SPECIALIZED, AFFIRMING SEX THERAPY FOR EVERY SEASON OF CHANGE
BASED IN CLIFTON, NJ AND SERVING NJ, NY, PA, FL, & TX
Genevieve Marie Gellert, MSW, LCSW, CST
FOUNDER OF THE CENTER FOR IDENTITY & SEX THERAPY
You’re here because something in your life — or within yourself — has shifted.
And you’re ready to reconnect with yourself, your desires, and your relationships — and understand what it means for moving forward.
You’re at a crossroads. Health or life transitions can slowly pull you away from yourself, leaving you disconnected from your body, your desires and your identity. Maybe there’s a loneliness you haven’t known how to name. Intimacy may feel vulnerable or overwhelming. Desire can feel muted, arousal inconsistent or shame close by. You might prioritize others or say yes when you mean maybe. Perhaps you’re navigating LGBTQ, cultural or faith expectations, feeling torn between different parts of yourself. You want to feel like yourself again—comfortable, grounded and at home in your own skin. This is all deeply human—and I can help.
Founder of the Center for Identity & Sex Therapy, I’m a certified sex therapist who supports adults navigating health, cross-cultural and life transitions that can impact identity, sexuality, body image and intimacy. Using my ALIGN framework, I offer a grounded space to share the unsaid—to hold what hurts, ease anxiety, and make sense of who you’re becoming.
You’re not alone. I’ll walk alongside you as you reconnect with your body, restore intimacy on your own terms, and feel more at home within yourself. You are inherently deserving of joy, pleasure, desire, and satisfaction. Healing begins with the freedom to be yourself. Ready to feel like yourself again? Message me here for a complimentary consultation.
HISTORY SHAPED THE RULES.
YOU CHOOSE THE HEALING.
Hello,
You can find your way back yourself, even after everything changes. You are not broken. You are becoming. Every part of you is welcome here.
I founded this practice to walk with people through the "in-between"—those profound moments when a shift in your identity, sexuality, body, or relationships means you cannot go back to how things used to feel. We specialize in that exact space where your language hasn't yet caught up to your experience, but you know you have fundamentally changed.
As a feminist healthcare provider, I believe your sexuality is entirely inseparable from your identity. Our mission is to help you reclaim the parts of yourself that have been silenced, shamed, or left behind by life transitions, illness, trauma, and cultural expectations.
I built this practice to offer rare, expert-level care rooted in the exact AASECT-certified sex therapy standards and clinical social work principles I have practiced throughout my career. Using my signature ALIGN Framework and my EMPOWER Your Sexual Health® curriculum, the practice combines evidence-based sex therapy with somatic, humanistic, and meaning-centered approaches to reconnect you with your desire, identity, and sense of self.
The practice’s style is warm, collaborative, and thoughtfully direct. Let’s make space for the complexity of your experience and build a life that feels aligned, embodied, and authentically your own.
Warmly,
Genevieve Marie Gellert, MSW, LCSW, CST (she/her)
Founder, The Center for Identity and Sex Therapy
Your identity and sexuality are at the heart of who you are — meant to be explored, celebrated, and accepted.
HEre’s what I believe about therapy:
This isn’t about going back to how things were.
It’s okay that change feels hard, and you don’t have to be okay with it yet. Together, we can find a way forward — in your body, relationships, and life.
The best investment you can make is in the confidence to be yourself.
Building trust in who you are, your identity, and the choices that honor your values is at the heart of this work.
You are inherently deserving of safety, joy, pleasure, desire, and satisfaction.
Exploring your sexuality and intimacy creates a path to fulfillment and genuine connection.
guiding principles
INTEGRITY
The Center for Identity & Sex Therapy is guided by ethical, evidence-based care and a commitment to honesty, accountability, and the well-being of every client.
COMPASSION
Healing begins where shame and judgment end; this work is grounded in empathy, dignity, and deep respect for your lived experience.
AUTONOMY
Your body, identity, and relationships belong to you, and therapy is a space to explore what feels most authentic — free from pressure or expectation.
INCLUSIVITY
Every identity, body, orientation, and relationship structure is welcome here, and your experience will be met with respect, curiosity, and care.
The Center for Identity & Sex Therapy provides inclusive, queer-affirming sex therapy and identity-focused counseling for adults. Our work is grounded in diversity, pride, and social justice, creating a safe, affirming space for clients across sexual orientations, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds.
Grounded in purpose and guided by curiosity, this work is shaped by a deep respect for history, a commitment to social justice, and thoughtful care for complex human experiences.
Curious about our logo or the history of the Pride Flag? Learn more about the values that guide our LGBTQ-affirming therapy practice. Read more.
Get the support that’s right for you.
experience
Where Frontline Clinical Rigor Meets Premium Care
Clinical Foundations & Experience
Grounded in intersectional feminism, I believe that sexuality and identity are entirely inseparable—shaped by how we see ourselves, how we are seen, and how we connect. My practice is built on a deep respect for your absolute autonomy, your complexity, and the unique path you take to understand yourself.
After earning a Bachelor of Science in Health Policy and Management from Providence College and following my graduate training at the University of Pennsylvania, my clinical worldview was forged through diverse, frontline experience across medical, community, crisis, and end-of-life settings in Philadelphia, including:
Penn Medicine & Thomas Jefferson University Hospital: Specialized training within the Penn Memory Center and Department of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Crisis & Emergency Settings: Counseling sexual assault survivors through acute trauma.
