Conditions that affect vulvar health can also affect other aspects of a patient’s health – physical, emotional, sexual, and social. We believe that treatment from a multidisciplinary perspective is critical to improving the lives of affected individuals.
In addition to clinical care, including medical and surgical treatments, we commonly recommend educational interventions, pelvic floor physiotherapy, psychological support, and sexual therapy.
1) Pelvic floor physiotherapy:
For our list of recommended pelvic floor physiotherapists, click here.
2) Psychologists / counsellors/sex therapy:
For our list of individual psychologists /counsellors, click here.
UBC Psychology Clinic: Offers clinical psychological services offered by graduate students in clinical psychology who are being supervised by registered psychologists. Sliding-scale fees at reduced rates. Click here for clinic information.
3) Other Recommended Clinics:
- Vancouver CBT Centre
- DBT Centre of Vancouver
- North Shore Stress and Anxiety Clinic
- West Coast Centre for Sex Therapy
4) Resources for Pain Management
- National Vulvodynia Association
- Pain BC
- Kelty’s Key – online resource for mental health and chronic pain
5) General recommended resources (books, websites, organizations, etc): click here.
6) For individuals with herpes, recurrent or complex vaginitis, consider a referral to the Infectious Disease Clinic at BC Women’s Hospital.
7) For patients (<18 years of age) consider a referral to a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologist. In Vancouver, patients can be referred to Drs. Debra Millar, Ellen Giesbrecht, Nicole Todd or Aalia Sachedina. Click for referral form.
8) For individuals with sexual concerns consider a referral to the BC Centre for Sexual Medicine ( BCCSM). BCCSM’s consultant physicians offer biopsychosocial assessment and short term treatment for patients and their partners with : sexual interest, arousal and orgasm difficulties, pain associated with sexual activities ( dysparunia including vulvodynia, vaginismus, genitopelvic pain/penetration disorder), erectile and ejaculatory difficulties, and problems in completing chosen sexual acts such as intercourse. BCCSM is a tertiary consultative service and does not provide relationship counselling or primary psychiatric care.
9) For those with pelvic pain or deep dyspareunia consider a referral to the Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis at BC Women’s Hospital. The Centre offers an interdisciplinary approach to chronic pelvic pain that includes a combination of pain education workshops, pelvic floor physiotherapy, clinical counseling, medical management and surgery (including advanced excisional laparoscopic surgery).
