IITAP-Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
CSAT sex addiction therapy in Houston, led by an IITAP-certified clinician with decades of experience treating compulsive sexual behavior, love addiction, and betrayal trauma. Treatment is confidential, dignity-first, and structured around real recovery tasks.
01IITAP-Certified CSAT
02Confidential by Design
03Dignity-First Treatment
04Private Pay · Superbills
What It Is
CSAT stands for Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, a designation earned through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) with specialized post-graduate training in assessing and treating compulsive sexual behavior. It is the most established credential in this field, built on the task-centered model developed by Dr. Patrick Carnes.
The treatment itself is structured, not improvised. It begins with a thorough assessment that separates compulsivity from shame, secrecy from values, and behavior from identity. From there, the work moves through defined tasks: interrupting the behavior cycle, understanding what drives it, repairing what it has cost, and building a sexual life consistent with your own values.
Two things this is not. It is not moral judgment dressed up as therapy; the goal is never shame. And it is not about labels: whether the right word is addiction, compulsivity, or something else matters far less than whether the behavior is costing you things you are not willing to keep losing.
The Evidence
Compulsive sexual behavior disorder is recognized by the World Health Organization in the ICD-11, and the task-centered CSAT model has been in clinical use for more than three decades. The approach integrates addiction treatment methods with trauma work, because research consistently finds high rates of trauma and attachment injury underneath compulsive sexual behavior.
What no honest clinician promises is a quick fix. Recovery in this area is real and measurable, and it is built over a course of structured work, not a weekend. We will not quote a session count before an assessment.
Who It Helps
Promises to stop, made sincerely and broken again. The cycle itself is the clinical target.
A double life is exhausting. Much of the early relief comes from finally telling the truth in a safe, structured place.
Use that grew past what feels acceptable to you, costs you real intimacy, or requires escalation to work at all.
Repeated infidelity that violates your own values usually has drivers that willpower alone cannot reach.
Licenses, careers, reputations. Discretion here is not a courtesy; it is part of the clinical design.
Betrayal is its own trauma. Partners receive support in their own right, not as an afterthought to treatment.
The Framework
01
An IITAP-built framework that maps the full picture without judgment.
02
Interrupting the cycle, managing crisis, and making daily life workable again.
03
The trauma, attachment wounds, and shame underneath the behavior.
04
Disclosure, boundaries, and repair at a pace a marriage or family can live with.
What To Expect
It starts with a real assessment: validated screening tools, a full history, and an honest look at what the behavior does for you, not just what it does to you.
Ongoing sessions are task-based. You and your therapist work through a defined sequence: stabilizing the behavior, mapping the cycle that produces it, addressing the trauma and attachment injuries underneath it, and rebuilding trust where you choose to. When trauma is central, this work runs alongside EMDR or somatic therapy with the same team.
Privacy is structural, not implied. Care is delivered in a private outpatient setting, records and communication are handled with the discretion this work demands, and nothing about your treatment is designed to be visible.
Where It Fits
This work is available at every level of care, with intensity matched to risk and momentum. In Individualized Intensive Programming, treatment is built entirely around one client at a time, which many professionals choose for both depth and discretion. In PHP and IOP, individual CSAT work is supported by structured group and skills programming.
This page sits alongside our sex and love addiction treatment program. When trauma is a driver, Internal Family Systems and EMDR are natural companions to this work.
Who Delivers It
This program is led by Joni Ogle, LCSW, CSAT, certified through IITAP, licensed for more than 37 years, with deep clinical experience treating trauma, addiction, and co-occurring conditions.
She works alongside a team of licensed clinicians, with a Medical Director and psychiatrists on staff for the cases where evaluation or medication belongs in the plan.
Guides and Resources
Clinician-written guides on disclosure, betrayal trauma, and the patterns a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist treats.
Chemsex: When Drugs and Sex Become Fused Compulsive Sexual Spending Online: When the Cost Is Financial Too Dating App Addiction: When Swiping Becomes a Compulsion Ready When You Are
One confidential call. No judgment, no lectures, just an honest assessment and a clear next step.
Start Confidentially
Tell us a little about what is going on and the best way to reach you. A member of our admissions team will follow up personally and walk you through next steps. Please do not include sensitive medical details in the form.
Common Questions
If you do not see your question here, call our admissions team at (877) 549-5102 and we will walk you through it.
Heights Behavioral Health is a private-pay, out-of-network practice. We provide superbills so you can pursue out-of-network reimbursement if your plan offers it, and we can verify your benefits before you commit. Many clients in this program choose private pay precisely for the privacy it preserves. See our admissions page.
The honest answer: the terminology is debated, the suffering is not. The World Health Organization recognizes compulsive sexual behavior disorder in the ICD-11. Whatever term fits best, the clinical picture, escalating behavior, sincere broken promises, mounting losses, responds to structured treatment.
Your treatment is confidential and protected by federal privacy law. Beyond that legal floor, this practice is deliberately built for discretion: a private outpatient setting, careful handling of records and communication, and pacing you control. Who gets told, and when, is a decision you make with your therapist as part of the work itself.
No. This is not sobriety the way substance recovery defines it. Early treatment often includes a defined period of abstinence to interrupt the cycle and let things settle, but the goal is a healthy sexual life aligned with your values and relationships, defined by you, on purpose.
Often, eventually, and usually not in the same room at first. Betrayal is treated here as real trauma, and partners receive their own support rather than being folded into the other treatment plan. Couples work has its place once there is enough stability for it to be honest.
Longer than a crisis, shorter than forever. The task-based model has a defined arc, and how quickly it moves depends on your history and what the behavior has been managing. We will not quote a session count before an assessment.
You do not need to arrive with a label. An assessment with our IITAP-certified clinician looks at whether the behavior has become compulsive, is escalating, or is costing you things that matter, and gives you an honest answer either way. The conversation is confidential and free of judgment, and treatment is only recommended when it is clinically warranted.
Our admissions team answers seven days a week, from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm Central Time. Call (877) 549-5102 to talk with a real person about what is going on, your schedule, and whether our programs are the right fit. If you reach out after hours, leave a message or send the consultation form and we will return your call as soon as we open. If this is an emergency, call 911. If you or someone you love is in a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
Clinical Review
Written by Joni Ogle, LCSW, CSAT, CEO of Heights Behavioral Health, and clinically reviewed by Deborah Darnell-Drake, LCSW-S, ACSW, LMFT, Chief Clinical Officer. Heights Behavioral Health provides licensed outpatient behavioral health care for adults in Houston, Texas, delivered by master’s-level clinicians and licensed professionals. This page is intended to explain HBH services and does not replace an individualized clinical assessment. Last reviewed October 2026.
Explore Heights
Every program, condition, and specialty at Heights connects to one coordinated outpatient team in the Houston Heights. Start wherever fits your situation, or call admissions and we will point you to the right place.
Verified reviews from clients and families who have been through our programs. Read them in full on Google, or add your own.
“From my very first interaction, I felt welcomed, respected, and genuinely cared for. The staff took the time to listen, answer my questions, and create a treatment plan that fit my needs.”
“Heights offered treatment three evenings a week, which made it possible for them to work during the day and still get consistent support.”
“Our family was scared and unsure where to turn. From the first conversation with Jeff and Beckie to walking through the doors, we felt genuinely cared for.”
Contact Admissions
Speak directly with a clinician-led team that treats this every week, without judgment and without anyone else needing to know.
Crisis Notice: Heights Behavioral Health is not an emergency service. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in a mental health crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.
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