Sex & Couples Therapy for Cancer and Chronic Illness in Falls Church, VA
Helping individuals and couples navigate intimacy, identity, and connection after illness
Lauren Broschak, LCSW, LICSW | Licensed in VA and DC
When illness or treatment changes your body, your relationship, or your sense of self, reconnection is possible.
In-person in Falls Church, VA • Telehealth in VA & DC
Sex therapy after illness that helps you:
Reconnect with your body, sexuality, & relationship
You don’t recognize your body, yourself, or your sexuality in the way you once did. Illness has shifted something, leaving you feeling disconnected from parts of yourself that once felt alive, interested in intimacy, and connected to your partner(s).
Sex therapy for chronic illness offers space to rebuild connection and rediscover pleasure in a way that honors your experience. Whether individually or with your partner(s), this work can support healing, rediscovery, and a renewed sense of connection.
You may benefit from sex & couples therapy for cancer and chronic illness if:
Your sexual desire has decreased, and it feels lost. You feel broken and are worried you’re failing your partner.
After illness, everything has changed. You don’t recognize your own body, and you feel like a different person now.
You two love each other, deeply, yet something feels distant. You miss the ease your relationship used to have.
Touch used to feel natural and necessary in your relationship. Now it feels uncertain, and you’re both waiting for cues that aren’t happening anymore.
Now that your illness is over or managed, you notice a flood of emotions, and you’re having a hard time transitioning back into your life.
Sex and couples therapist in Falls Church, VA
Meet Lauren Broschak, LCSW, LICSW
Sex & Couples Therapist
in Falls Church, VA
Specializing in intimacy, illness, and relationships
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Virtual therapy available throughout Virginia and Washington, DC
Hi, I’m Lauren, an LCSW for those navigating cancer and chronic illness in Falls Church, VA. I help individuals and couples through sex & relationship therapy reconnect with themselves and their relationships in ways that feel genuine, intimate, and meaningful. Many of the people I work with are navigating changes in identity, intimacy, or connection, often after being diagnosed with or treated for a serious or chronic illness.
I believe you are the expert on your own experience. Therapy is a space where we can slow down, listen more closely, and gently make sense of what’s been happening. Together, we’ll take a collaborative approach, drawing from a range of evidence-based therapies to support what feels most helpful and meaningful to you. At the core of my work is a focus on kindness, authenticity, and connection.
I’m LGBTQ+ affirming, sex-positive, kink-allied, and trauma-informed, and I welcome people from all walks of life and relationship structures.
MY APPROACH
Sex & couples therapy in Falls Church, VA
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We start by making sense of what has changed.
You notice that things don’t feel the way they used to. It may show up in your body, your relationship, your sexuality, or your sense of self. For many of the people I work with, cancer, chronic illness, or treatment has changed how intimacy, desire, or connection feel.Without rushing to fix anything, we take time to understand your experience and where the disconnection is showing up for you and in your relationships.
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Understanding your relationship with your body and your sexuality.
As we work together, we explore what has shaped the way you relate to your body, your sexuality, and to those closest to you.That might include:
what you learned about intimacy growing up
how your body feels now
how illness, treatment, or life transitions have changed your experience of desire, connection, or closeness
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Looking at the patterns underneath.
In session, this often looks like slowing down real moments. What happens when:
you try to reach for your partner
when you pull away
when something feels hard to say aloud
We begin to notice the patterns underneath:
the parts of you that protect
the emotions that feel overwhelming
the ways your body responds to closeness, stress, or vulnerability.
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Creating new ways of connecting.
From there, we begin to shift things gently and intentionally.
This may include:
strengthening communication
explore fear, shame, or past experiences
reconnecting with your body through mindfulness or body awareness
finding ways to experience intimacy that feel safer and more at ease
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Making space for grief, too.
When illness or major life changes are part of your story, this work also includes grief.
There are often losses that are hard to talk about:
the way your body used to feel
the ease of intimacy
the version of life you expected.
We make space for that, while also exploring what connection, closeness, and even pleasure can look like now.
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Over time…
Over time, this work can help you:
feel more connected to yourself, your body, and your relationships
communicate more honestly and openly
deepen trust
experience intimacy that feels authentic and sustainable
Therapy services in Falls Church, VA
Is intimacy feeling more complicated? Your sexuality unfamiliar? Is there a growing distance between you and your partner(s)? Sex therapy supports you in understanding what’s changed, exploring where the disconnection is rooted, and rebuilding intimacy at a pace that feels safe.
Sex therapy
Therapy for
chronic illness
Looking for a supportive space to grow into your voice as a clinician? Wanting to deepen your confidence, clinical skills, and sense of direction?
Supervision offers a space for reflection, guidance, and growth—grounded in collaboration, curiosity, and authenticity.
LCSW supervision
Feeling stuck in patterns of distance and miscommunication? Longing for closeness but unsure how to reconnect? Couples therapy helps you slow down the cycle, build new ways of reaching one another, and create room for honest conversation and reconnection.
Couples therapy
Navigating a diagnosis, treatment, or life after illness? Feeling disconnected from your body, your identity, or your sense of normalcy? Therapy can help you make sense of what’s changed, process what you’ve been through, and reconnect with yourself.
Therapy for
women’s sexual health
Noticing shifts in your body, mood, or sense of self? Navigating transitions like fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, or menopause after illness? Therapy creates room to process your experience, honor what you’re moving through, and reconnect with yourself along the way.
Feeling the weight of a loss that’s hard to put into words? Changed by what’s happened and unsure how to move forward? Together, we’ll process your experience, honor what’s been lost, and begin moving forward in a way that feels meaningful to you.
Grief therapy
Reflections from those I’ve had the privilege
of working with and alongside
If this speaks to you, we can
take the next steps together.
Book a free consultation with me
I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation as a chance for us to connect and confirm that working together feels like a good fit. Therapy can feel like a big step, so there’s no pressure and no expectation to have the “right” words. Wherever you are, I’ll meet you there.
→ Request a consultation
Schedule your first appointment
Toward the end of our call, we’ll talk through next steps for scheduling your first appointment. We’ll find a time that fits your schedule, and I’ll take care of getting everything set up.
Have additional questions?
If you have additional questions about sex and couples therapy in Falls Church, VA, you’re welcome to bring them to our consultation call. You can also explore the FAQ page in the meantime.
