Body contact specialist

A body contact specialist is a woman who helps non-able-bodied people experience desire and develop body confidence. Unlike sex assistants, sexological body workers or sexual surrogates, who carry out sexual treatments on patients in a therapeutic context, a body contact specialist does not have to complete therapeutic training, although many of them come from a nursing or social work background.

Clients of body contact specialists include people who are unable to fully and independently experience their sexuality for a variety of reasons. The main reasons to seek the services of a body contact specialist include physical or mental impairments, but psychological factors such as a fear of sex or trauma brought about by abuse may also play a role. On a physical level, age-related erectile dysfunction and a lack of physical contact in old age can also be reasons to seek treatment. In fact more and more elderly care homes in Switzerland are employing professional body contact specialists for their residents . As a rule the treatment can reveal and remove hidden fears and blockages.

Most clients seeking the services of body contact specialists are men, but women, particularly rape victims, can also be treated, for example when pleasurable sensations have been lost. Both men and women can work as body contact specialists.

Before each session the body contact specialist explains how far they may go and determines what methods the client wishes to experience as part of the treatment. The main aim is to allow to client to slowly regain pleasurable feelings and to lose any fear or tension. While men are often scared of failure, women tend to seek out a body contact specialist due to their inability to orgasm.

The treatment is carried out in multiple steps with precise instructions from the body contact specialist. Initially the emphasis of the treatment is on tenderness and empathy and corresponds quite literally to the title ‘body contact specialist’. Neither sexual intercourse nor oral sex take place. Instead, results are achieved by certain massage techniques from the area of erotic massage, tender touch and bodywork. The lack of an emotional connection is advantageous as it means there is no need for performance anxiety and the patient is thus more open and relaxed.

After treatment many clients report positive after-effects. As social beings, people are particularly receptive to physical contact, and the general sense of well-being as well as the stress-reducing effect of the treatment is often remarked on by clients.

According to the guidelines set out by the Swiss Department for Disability and Sexuality, a body contact specialist’s fee amounts to 200 CHF per hour. The body contact specialist is also obliged to comply with quality standards set out by the department.