The Center for Relationships and Sexuality was established in 2005 by Dr. David Roth and the late Dr. Carole Moretz originally in Eastern Pennsylvania, quickly expanded to New York City in 2006, then to Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area. Care is now available online internationally.
We're committed to helping you overcome obstacles in your pursuit of greater pleasure, deeper intimacy, and more fulfilling relationships that are uniquely satisfying and meaningful to YOU.
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Recent surveys show that 40% of American women and one-third of American men are dissatisfied with their sex lives.
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Half of us say that we would like to improve the quality of our relationships.
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Many of us are troubled by shame associated with our sexual past.
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Some people come to the Center with specific problems. Others want to make their already satisfying relationship and sex life better.
For some people, sexuality and relationship life are also tied to faith, spirituality, conscience, or questions of meaning. If that is part of your experience, this is a place where those dimensions can be addressed with intelligence, respect, and without shame.
With many years of clinical training and wide-ranging experience, at the Center we specialize in treating "difficult" problems and complicated life circumstances. And because everyone has a unique life story and their own needs and wants, we always tailor our care to your particular situation and aspirations.
What We Do
The Center for Relationships and Sexuality offers a distinctive, multidisciplinary approach to sex, intimacy, and relationship life — one that takes seriously the whole person: mind, body, feeling, history, relationship, culture, and, when relevant, spirit.
This work is informed not only by extensive clinical experience, but also by contemporary developments in affective neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and the psychology of intimate life.
We help people with a broad range of concerns involving sexuality, desire, pleasure, intimacy, attachment, conflict, betrayal, shame, change, and relational possibility.
Some people come because something feels painfully wrong. Others come because they want more from life: more depth, more aliveness, more honesty, more pleasure, more connection, or a more meaningful intimate life.
We are committed to helping you understand your situation, clarify your options, and receive the most capable care for your particular needs. Human beings long for closeness, vitality, tenderness, erotic fulfillment, and rewarding relationships — but these do not always come easily.
We also work with people who want to enrich and deepen an already satisfying sexual or relationship life. For some, sexuality is simply part of being human. For others, it also carries emotional, symbolic, or even sacred meaning. Both can be honored here.
We provide an environment that is confidential, non-judgmental, shame-free, and genuinely caring. We respect the lives, histories, relationships, and belief systems of the people who come to us.
We routinely work with nontraditional relationships, kink, and situations that others may too quickly label difficult or complex. We have long worked with people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
We also welcome people whose intimate lives are shaped by faith, spirituality, conscience, or religious experience. If you are looking for care that can hold sexual and relational concerns alongside those deeper questions, you are welcome to inquire.
If you wonder whether this practice may be right for someone like you, reach out. We will answer you honestly.
Who We Are
David Roth, PhD, is a therapist specializing in relationships, sexuality, intimacy, and the deeper emotional and symbolic meanings that shape intimate life.
He received post-graduate training in sex and relationship therapy at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/UMDNJ. He earned his doctorate from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and was a Fellow in Psychoanalysis at the NYU Psychoanalytic Institute affiliated with NYU School of Medicine.
In addition to his psychotherapy and psychoanalytic training, Dr. Roth completed a residency in clinical pastoral care at Lehigh Valley Hospital. He is dually certified in pastoral psychotherapy and spiritual care through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Care Association, and for many years served as a director of spiritual care, a clinical supervisor for chaplaincy training, and a professor of spirituality and clinical chaplaincy.
That background gives him a distinctive capacity to work with people whose sexual and relational concerns are entwined with questions of faith, conscience, meaning, grief, shame, moral conflict, or spiritual longing.
He is also a clinical fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, and a member of the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems. In 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
Dr. Roth works with a broad range of individuals and couples, including those seeking not only relief from suffering, but a deeper, more alive, and more meaningful intimate life.
You can reach Dr. Roth directly at drdavidroth@gmail.com or through the Contact page.
Dr. Carole Moretz, RN, MSN, PsyD (d. 2022) saw herself as a fellow sojourner. She believed that we all long for intimate, sexually fulfilling relationships, that failure of intimacy produces immense pain and success is necessary for full humanness.
