Couples, Relationships and Sex Therapy Clinic

Who We Are- Your Relationships Matter to Us!

At CFIR, we understand that the path to a fulfilling relationship and a satisfying sex life can sometimes be complicated.  Clinician members of our couples, relationships and sex therapy clinic have been trained extensively to provide optimal assessment and psychotherapy to support you to build strong interpersonal connections, help you resolve longstanding conflicts, repair ruptures to your attachment bonds, and restore a renewed sense of emotional, affectional and sexual intimacy in your relationships.

Our View of Couples, Relationships and Sex 

We are hardwired to attach to others.  The basis of our attachment bonds is emotional in nature—our capacity to be emotionally connected and close serves as the foundation for relational safety and security, trust and optimal sexuality.  Our early years play a significant role in our capacity to create secure attachment bonds.  Without secure attachments, we can have difficulties dealing with our own and our relationship partners emotional realities, so we become disconnected or caught in rigid, negative absorbed emotionally laden relational patterns that feel as if they have no possibility of resolution.  We can also become disconnected and despondent when resolution seems unlikely after numerous efforts to connect.  Our sense of self and our relationships develop from our childhood years can sometimes leave us with emotional wounds that hinder our capacity to communicate and to attune to and respond, so that neither partner feels seen, heard or understood over time.

Many individuals also struggle in their relationships and sex life because no one has taught them the capacities required to be close to others emotionally. Without a deep sense of safety and security in our relationships and self-awareness, it is difficult to assert ourselves, be accountable, and negotiate ourselves with others. These capacities are necessary to create the relationship that you desire, and the fulfilling sex life you have dreamt of, and can be learned in therapy. When it comes to sex, we often internalize sex scripts and societal messages about sex that block us from being able to find pleasure, sensuality and connection in our sex lives.  Our early years also shape how we experience and make meaning of close emotional and sexual proximity to the other.  CFIR clinicians work with you to deepen emotional and sexual intimacy and to support you to unleash your full capacities to be emotionally engaged and sexually connected in your intimate relationships. 

Who We Treat

Everyone

Types of Issues Addressed

Our Approach to Couple Therapy: Extensive Assessment and Comprehensive and In-Depth Treatment

Extensive Assessment: Your couple relationship matters so getting a depth understanding of what’s happened is important! 

A thorough assessment at the beginning ensures that your clinician uncovers and identifies the many layers of contributing factors at the root of your distress!

After an initial couple session, our clinicians will often hold an individual session with each member of the couple to gather background information about each individual and acquire a detailed attachment history. CFIR clinicians incorporate evidence-based questionnaires to ensure that they have the most expansive, and comprehensive understanding of you and your relationship.

Comprehensive and In-Depth Treatment:  Why Settle for Less for the Most Important Relationships in Your Life and Your Sexual Passions and Pleasure!

We employ a comprehensive treatment framework to ensure that the various dimensions and contributing factors underlying your couple issues and distress are addressed. We integrate empirically-supported treatment models to provide optimal care.  We use a neuroscience-informed, developmentally-oriented integrative model to our treatment of individuals and couples at CFIR.  Our integrative approach to couples and sex therapy allows us to address the neurophysiological, developmental, emotional, psychological, and relational dimensions of intimacy.

If you’re ready to resolve, repair, and renew your connection with your partner and explore the intricacies of your relationship, we invite you to book a session NOW with a member of the CFIR Couple, Relationship and Sex Therapy Clinic. 

Your path to resolution, repair, reconnection, renewal and a richer, more intimate relationship awaits!

Our Co-Directors

With over 40 years of combined experience, Drs. Zuccarini and Hakim lead a team of highly experienced clinicians and well-supervised trainees in the assessment and treatment of clients seeking support to build more secure attachment bonds, stronger relationships and a more vibrant sexual world.

Dr. Dino Zuccarini, C.Psych. is CEO and co-founder of the CFIR with locations in downtown Ottawa, Toronto, St. Catharines, Ontario and Charlottetown, PEI. As a former doctoral student of the late Dr. Sue Johnson, co-creator of Emotionally-Focused Couple Therapy with Dr. Les Greenberg, he conducted research and published on various topics in couples and sex therapy. 

He has published book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles on the subject of attachment, attachment injuries in couples, and the links between attachment and couple sexuality, including research on ‘great sex’. Along with Dr. Sue Johnson, he is an original proponent of an integrated couples and sex therapy model in EFT in which he delineated links between attachment and couple sexual functioning.  He has also co-authored a primary model for EFT for gay and lesbian couples, and conducted extensive research in the EFT Forgiveness and Reconciliation model for couples, an empirically-supported model to deal with attachment betrayals and trauma, known as the Attachment injury resolution model within EFT. 

He has taught courses and received outstanding student evaluations for his teaching efforts at the University of Ottawa in Interpersonal Relationships, Family Psychology, and Human Sexual Behaviour. He has a thriving clinical practice in which he treats couples suffering from complex attachment-related trauma, difficult family of origin issues that have affected self and relationship development, depression and anxiety, personality and different psychological disorders, and sex and sexuality-related issues. At CFIR, he also supports the professional development of counsellors, psychotherapists, doctoral residents and supervised practice psychologists by providing clinical supervision in the area of couples and sex therapy. 

Currently, he and several colleagues at CFIR are working to develop a neuroscience-informed developmentally-oriented integrative model for psychotherapy for adults and couples in preparation for a training program in integrative therapy. With this model, Dr. Zuccarini provides leading-edge treatment that integrates the wisdom from empirically-supported therapeutic modalities to ensure couple, relationship and sex therapy clients receive optimal care and support.  

Dr. Lila Hakim, C.Psych. is a co-founder of CFIR Toronto and VP Client Services for all CFIR-CPRI locations. She is a clinical psychologist working with adults, couples and families in the areas of treatment and assessment. Much of her work is in the areas of complex trauma, personality, relationship dynamics, attachment, self-esteem and identity development across the lifespan. 

She also works extensively in the area of family building, conducting treatment and assessments in third-party reproduction and adoption. She has published award-winning research in preparatory counselling for fertility procedures and has been active in both the Canadian and American national professional reproductive associations.  She is a clinical supervisor and former Director of Training of  CFIR’s CPA-Accredited Doctoral Residency in Clinical Psychology, and  supervises psychologists, psychotherapists and trainees from a variety of Universities. 

Dr. Hakim, C.Psych teaches couples and family therapy in the doctoral psychology program at Adler Graduate Professional School and remains active in thesis and dissertation committees. All of her clinical and supervisory work is in keeping with CFIR clinical committee’s emphasis on neuro-science informed relational and developmental integrative lens.