Aviva Kohl, LCSW-R, CCPS

Aviva has been a psychotherapist for over 30 years and has focused on partners and couples impacted by betrayal for over 10 years. In addition being a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist she is also trained in various modalities including ERCEM ( Early Recovery Couples Empathy Model), Narrative Exposure Therapy and KAP( Ketamine assisted Psychotherapy). Her past experience teaching Jewish philosophy at Neve Jerusalem College makes her well equipped to help clients navigate the intersection between psychology and religion. She has a special interest in increasing awareness about the traumatic impact of betrayal from problematic sexual behavior on couples and families within the Jewish community.

Jeanne Vattuone, LCSW, CCPS-S, CSAT-S, CPTT-S, Former President (2021-2025)

With over 25 years of trauma experience, Jeanne is the co-founder of Willow Tree Counseling, an intensive outpatient clinical group that specializes in the treatment of sex addiction and partner betrayal trauma. Besides her clinical work with clients as a CCPS-S, CSAT-S, and CPTT-S, she offers consultation and training for those who are seeking these expert specializations. Jeanne is certified in Brainspotting and EMDR and regularly uses these modalities with clients. Jeanne previously served as the President of the Board of the Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists 2021-2025, and has been actively involved with this organization since 2014. Often a speaker on a local and national level, Jeanne co-hosts the podcast Conversations on Sex, Addiction, and Relationships and is the co-author of the newly released book Finding the Way Through: A Workbook for Sex and Pornography Addiction - Sobriety, Recovery, & Partner Betrayal Sensitivity.  

Barbara Steffens, PhD, BCC, CCPC-S Founding President, Director Emeritus

Barbara has provided mental health counseling and coaching in diverse settings for over thirty years. She specializes in helping women recover from sexual betrayal and is a sought-after speaker and presenter on special issues related to partners of sexual addicts.  She served as the founding President of a The Association for Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists (APSATS) from 2012 until she retired in February of 2019.

Rebekah Chen, LMHC, CCPS

As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist, a Brainspotting practitioner, and the Founder of Even If Mental Health Counseling, Rebekah is passionate about walking with clients through the trauma and pain of intimate betrayal towards hope, healing and rediscovering oneself. She uses empathy to meet clients in their story, and to equip them in their journey towards wholeness. Rebekah seeks to provide support and care to our APSATS community, and does so through both individual and group counseling. She has also provided many community based speaking engagements and faith-based classes on various topics, such as family and parenting, mental health, personality traits, and posttraumatic growth.

Cindy Bajema, PCC, CPC, CES, DARTT

Cindy is a certified APSATS Partner Coach (ICF/PCC, CPC), Certified Developmental and Relational Trauma Coach, ERCEM Specialist (CES), and mentor who utilizes multiple couple-oriented approaches to help clients healing journeys. She has additional training and certifications in trauma-informed somatic and mindfulness-based approaches to recovery and is committed to supporting individuals and couples in the deep healing that is needed from betrayal trauma and problematic sexual behavior. Having a family history of addiction, she brings valuable life experience as well as a deep heart of compassion to her work. She currently serves as Head of Recovery at Naked Truth Project where she supports a growing team of practitioners located, and supporting clients, around the world.

Catherine Etherington, CPC, ACC

Catherine Etherington is a certified professional life coach and integrative counselling practitioner, working with individuals impacted by problematic sexual behaviour; their own or that of a loved one. The first ever Certified Partner Coach in Europe, Cat is certified by both the International Coaching Federation and APSATS and has developed her practice with additional trainings through well known entities including The Gottman Institute and Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health. Cat currently serves as Director of Recovery for Naked Truth Project, an international non profit offering support to individuals and couples impacted by problematic sexual behaviours.

Matt Wenger, MA, LPC, CCPS, CSAT

Matt is the Executive Clinical Director of Begin Again Institute, a treatment center that offers Trauma Based Intensives for Men seeking recovery from porn and sex addiction. Begin Again Institute also offers intensives for Betrayed Partners. He has served more than 1,500 families in that setting since 2019. Matt’s expertise is in men’s addiction, betrayal trauma, childhood trauma, couple’s recovery and the spiritual aspects of recovery. Matt holds a Master’s degree in Couples and Family Counseling and is credentialed as Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), and Certified Clinical Partner Specialist (CCPS) Matt lives near Boulder Colorado with his wife and son. He enjoys reading, art, spending time with his family and hiking in his free time. 

