ATSAC Annual Conference 2026

When: Friday 6th February 2026  

Where: etc Venues, Marble Arch, 86 Edgware Rd, London W2 2EA

Book your place now on our exciting one-day annual conference designed for therapists, practitioners and researchers who are interested in learning more about working with sexual addiction and compulsivity. 

Registration opens at 8:45 and a power breakfast is available from 8:30am

Ticket sales are now CLOSED.  

We have an excellent group of speakers this year:

Dr Robert Hudson - Psychotherapist and Sex & Relationship Therapist

Dr Robert Hudson is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, sex and relationship therapist, and certified Sex Addiction & Trauma Specialist (CSAT-S Supervisor). He is a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP), an accredited member of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapy (COSRT), and a trained EMDR trauma therapist. Robert specialises in working with individuals, couples, and groups on issues including compulsive sexual behaviour, intimacy, and relational difficulties. He has designed and facilitated treatment groups, workshops, and retreats, and is particularly known for his work with couples navigating the challenges of trust, betrayal, and recovery. His integrative approach combines humanistic, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioural models, offering a warm, collaborative, and structured style of therapy. Alongside his clinical practice, Robert provides clinical supervision to therapists and delivers training and teaching in the fields of compulsive sexual behaviour, trauma, and relationship therapy. He is currently preparing a book and a number of articles for publication, further contributing to research and best practice in this specialist field.

Julie Sale - Founder & Principle CICs

Julie is the Founder and Principal of the Contemporary Institute of Clinical Sexology, a specialist independent training organisation providing qualification pathways to Registration with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT). Julie is a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, a Senior Accredited Psychosexual and Relationship Therapist and an Accredited Clinical Supervisor. Julie is passionate about inclusive anti-oppressive training and therapy provision and serves as a member of the National Coalition for Inclusion and Anti-Oppressive Practice.

Ruth Daly - Sex and Relationship Therapist and Clinical Supervisor

Ruth is a Sex and Relationship Therapist specialising in trauma, neurodivergence, and Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Diversity (GSRD). Their work is grounded in ethical depth, offering therapy, supervision, and training that are affirming, reflective, and accessible. Ruth’s practice has been shaped by curiosity and attention to what often goes unspoken. Working as a therapist, they noticed how erotic and sexual themes were frequently whispered or self-silenced, a pattern familiar from their work with GSRD and neurodiversity. Clinical sexology training revealed the nuanced layers of CSB work: collaboration, a compassionate stance toward shame, and valuing agency and over conformity. These principles mirrored what Ruth valued in neurodivergent-affirming practice. Ruth holds Advanced Accreditation with Pink Therapy and provides supervision to therapists and organisations. Their approach is collaborative and embodied, focusing on transparency, balance, and growth. Ruth seeks to deepen understanding rather than define difference, creating spaces where safety and exploration coexist.

Dr Katheryn Whittaker - Psychologist 

Dr Whittaker is an HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist and Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society. She is also an Accredited Registrant (MNCPS Acc.) with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, with extensive international clinical, academic, and supervisory experience across the UK, USA, and the Caribbean. Dr Whittaker is additionally registered as a Clinical Psychologist with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (Jamaica) and holds dual licensure in the United States as a Marriage & Family Therapist and Professional Clinical Counsellor. Her work integrates trauma-informed psychotherapy, EMDR, and neurofeedback within systemic and relational frameworks. Her clinical interests include compulsive and addictive behaviours, complex trauma, attachment injury, and disorders of neuroregulation. She teaches and supervises clinicians internationally and presents regularly at professional conferences, with a focus on ethically grounded, evidence-informed approaches that support regulation, relational safety, and long-term behavioural change. 

Delivering the exciting presentations below:

From Struggle to Strength: How Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Shapes Intimate Relationships and Pathways to Healing

Dr Robert Hudson

Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder (CSBD) is typically conceptualised as an individual phenomenon, examined through diagnostic, behavioural, or neurobiological lenses. Far less attention has been given to how CSBD is experienced relationally, particularly within long-term intimate partnerships. This presentation draws on qualitative research conducted in the United Kingdom using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of legally married heterosexual couples in which the male partner was identified as experiencing CSBD. Findings suggest that CSBD profoundly disrupts relational dynamics, contributing to attachment injuries, erosion of trust, diminished sexual and emotional intimacy, financial strain, and significant emotional distress for both partners. Discovery and disclosure were experienced as highly destabilising, marked by intense shame, panic, grief, and relational disorientation. However, beyond these initial ruptures, participants also described unexpected pathways toward relational repair and growth.

Putting ‘Sex’ into ‘Sex Addiction Therapy’

Julie Sale

Professionals working in the fields of sex addiction and compulsive sexual behaviours have varied core trainings, perspectives, formulations and treatment approaches, rightly reflective of the multiple ways this presentation is experienced by clients. A core defining theme however is sex. In this presentation Julie will advocate for the importance of any treatment approach centralising a therapeutic and inclusive understanding of sex and sexual behaviours in our ‘sex addiction’ work.

Rethinking Regulation: Deepening Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Practice Through a Neurodivergent Lens

Ruth Daly  

Compulsive Sexual Behaviour (CSB) therapy offers a detailed map of regulation, desire and control. When viewed through a neurodivergent lens, that map becomes more textured and relational. This presentation explores how sensory, cognitive and emotional experiences of regulation shape the meaning of compulsive behaviour, and how neurodivergent perspectives can deepen CSB practice by widening understanding rather than centring difference. Through clinical experience and supervision, it considers the relief that comes through regulating behaviours, the impact of regulation scarcity, and how this shapes cycles of compulsion and restraint. It also explores how fear, misunderstanding and uncertainty emerge within therapy and supervision, and how these moments can be navigated through attunement, transparency and collaboration. The presentation emphasises ethical practice and accessibility as pathways to richer CSB work, allowing practitioners to hold a respectful space for hurt and barriers, while also creating safety for joy to emerge and be fully felt. The aim is to invite curiosity, compassion and flexibility when supporting clients navigating the layered terrain of compulsion, regulation and neurodivergence.

Regulation Before Resolution: ILF Neurofeedback in Compulsive Sexual Behaviour, Addiction, and Neurodiversity

Dr Katheryn Whittaker 

Compulsive Sexual Neurofeedback is increasingly being explored in work with compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB), particularly where trauma histories, shame sensitivity, and neurodivergent profiles complicate traditional therapeutic approaches. This presentation introduces Infra-Low Frequency (ILF) neurofeedback as a stabilisation-focused intervention that supports core nervous system regulation beneath cognition and conscious control. Rather than targeting sexual behaviour directly, ILF neurofeedback works with autonomic and affective regulation, addressing the physiological instability that often drives cycles of urgency, compulsion, and post-acting shame. The presentation reframes CSB as a nervous system–based regulation strategy and explores why insight, motivation, and relational work may plateau when regulatory capacity is insufficient. Drawing on clinical experience and current neurophysiological understanding, this talk examines how neurofeedback can be effectively integrated alongside established CSB treatments, including trauma-informed, attachment-based, and relational therapies. Particular attention is given to neurodiversity, accessibility, addiction, and the importance of restoring choice and relational safety, rather than enforcing behavioural compliance or conformity.