Carole was a clinical psychologist with a background in cognitive behavioral therapies. She received her doctorate in psychology from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and her certification as a sex therapist from the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. In addition, she was a registered nurse and earned master’s degrees in marital therapy from Kutztown University and nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research and served as a facilitator at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s annual Human Sexuality Week training medical students and other clinicians. Dr. Moretz died in 2022.
Who Can We Help
You may want to contact us for an initial conversation if any of the following feel true for you.
If you…
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are not satisfied with the sex or intimacy in your life
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feel disconnection, disappointment, or deterioration in your relationship
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want to explore new dimensions of sexuality or relationship possibility
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want to deepen an already satisfying intimate life
If you are suffering from…
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conflict in your sexual or relationship life
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the aftermath of betrayal or infidelity
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the loss of a relationship
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the illness or death of a spouse or partner
If you or your partner are struggling with…
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sexual shame
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compulsive or difficult-to-manage sexual behavior
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troubling desires, fantasies, or patterns
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differences in desire, erotic style, or intimate needs
If intimacy or sexuality have been affected by…
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illness, disease, or injury
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trauma
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aging or bodily change
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changing life circumstances
If your history includes…
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sexual abuse or trauma
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body image struggles
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rejection or emotional abandonment
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longstanding intimacy or closeness problems
If faith, spirituality, or conscience are part of the struggle…
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your desires or choices feel at odds with your beliefs
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you carry sexual shame shaped by religion
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you want help that respects your spiritual life
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you are trying to hold sexuality and meaning together in a more honest way
If you have hesitated to seek help because of…
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your belief system or religion
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your nontraditional lifestyle or relationship structure
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fear that you may be judged
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the worry that you are somehow beyond help
If any of this sounds familiar, reach out for an initial conversation and consultation.
... and a special note about Spirituality or Faith, Sexuality, and Intimacy
from Dr. Roth
For many, questions about sexuality and relationships are never only sexual or relational. They also touch deeply upon conscience, meaning, identity, shame, desire, longing, grief, vocation, and the search for a life that feels inwardly congruent.
Some of the people who come to my practice identify as deeply spiritual or religious. Others are ambivalent, disillusioned, or recovering from painful experiences in religious life. Some belong to liberal faith communities. Some no longer belong anywhere but still carry a spiritual imagination and moral seriousness that matters to them.
If any of that is true for you, you are welcome and will be respected here.
My practice takes seriously the whole person. That includes body, mind, emotion, relationship, imagination, history, culture, and the spiritual dimension of life.
I do not dismiss faith, conscience, or the search for what is sacred. I do not impose religious beliefs or moral formulas. Instead, I try to help people think, feel, and speak more honestly about the intimate lives they are actually living and wish for.
People sometimes seek this work when they are:
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trying to reconcile sexuality and faith
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burdened by sexual shame
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carrying the effects of purity culture or moral injury
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struggling with desire that feels confusing or frightening
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facing conflict between erotic life and conscience
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healing from betrayal, grief, illness, aging, or bodily change
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seeking a deeper, more meaningful intimate life
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wondering whether love, sex, commitment, and spirituality can be held together rather than split apart
I have spent many years not only in the fields of psychotherapy and sex therapy, but also in clinical spiritual care, chaplaincy, and pastoral psychotherapy. That background allows me to work with people for whom sexuality is shaped not only by psychology and relationship patterns, but also by beliefs, symbols, moral language, religious experience, and questions of meaning and purpose.
For some, sex is simply a part of life. For others, it is about transcendence, reverence, or the hope of being known deeply and truthfully. Whatever language you use, this is a place where those questions can be explored without ridicule, pressure, or shame.
If you are looking for help that respects both your intimate life and your spiritual life, I would be glad to speak with you.
CONTACT US
Confidentiality is of great importance to us. You are welcome to contact us here without sharing your full name, or if you prefer, you may email Dr. Roth directly at drdavidroth@gmail.com for a short consultation at no charge.
We look forward to helping you — or, when appropriate, referring you to someone we believe is especially qualified to help.