Toya Ricci, BSocSc(Psych), PgDipCEAT, MSexol, is a Melbourne-based psychotherapist, sex therapist, sexuality educator, and PhD researcher who works with individuals and couples across Australia and internationally. Her work explores the intersections of sexuality, intimacy, identity, embodiment, creativity, chronic pain, emotional wellbeing, and meaning-making.

With more than 1000 hours of counselling experience, Toya has supported people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, identities, relationship structures, professions, belief systems, and lived experiences. She works with clients navigating intimacy and relationship concerns, sexual difficulties, burnout, perfectionism, emotional overwhelm, creative blocks, identity shifts, chronic pain, nervous system dysregulation, and life transitions.

Toya’s therapeutic approach is warm, collaborative, reflective, and deeply engaged with the complexity of human experience. Drawing from psychotherapy, sexology, psychology, existential and phenomenological traditions, compassion-focused approaches, creative and experiential therapies, and nervous system awareness, she integrates evidence-based therapeutic frameworks while adapting them thoughtfully to each individual client rather than expecting clients to fit rigid therapeutic models.

Her work is grounded in the belief that people are shaped by relationships, embodiment, culture, history, survival strategies, and lived experience in ways that rarely fit neatly into diagnostic boxes or simplified ideas of “normal”. Rather than approaching therapy through clichés, formulas, or one-size-fits-all interventions, Toya works collaboratively with clients to explore the deeper patterns, tensions, strengths, and possibilities shaping their lives and relationships.

Toya is particularly well suited to working with thoughtful, emotionally complex, intellectually engaged, or “therapy-resistant” clients who may not connect with highly manualised, overly clinical, or overly passive approaches to therapy. Her style balances compassion with honesty, curiosity with challenge, and reflection with practical insight. She values open dialogue and believes meaningful therapeutic work often involves clients feeling able to question, challenge, reflect, and think collaboratively within the therapeutic relationship itself.

Toya works with individuals and couples experiencing a wide range of concerns, including:

• relationship and intimacy difficulties

• communication challenges

• low desire and sexual disconnection

• sexual anxiety, shame, and performance concerns

• dating and relationship issues

• identity exploration and life transitions

• chronic pain and the emotional impact of long-term health conditions

• stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion

• creativity, creative practice, and perfectionism

• disconnection from pleasure, embodiment, or self-expression

In addition to therapy and counselling, Toya develops workshops, educational programs, and reflective learning experiences exploring sexuality, pleasure, embodiment, intimacy, relational ethics, creativity, and decolonising approaches to wellbeing. Her current PhD research focuses on the history of sexual pleasure from a decolonising perspective.

Toya is particularly passionate about supporting creatives, carers, academics, therapists, and emotionally complex individuals seeking a more sustainable, embodied, and meaningful relationship with themselves, their work, their sexuality, and their lives.

Outside of practice and research, Toya finds joy in laughter, rich conversations, flowers, disco lights, beautiful textures, and the strange, imperfect, deeply human process of being alive.

Romantic Passion and The Benefits of Exploring and Expressing Sexuality Audio / Video - Reloscope: The Relationships Science Insights Podcast

Sexuality as an act of creativity - Colour Box Studio

What if I can only orgasm with a sex toy? - Fashion Journal

Ask me about: My health story - Private Parts

Passionfruit Sensuality Shop
Erotic frenulum massage
Having sex on holidays: Preparation, top tips and more
Suction vibrators: Pleasure that sucks (in a really good way) 
The pleasure challenge: Are you up for it?
Couples bootcamp challenge
Meet Toya Ricci

Passionfruit.tv
Interview with ‘Slow Pleasure’ author, Euphemia Russell
Handi | Pleasure for all bodies