Public Health & COVID-19 Response: Consulting on behavioral health and designing integrated care programs for low-income, pregnant, and homeless LGBTQ+ individuals in North Philadelphia.
Community Harm Reduction: Supporting straight and queer sex workers navigating stigma, safety, and systemic survival in a methadone clinic.
Hospice & Memory Care: Serving as an end-of-life social worker providing family counseling, and supporting older adults (including trans older adults) with dementia navigating intimacy, consent, and sexual expression.
Transitioning from Urban Medical Social Work to Private Practice & Healthcare Entrepreneurship
Inspired by Viktor Frankl, my entrepreneurial transition was driven by a desire to guide clients to say a resounding “yes to life, in spite of everything,” treating each day as an opportunity to live fully for a second time. Together, we explore how your deepest, most challenging life experiences can be reclaimed, integrated, and transformed into a life that feels genuinely aligned and entirely your own.
As one of fewer than 900 Licensed Clinical Social Workers worldwide who are AASECT-certified in sex therapy, I bring elite, specialized expertise to navigate complex relational dynamics, sexual trauma, dysfunction, and intimacy concerns safely and ethically.
To bring this vision to life, I developed the ALIGN Framework—my signature model of sex therapy. This boutique, integrative approach blends humanistic, meaning-centered, cognitive-behavioral, and somatic modalities, engineered to help you actively inhabit your body, heal from identity-based harm, and fully reclaim your intimacy, confidence, and desire.
Following a successful group practice launch at the Philadelphia Institute for Individual, Relational, and Sex Therapy and part-time solo private practice, I opened a full-time private practice in 2021—maintaining a 95% client retention rate and a 70% consultation conversion rate.
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Sex therapy is the focus of our work—not just a technique, but a specialized area of expertise. We integrate multiple therapeutic approaches into a personalized, thoughtfully layered process that helps you reclaim agency, reconnect with your desire, and navigate intimacy and identity in a way that feels real and sustainable.
I developed the ALIGN Framework, my signature model of sex therapy, designed to bring your identity, sexuality, and relationships into alignment:
Agency — Reclaiming authorship of your identity and sexuality through a strengths-based lens, inspired by Martin Seligman
Logotherapy — Exploring meaning, purpose, and values, drawing from Viktor Frankl
Integration — Grounded in the humanistic principles of Carl Rogers—empathy, authenticity, and unconditional positive regard
Growth — Building resilience and psychological flexibility through ACT (Steven C. Hayes) and mindfulness-based approaches (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Nervous System — Somatic practices that reconnect mind and body so desire and safety can coexist
This work isn’t just about fixing problems. It’s about helping you feel more aligned—in your body, your relationships, and the life you’re creating.
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Here are more detail about the modalities that inform my ALIGN framework.
Rogerian Therapy (Person-Centered)
Grounded in Carl Rogers’s principles of empathy, authenticity, and unconditional positive regard, this approach is the bedrock of trust in the therapeutic relationship, growth, and meaningful change.
Logotherapy
Developed by Viktor Frankl, logotherapy centers on the human search for meaning and purpose. This approach provides the necessary reflection on what gives your life direction — even during difficult or uncertain times — and supports you in making choices that align with your values and the life you want.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) & Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Created by Steven C. Hayes, ACT blends mindfulness with practical cognitive-behavioral strategies. It reduces unhelpful thoughts, strengthens psychological flexibility, and guides concrete steps toward the life, relationships, and self-expression you envision. Secular mindfulness was created and brought to Western medicine by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. He developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to help treat chronic pain and anxiety.
Positive Psychology
Inspired by Martin Seligman, this approach focuses on building what’s strong, not just fixing what’s wrong. Through this lens, we focus on developing strengths, resilience, and fulfillment, which are the tools necessary to implement logotherapy and the skills learned through ACT and somatic practices.
Somatic & Body-Based Approaches
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is inherently somatic, focusing on the mind-body connection to manage stress and improve physical health. We use MBSR as just one possible avenue for somatic practice. This approach utilizes body-centered practices like the body scan and mindful movement to help individuals observe and process physical sensations and emotions. This work recognizes that the body carries experiences the mind alone can’t resolve. Using breathwork, grounding, and body awareness, we calm the nervous system, reduce shame, and rebuild an empowered relationship with your body and sexuality.
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Bachelor of Science in Health Policy and Management; Providence College; 2014
Master of Social Work; School of Social Policy and Practice of the University of Pennsylvania; 2016
License: State of New Jersey, LCSW; 44SC06075500 / 2022
License: State of New York, LCSW; 094872 / 2023
License: State of Pennsylvania, LCSW; CW020129 / 2018
NPI: 1568935195
CPH Malpractice Insurance
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Clinical rotations at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, as well as the Penn Memory Center and Department of Geriatric Psychiatry of Penn Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania during my MSW program
Penn Aging / Geriatric Social Work certificate, 2016
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction certificate 2018
Ongoing coursework through the The Viktor E. Frankl Institute of America, starting in 2018
The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) certificate in Sex Therapy, 2023
Contact
When desire changes or identity shifts, intimacy can feel miles away. Stop navigating that untethered feeling alone.
Through online, AASECT-certified sex therapy, we provide a relational, specialized space for adults facing health, cross-cultural, or life transitions that disrupt sexuality and body image. Let's explore what’s evolving.
Ready to begin?
Fill out the contact form below to schedule your complimentary 15-minute consultation to ensure it’s the right match.
READY TO TAKE THE JOURNEY BACK TO YOURSELF?