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<\/p>\nDr. Holly Richmond is one of the top somatic psychologists and marriage & therapists in the United States. She works with some of the biggest celebrities. Additionally, she is a published author and has actually been the leading voice\/expert on how new types of technology (such as virtual reality adult entertainment) is a positive key factor for relationships and one\u2019s personal health. As a leading expert, Dr. Holly Richmond has been quoted recently for her advice in Forbes Magazine, Men’s Health and other outlets around the world.<\/p>\n
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Holly Lenore Richmon was raised in Upstate New York, near the Finger Lakes. Growing up she owned dirt bikes, a horse, a goat, a rabbit, a white mouse, hermit crabs and a cat. Being the kind soul she is, she also took in every stray she stumbled across including injured possums, birds and woodchucks. Puberty hit her hard and she changed from a gangly awkward tall kid to an athletic teenage girl. She was 5\u20198\u201d by the time she was 12 years old and grew another two inches after that.<\/p>\n
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Later, she went to see a modeling agent in Rochester, NY. She was signed on to Nexus Personal Management at the age of 16 (1986) and went from making $4.25 an hour at McDonald\u2019s flipping fries to $75 an hour for catalog and local newspaper shoots ($150 an hour if she was shooting bathing suits or lingerie). Her life changed quickly. She was working frequently in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and even in Toronto, Canada. She was a \u2018Kodak girl\u2019 and was featured on the Marriott Marquise in Times Square, as a bride, in 1987.<\/p>\n
After graduation, she signed with Click Models in New York, New York and then with Premier Models in London, UK. She worked for a year in the \u201cbig leagues\u201d but ultimately decided it was not for her. She just did not have the drive to ‘BE’ a model at that point. Later, she decided to move back to Rochester and attend the University of Rochester where she did a double major in English Literature and International Relations. She modeled throughout college, but the balanced life of academia and modeling felt much better to her than a life devoted to pictures. She even worked as a journalist in New York for several years and then moved to Southern California where she was a fashion \/visuals editor for an outdoor sports magazine. After climbing the editorial ladder at several magazines, she started her own consulting business at the age of 29. But that all changed later after she started volunteering and teaching creative writing at a girls\u2019 detention facility in Southern California, which prompted her decision to go to graduate school for a Master\u2019s in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University in Santa Barbara. She learned how to treat trauma, but lacked information about health. The survivors she treated desperately wanted to get their individual and relational lives back on track. So, she sought information to specifically address those issues. That lead her to the decision to pursue a Ph.D. in Somatic Psychology (i.e., body psychology, because to her, what is more, somatic than ?) from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles and a certification in therapy (another 350 hours of training). Her dissertation was on the recovery of health after assault. Working with survivors is still a focus of her work. It is incredibly meaningful to her and something she will always continue to do, but now she also includes more general therapy and couple\u2019s therapy in her practice. The balance is ideal.<\/p>\n
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The only way she believes she can measure success in this profession is through her clients\u2019 progress. She has an exceptionally deep and connected relationship to many of her clients and has the privilege of getting to know aspects of them that they never share with others. She\u00a0tries to look\u00a0at success through a more quantifiable measured medium. She is thrilled with how much she has been able to use her voice and get the message out about the importance of health. Since August 2016, she has been quoted and featured in 68 publications from Cosmo to Forbes, Wired, Men\u2019s Health, CNN, and The New York Times, and had a television appearance on \u201cThe Chat\u201d talk show this past August.<\/p>\n
In early 2017, she was hired to write a script and oversee the production of adult entertainment company BaDoink\u2019s\u00a0 Virtual II, which is a groundbreaking video series that bridges the gap between adult entertainment and education. This was the first ever Virtual Reality (VR) series written for women and produced by women. It was an amazing experience for her and she is very proud of the work she did. She even enjoyed\u00a0being the part of the LA community, and have several of Hollywood\u2019s elite as clients. That side of her practice typically builds word of mouth. Some clients stay\u00a0with her for years as a support system in their lives but most are in and out in 6 to 9 months, with their primary concerns resolved.<\/p>\n
She practices from a -positive perspective: All is good as long as it\u2019s consensual and pleasurable. It is a dream for her to be able to share this message, helping take away some of the shame people have regarding what they want and how they get it. The only normal in is variance. The sooner everyone wraps their head around that thought, the better. If you like earlobes or leather whips or furies, great, own it. Do it for the pleasure, and of course with consent.<\/p>\n
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Psychotherapy is her third career, so she thinks her strengths lie in her experience across all realms of her life. She has an exposure to many people in many places. So her\u00a0lens is inclusive and forthright. She is old enough to know what she wants\u00a0and how to help her clients. She\u00a0looks past the exterior or shell of people. She certainly doesn’t want to be judged on what she looks like anymore. The question of, \u201cwho are you?\u201d is so much more relevant. In addition to her private practice work and media presence, she also has a consultancy business. She consults with technology companies, adult industry entities, in education and product development. She absolutely loves the variety of her job.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Richmond\u2019s mother suffered numerous tragedies in her life, including her parent\u2019s and siblings\u2019 deaths at very young ages, so it was through her lens that death became a known entity. It did not necessarily make her anxious or fearful, though she was over-protected. She also lost two friends in high-school. One died from drowning at an after-school party and the other had a heart attack on the football field during a homecoming game. Later in life when her she and her husband decided to try to have children, she suffered numerous miscarriages. She describes those losses as devastating tot eh mind, body and soul. With the assistance of a reproductive endocrinologist, they were able to conceive a child failry easily, and were happy and content with their baby boy. A year later, she and her husband were beyond pelasantly shocked to discover another baby boy was on the way. She is keenly aware of how quickly things can change, for better or worse. Multiple losses can certainly make the potential for connecting deeply with other people riskier. She had no idea how hard being a parent is, and trying to juggle a career raising kids is a full-time job in and of itself. But she never even dreamed this much love and connection was possible. It is just right.<\/span><\/p>\n She is very passionate about the intersection of\u00a0 and technology and using the newest technologies like VR, teledildonics and \u201c\u201d in a way that\u2019s beneficial to individual and relational health. She is writing a book about the topic, which is exciting.\u00a0She\u00a0wants to continue working with people to help them bring about all the positive changes they want to see in their lives. The connecting element of the work she does even if it\u2019s virtual is essential now. She\u00a0wants to be kind, patient, empathetic. She\u00a0wants to do her best for people.<\/p>\n Her favorite words are by Anais Nin. \u201cYou cannot save people, you can only love them.\u201d This is the heart of my practice, in a therapeutically and ethically appropriate way”.\u201clies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand .\u201d\u2014Henry Ellis.<\/p>\n \u201clies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand .\u201d\u2014Henry Ellis.<\/p>\n She is taking the shame out of by creating dialogue and sharing facts, and not supporting cultural dogma that has been passed down through our patriarchy from generation to generation. None of us would be here without . So it needs to stop being demonized and pathologist. She is really trying to make a difference here by increasing education opportunities and highlighting the difference between entertainment and education.<\/p>\nGoals:<\/h1>\n
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<\/p>\nWords of wisdom:<\/h1>\n
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<\/p>\nMaking the world a better place:<\/h1>\n
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<\/p>\nLiked This? Read this:\u00a0Psychologists Claim This 5 Seconds Trick Will Determine If Your Partner Is Cheating<\/a><\/h2>\n