MACC, MHC-LP

Mental Health Counselor

Megan Butler

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I believe that the therapy space should be filled with warmth, curiosity – and the safety required to consider taking the risks that go along with change. 

In sessions, we’ll work alongside each other to explore what stands in the way of your desired personal and relational growth. (What do you need, or need more of, to take the first steps?) Together we’ll consider the roots, present-day triggers, and paths to hope and healing for the struggles you are facing – working cognitively, somatically, and, if desired, spiritually. 

I work with both individual adults and couples. I’m passionate about helping people explore healthy intimacy within their relationships. This goes beyond simply identifying where and why there is disconnection, to exploring movement towards deeper connection – or reconnection. I also aim to help normalize conversations and education about sex and sexuality, and to explore these topics through the lens of faith and spirituality. All faiths and beliefs are welcome.

Working Together

I believe in the power of therapy as a ritual – when we explore together what, in your brain and body, can be formed in the safety of a therapeutic relationship. I work with anxiety, depression, grief and loss, family dynamics, relational conflict and repair, sexual integration, intimacy issues, trauma, and sexual trauma.

I am an EMDR Trained Clinician from the EMDR Institute. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapeutic approach that seeks to aid the brain in making adaptive sense of unprocessed distressing memories.

I have completed the EFT Externship from ICEEFT (International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy). EFT is an evidence-based approach that utilizes attachment theory to aid in identifying cycles of disconnection – and movement towards corrective emotional experiences.

I am a Certified Prepare/Enrich Facilitator, trained to work with dating, engaged, and married couples. Prepare/Enrich is the #1 premarital and marriage assessment tool, using evidence-based skills and insights to foster healthy relationships.

I incorporate Parts-Work, a therapeutic approach that involves finding curiosity and compassion for various protective and wounded “parts” within ourselves. By learning more about these parts – and why they feel and respond the way they do – we can seek healing, change, and growth.

I am in ongoing training and supervision in Sex Therapy, pursuing certification as a sex therapist. I believe that sex and sexuality are core features of our embodied human existence, and that our development as sexual beings is a lifelong process. My approach incorporates biological, psychological, emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual lenses.

I am a member of: 

  • American Counseling Association (ACA)

  • American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapists (AASECT)

  • American Board of Christian Sex Therapists (ABCST)

Suggested Resources

  • EFT was developed by Sue Johnson, Ed.D., often regarded as the best couples therapist in the world. Consider starting with her book, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. 

    EMDR is a therapeutic approach that believes the past becomes present. You can read originator, Francine Shapiro’s, Ph.D., approach to Getting Past Your Past. 

    Parts-Work often begins with an awareness of various feelings, emotions, or sensations in our bodies. Eugene Gendlin, Ph.D., wrote Focusing, offering a method for slowing down and truly tuning in.

    Sex therapy is inherently important because all humans are sexual beings. Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., in her book Come as You Are, shares what she calls “new science” about sex and sexuality.

  • Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., authored the classic The Dance of Connection: how to talk to someone when you’re mad, hurt, scared, frustrated, insulted, betrayed, or desperate.

    In his book, Passionate Marriage, David Schnarch, Ph.D., explores keeping love and intimacy alive in committed relationships.

    Husband and wife team Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D., originators of Imago Relationships Therapy, provide a book full of information and exercises to work towards Getting the Love You Want.

    Through the lens of faith, Pastor Tim Keller offers a guide to The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God.

  • The effects of sexual trauma can last long after the harm occurred. Wendy Maltz offers The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

    Explore the science of desire with a 9-min video: The Sexual Desire Masterclass, from Emily Nagoski, Ph.D.

    Consider learning more about the orgasm gap from this 2017 research study of over 50,000 Americans.

    Research has proven: talking about sex matters. Explore this meta-analysis from 2019 which reports that sexual communication is correlated with higher rates of sexual desire, function, and pleasure.

  • We are all created as sexual beings. Through the lens of faith, we can consider what it looks like to parent and disciple well in the areas of sex and sexuality:

    Justin and Lindsey Holcomb wrote the picture book (ages 3-6) God Made All of Me:A Book to Help Children Protect Their Bodies.

    Authors Stan & Brenna Jones created the series, God’s Design for Sex. Includes a Parents’ Guide, and books for ages 3-5, 5-8, 8-12, and 12-16, all of which include sample scripts and conversations.

    Linda Noble and Linda Stewart authored a book (and accompanying age-based workbooks) — Before the Sex Talk: A Theology of the Body Approach for Parents and Mentors.

    Shelia Wray Gregoire and co-authors use a large-scale research study to bring “data-driven insights” to Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self & Speaking Up in She Deserves Better.

  • In his article, The Gospel and Sex, Pastor Tim Keller shares a Biblical understanding of sex – and implications for singleness, dating, and marriage.

    Sheila Wray Gregoire and team surveyed over 20,000 Christian women to author The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You've Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended.

    For many Christians, formative messages about sex, sexuality, love, relationships, and purity were affected by the movement called purity culture. Rachel Joy Welcher offers a vision for Talking Back to Purity Culture.

    Sexual brokenness is a reflection of our fallen nature. In his first book, therapist Jay Stringer looks for God’s goodness and redemption – Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing.

  • John Kleinig writes A Protestant Theology of the Body built on the foundation that we are Wonderfully Made (Ps 139:14).

    Tara Owens explores Embracing the Body: Finding God in Our Flesh and Bone. Her writing includes touch points in each chapter, inviting readers to slow down and feel what it’s like to embrace their own bodies.

    Christopher West writes about Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender in Our Bodies Tell God’s Story.

    Sam Allberry explores What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel is Good News for Our Physical Selves.

  • Sex & Intimacy Workshop

    Redeemer Downtown MarriageWorks 2024

    What does it look like to communicate well about differing desires for sex and intimacy within marriage?

  • Talking to Teens About Sex Workshop

    Redeemer Downtown 2024

    How do we equip ourselves as parents to teach and model sexual discipleship with our teens?

  • Guest Lecture: Human Sexuality

    Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary 2024

    Diagnosis, treatment, and theological integration of desire and orgasmic disorders.

  • Workshop Series: My Body, Your Body, Our Bodies

    Redeemer Downtown 2024

    4-part series on the theology of the body and its influence and impacts on parenting – and parents themselves.

Questions?

I offer free 15-minute consultations for individuals and couples.

I currently work with clients in-person and virtually within New York State.

I am a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Christian Counseling (MACC). I am on a licensure track in New York State, currently working as a Mental Health Counselor - Limited Permit (MHC-LP) supervised by Erica Tringali, LMHC and Rosalin Brueck, LMHC.