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Vaginismus exists at the intersection of body, belief, and lived experience. For patients from religious or conservative backgrounds, sexual messaging and faith-informed values may influence pain perception, shame, disclosure, and therapy participation. This course equips pelvic floor therapists with clinically grounded tools to assess and treat vaginismus through a biopsychosocial and culturally responsive framework.
Participants of this class will:
- Recognize how religious beliefs and sexual messaging intersect with the pain cycle, influencing muscle guarding, shame, anxiety, and pain perception.
- Identify the impact of religious and cultural context on disclosure, help-seeking, exam tolerance, and therapy engagement.
- Apply culturally responsive, trauma-informed communication strategies when assessing and treating patients with vaginismus from religious or conservative backgrounds.
- Integrate evidence-based pelvic floor interventions with interdisciplinary care, including referral to mental health, sex therapy, or faith-sensitive support when indicated.
About your instructors:
Beth Anne Travis, PT, DPT, PRPC, PRFS, PCES is a pelvic health physical therapist, educator, and co-owner of Arkansas Pelvic Health, a multi-location specialty practice dedicated to helping people function better in the ways no one talked about in health class. She specializes in advanced pelvic rehabilitation, fertility-related care, and pregnancy and postpartum recovery.
Dr. Travis earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Harding University and has completed extensive specialty training in pelvic rehabilitation.
At home, Beth Anne and her husband Chris (married 16 years and still choosing each other daily) are raising four energetic kids — Samuel, Charlotte, Emma, and Tucker — and managing two beloved geriatric dogs, Rhiley Grace and Summit, who function primarily as furry household supervisors. When she’s not working, parenting, or chauffeuring small humans, she’s watching sports, working out, or at a ballfield with a wagon and multiple fans.
Her speaking style blends clinical depth, humor, and honesty, leaving audiences informed, energized, and occasionally laughing about anatomy they never expected to discuss in public.
Bethany Blake, PT, DPT, PRPC, PRFS is a pelvic health physical therapist and co-owner of Arkansas Pelvic Health in Little Rock, Arkansas. She specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction, genito-pelvic pain, and fertility-related concerns, with a special clinical interest in vaginismus and complex sexual pain conditions. She and Beth Anne were recently recognized as the "Face of Pelvic Health" in Arkansas.
Practicing in the South, Bethany frequently cares for patients whose experiences of pelvic pain are shaped not only by musculoskeletal factors, but also by deeply held religious beliefs, cultural messaging, and modesty norms. This has led her to develop a strong commitment to trauma-informed, culturally responsive care that honors patients’ values while addressing the physical contributors to pain.
Bethany earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Harding University and holds both the Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification (PRPC) and Pelvic Rehabilitation Fertility Specialist (PRFS). She has completed extensive advanced pelvic health training, served as a lab assistant for multiple Herman & Wallace pelvic rehabilitation courses, and regularly mentors clinicians and students pursuing specialization in pelvic health.
She is passionate about equipping pelvic floor therapists with practical, clinically grounded and evidenced based tools to navigate sensitive conversations with confidence and compassion, particularly when belief systems and body-based pain intersect.
*This course contains the necessary material to file for continuing education credit in your state.
All live courses are recorded for purchasers.