Helping Women Heal & Reclaim Their Power Through Trauma and Sex Therapy – Interview with Kellie Sheldon

Kellie Sheldon is a trauma and sex therapist based in Perth, Australia, specialising in parts work, EMDR, and somatic therapy. With many years of experience, she helps individuals heal from complex trauma and sexual difficulties, guiding them towards healthy relationships and self-discovery. Kellie’s approach blends compassion with practical strategies, offering a safe space for clients to explore their deepest wounds and reclaim their power. She’s passionate about breaking down shame around sex and trauma, empowering clients to embrace their full potential. Her mission is to help women enjoy sex without shame and approach their healing journey with confidence

Kellie Sheldon, Kellie Sheldon Trauma and Sex Counsellor

Tell us a bit about you. Who are you, what’s your life like, and what makes you tick?

I’m Kellie – trauma and sex therapist based in Perth. I’ve got two adult kids, and for most of uni, I was raising them solo. Juggling study, work, and parenting was a lot, but it also gave me this grit that still shapes how I show up today. I don’t take anything for granted.

Before therapy became my world, I spent over two decades running my own business in soft furnishings back in Queensland. I started in manufacturing and ended up running a little retail store – selling, making, and installing curtains and blinds. I followed in my mum’s footsteps. It paid the bills and gave me flexibility, but eventually, I just had this moment of thinking, there’s got to be more to life than helping people make their homes pretty.

At the time, my eldest was in speech therapy, and that nudged me toward starting uni as a mature-age student. I originally thought I’d go into speech pathology, but life redirected me. I ended up diving into psychology and counselling instead. I knew early on I wanted to work in sexuality. But after finishing postgrad, I realised my heart was in trauma work. Now, I often say I wouldn’t know what to do with plain old generalised anxiety – my brain’s wired for the complex stuff.

When I’m not in session, I’m usually with animals or in the garden. I foster cats, have a lazy dog called Basty (he’s a Lab-Shar Pei cross), and two birds – Yagan and Little Timmy. I’ve got a soft spot for Winnie the Pooh memorabilia, and I’ll camp any chance I get.

Why trauma and sex therapy? What drew you in?

It wasn’t a lightning bolt moment. It was more like a series of nudges.

As I studied and started seeing clients, I realised just how many people were stuck – not because they weren’t trying hard enough, but because the therapy they were doing wasn’t going deep enough. You can’t talk your way out of trauma that’s living in the body.

And when it comes to sex and intimacy? There’s so much shame, silence, and misinformation. People are walking around feeling like they’re broken – and they’re not. They’ve just never had a space where this stuff can be unpacked properly, with care and honesty.

You work with EMDR, parts work, and somatics. Why those—and not just talk therapy?

Because talking isn’t always enough. That’s the short version.

Parts work (IFS and ego states) helps people make sense of those moments where they feel torn – when one part of them wants love and connection, but another shuts everything down. It’s not about fixing the “wrong” part. It’s about listening to all the parts that have helped you survive.

I got into EMDR during my master’s. I did an assignment on it and just knew I had to train in it. I actually started my training while still finishing my degree. I’ll be a fully accredited EMDR practitioner this year. It’s one of the most powerful tools I’ve ever used. It helps people process trauma without having to dig it up over and over again.

And somatic work – that’s the missing link for so many people. Trauma gets stuck in the body. Clients come to me with chronic pain, gut issues, numbness, panic… and it’s all linked to things their nervous system has been holding onto for years. If your body doesn’t feel safe, no amount of insight is going to shift things.

Talk therapy is useful, but I’m more interested in helping people actually feel different – not just think differently.

What are some of the big myths or misunderstandings you come across in your work?

One of the biggest is that trauma has to be something “huge” to count. People minimise what they’ve been through all the time – especially if it’s emotional neglect or anything that didn’t look dramatic from the outside. But the nervous system doesn’t care how it looked. It remembers how it felt.

Another big one is around sex. People are told to just communicate more, or to relax, or to “be more confident.” But that advice doesn’t work when your body is in survival mode. You can’t feel safe, let alone connected or intimate, when your nervous system is stuck in the past.

If you could change one thing about the therapy world, what would it be? Honestly? I’d change two things.

First, the gatekeeping. People are still walking around thinking they need to be at rock bottom before they can ask for help. They think they have to be traumatised “enough” to deserve therapy. That belief keeps so many people stuck.

And second – the way we treat therapists. There’s this weird unspoken rule that because we’re in a helping profession, we’re meant to give and give and never want anything for ourselves. Like asking for fair pay somehow makes you selfish.

I’m not about that. Therapists deserve to earn a decent living. When we’re paid properly, we can invest in good supervision, keep learning, look after our own health, and actually stay in the field. That benefits everyone. Burnt-out therapists don’t help anybody.

What’s been one of your proudest moments in your career so far?

Building a practice that works – for me and for my clients.

The best thing is when someone tells me, “This is the first time therapy has made sense.” That’s the stuff that matters. On a personal note, finishing my EMDR accreditation this year is a big milestone. I’m also training in clinical supervision so I can support other therapists doing this work – especially in tricky areas like trauma and sexuality.

What’s next? What are you working on?

I’m in a season of expansion, but not just in the business-y sense. I’m creating content that challenges outdated ideas around sex and trauma. I’m building resources that people can use outside the therapy room. And I’m starting a YouTube channel to make this kind of education more accessible.

I love this work, and I want it to reach the people who need it – whether they’re in therapy or not.

Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

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