Alana Gordon, LMFT, CSAT, CCPS

Alana Gordon is a licensed marriage and family therapist, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), and President of APSATS. She is a respected leader in the field of betrayal trauma recovery, infidelity healing, and relational repair.

She is the founder and owner of Choose Recovery Services, where she provides trauma-informed care for individuals and couples navigating the impact of sexual betrayal and problematic sexual behaviors. Her work includes clinical therapy, full disclosure processes, customized intensives, retreats, and group-based healing experiences that support deep and lasting recovery.

Alana is also the host of the Choose To Be podcast, where she offers honest conversations and practical support for women healing from betrayal trauma and reconnecting with themselves.

Known for her grounded, compassionate, and direct approach, Alana integrates evidence-based and somatic principles to help clients move beyond survival and into greater clarity, stability, and self-leadership. She believes meaningful healing is possible when individuals are supported in truth, safety, and connection.

Jake Porter, LPC, NCC, CSAT-S, CMAT, CCPS, CPC, CCTP

Jake Porter is a Board Certified Counselor, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist, APSATS Certified Clinical Partner Specialist, and the Founder of Daring Ventures Counseling, Coaching, and Consultation. He is also the creator of Couple–Centered Recovery®, a model for overcoming attachment wounds in couples experiencing the trauma of betrayal. Dr. Porter has undergone extensive training in evidence–based treatments for couples who have suffered attachment injuries. He works with couples from around the world who have travelled to Houston for treatment of severe attachment injuries and relational trauma. Believing in the inherent worth of every person, Dr. Porter utilizes insights from developmental psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, and spirituality to help his clients experience greater healing and freedom in their lives. He enjoys teaching as Assistant Professor of Counseling at Kairos University's Houston Graduate School of Theology, where he also is Lead Professor of the Doctor of Professional Counseling Program. Jake lives in Houston with his wife, Kristen, and two daughters, Magnolia Jane and Lottie Jo.

Shawna Meek, CPC, PCC

Shawna has been advocating in the field for betrayed partners since 2009, even prior to becoming a Certified Professional Coach. She is the founder and owner of Living Stones Coaching, based in Arizona with a local and international client base, and has specialized training from iPEC, APSATS, The Gottman Institute, and AANE. Her passions include empowering partners to embrace healing of self with a strong boundary system in relationships riddled with infidelity, abuse, gaslighting, intimacy anorexia, avoidance and neurodiversity. She also specializes in supporting couples in need of therapeutic disclosures, restorative separations, and reintegration plans, with a unique lens where one or both partners are on the autism spectrum.

Rebecca Maestas, LMSW, CCPS, ERCEM-c

As a licensed mental and behavioral health clinician in the State of New Mexico, an APSATS trained Certified Clinical Partner Specialist, trained in the Early Recovery Couples Empathy Model, and a Life Coach trained by the Professional Christian Coaching Institute (PCCI).  Over 15 years working with severely traumatized individuals & couples, in-patient treatment foster care, and first responder crisis intervention.  Having a passion for helping those on the healing journey and specializing in relational/betrayal trauma, attachment wounding, sex addiction, and couple restoration after sex addiction and/or infidelity.  Utilizing a trauma & attachment informed lens, IFS techniques, and the Early Recovery Couples Empathy model to facilitate healing with individuals and couples. 

Kim Hansen Petroni, MA, BCC, APSATS-CPC-S, CES-S, CDC® is a relational recovery coach, educator, and trauma-informed leader specializing in the impact of intimate betrayal on individuals, couples, and families. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and is a Board Certified Coach (BCC), APSATS Certified Partner Coach and Supervisor, Early Recovery Couples Empathy Model (ERCEM) Coach and Supervisor, Certified Divorce Coach®, High Conflict Divorce Coach, and Brainspotting practitioner.

Through her private practice, CoachingHope4U, LLC, Kim supports clients through individual coaching, groups, workshops, and professional education with a focus on stabilization, clarity, and ethical recovery pathways following betrayal discovery.

