family & Group Dynamics. Elected as a 1986 University of New Orleans Goodwill Scholar; awarded full scholarship to study abroad as a United States Goodwill Ambassador Scholar at the Universitat Innsbruck, Austria.
New Orleans AIDS Foundation
HIV/AIDS Prevention/Safer Sex Education and Community Outreach Educator 1982—1986
Emphasis: Provided first-response HIV/AIDS prevention instruction, condom distribution, and Safer Sex outreach education to members of the straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities within the French Quarter of New Orleans.
New Orleans Crisis Line
24 Hour Telephone Crisis Intervention & Suicide Prevention Counselor 1981—1986
Emphasis: Provided confidential mental health counseling, guidance, support, community resource referrals, and precious hope via telephone to metro New Orleans callers in crisis.
University of New Hampshire, Durham
Awarded A.A., Marketing and Business Management 1980
Emphasis: Psychology of Sales and Marketing.
United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps Band; 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, El Toro 1975—1979
Emphasis: U.S. Marine Rifleman; U.S.M.C. Band Bandsman and Band Public Relations Liaison.
Aloha and A Hui Hou!
