This is a question we hear fairly often.
Couples go home to do their homework.
Exercises and homework are discussed in the office so that a patient knows what to do when they get home. Never is there sexual contact between patient and therapist, inside or outside the office. Some of these misconceptions might have come about from movies and TV shows in the past few years showing psychotherapists having sexual relationships with their patients or having couples act out sexual behaviors in the office. A sexual or romantic relationship between patients and their psychotherapists is never appropriate, and, in fact, violates the ethics of licensed counseling professions such as social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists and mental-health counselors, among others. In Florida, sexual therapists must first be licensed professionals, such as those listed above, and then have specialized training in a wide variety of sexual areas, followed by a period of supervision.