Kim is also the founder of Not a Casserole Widow®, a nonprofit community and educational platform supporting women navigating betrayal-related divorce. Her work emphasizes dignity, informed decision-making, and long-term healing—whether relationships are restored or not.

Grounded in both professional training and lived experience, Kim is deeply committed to advancing APSATS’ mission through education, advocacy, and ethical leadership that centers partner safety, voice, and relational integrity.

Aarti Chidambaram, CCPS Treasurer

Aarti is the only Certified Clinical Partner Specialist (CCPS) in Singapore. A Clinical Psychologist specializing in Trauma and Attachment wounds, she is also a Master Practitioner in Neuro-linguistic Programming, and a certified Psychometric Tester. She connects with clients across cultures and faiths with sensitivity and genuine empathy. Her holistic approach leaves her clients with empowering tools that help in their own recovery. Aarti also works with teenage and adult children in a family with addiction.

Monifa Ellis-Addie, LMFT, CSAT, CCPS, ADHD-CCSP is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in sex addiction recovery and the treatment of betrayal trauma. Her work is grounded in attachment theory, trauma-informed care, and sexual health. She brings particular expertise in the intersection of ADHD, impulse regulation, and compulsive sexual behavior, helping clients and partners better understand neurobiological contributors to addiction and relational harm.

While working at Banyan Therapy Group in Los Angeles, CA, she has co-authored Healthy Boundaries and Surviving the Holidays, currently hosts the Hope & Healing Chats podcast, and founded Kaizen Perspective Coaching, where she supports individuals and couples navigating post-crisis recovery challenges. Monifa also co-founded PEACE Wellness Collective to expand culturally responsive mental health care within BIPOC communities and speaks nationally on betrayal trauma, partner stabilization, and complex presentations in sex addiction recovery.

Rae Gaelyn Emerson, CPLC, CCRC, CDRC, MCC, CMC, CPC-S

Rae Gaelyn Emerson is master certified life, relationship and divorce recovery coach, with ten years of involvement and activism with all things APSATS. Over the past decade, Rae has worked extensively with men, women and couples healing from the impact of relational trauma—issues like abandonment, abuse, addiction, betrayal, deception, divorce, infidelity and more. Rae is a formally trained mentor coach and coaching supervisor, maintaining active involvement with the International Coaching Federation (ICF); in this role, she is honored to influence new and emerging practitioners within the fields of betrayal, addiction, trauma and sexual health. Rae works via her online private practice, HealingTalks Back, LLC.

Website: www.healingtalksback.com

Lyschel Burket, PCC, FRLC, APSATS-CPC, ADOH, CDG-c, CMC

Lyschel Burket is the Founder and Lead Hope Caster of Hope Redefined, a ministry devoted to walking alongside women whose lives have been impacted by betrayal. Through online support groups, individual and triad coaching, intensive retreats, and a private online community, Lyschel creates spaces where women feel seen, believed, and supported as they heal.

Having personally witnessed the isolation, shame, fear, and trauma that betrayal can bring, Lyschel approaches her work with deep empathy and understanding. Since 2008, she has helped women navigate the painful realities of sexual betrayal and infidelity, gently guiding them toward clarity, strength, and renewed hope.

Lyschel is also the co-founder and co-host of the Hope For Wives Podcast, a trusted and validating resource that many partners describe as the first place they felt understood on their healing journey. In 2025, she began collaborating with Dr. Barbara Steffens to develop Shepherding Through Crisis, a faith-rooted, trauma-informed training designed to equip ministry and faith leaders to serve as wise, compassionate first responders for those impacted by betrayal.

Sarah Morales, Coach, CRC, CPC

Sarah is an expert and thought leader on the topic of gaslighting. Ten years ago, she came across the word gaslighting, and since then has made it her mission to take this complicated, nuanced topic, deconstruct it, and make it understandable and implementable in people's lives. Her decade of studying, continually deconstructing, and coaching both individuals and groups, culminated in 2022 with her Deconstructing Gaslighting™ offerings: a free video series, signature program, monthly workshop, and podcast  – all aimed at empowering others to better understand and identify gaslighting in their lives and relationships.

Sarah's passion to empower others to transform their lives fuels her work with her clients and pushes her to continue developing new programs on the cutting edge of helping others grow to know, trust, and love themselves more than they knew was possible.