A new Adaptive Intimacy Lab in its inpatient spinal cord injury unit was recently created at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio, a Model System Center. It’s a first‑of‑its‑kind space where patients and therapists can openly discuss sex and intimacy one-on-one.
Sexual health after spinal cord injury is complicated for both men and women by the physical changes that reshape intimacy and affect emotional well‑being and even identity. Despite its importance, sexual health has remained one of the least discussed aspects of SCI recovery.
Most therapists wait for patients to raise the topic of sex, notes Gillian Gulan, the occupational therapist leading the project. The new program uses an evidence‑based model in which therapists proactively ask about sexual health roughly two weeks into rehab. “I’ve only had a handful of people say they’re not ready to talk about it,” Gulan said. “And that’s appropriate.”
To support those conversations, the team created the Adaptive Intimacy Suite, a bedroom‑like space with a bed, large positioning wedges, and mobility aids that make sexual activity more comfortable. Therapists teach patients to use adaptive devices and offer trusted resources including websites, videos, and other materials focused on intimacy after SCI.
Funded in part by a grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the project quickly proved valuable. “I see this as a national model,” said Mark Bogosian, the Foundation’s Director of Engagement. “What they have done has to be replicated across the country.”
One response to “New Sexual Health Lab Creates a Model for SCI Care”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
In my humble and experienced opinion, the first challenge to finding sexual intimacy and satisfaction after spinal cord injury is having or finding a partner where both of you want to be intimate. It is not so much physical, if at all. It is emotional. As someone said, our most important sexual organ is our brain, and that isn’t damaged in a spinal cord injury. We have far more critical issues to contend with. If the desire is there, sexual intimacy will just naturally happen.