Dr. Tartaro Intimacy Coaching

07/23/2025

Every week in my private coaching practice, I guide couples and singles towards healthy intimacy.

Each session, one more steady step away from loneliness towards connection. Away from shame towards safety. Away from sexual and emotional illiteracy towards empowered communication.

It’s an honor to accompany my clients on these brave, steady journeys.

But there is no greater teacher for this Intimacy Coach than my daughter. Lifting her full weight up - the weight of her wild creativity, the weight of her fierce attentiveness, the weight of her unabashed enthusiasm and the weight of her bottomless sensitivity - is building muscles for love and connection in me I never knew possible.

Child, you make me a better healer of relationship, truly.

💞Dr. Tartaro Intimacy Coaching
🌟Accepting new clients
🌱Couples & Singles
🪷Sliding scale and package discounts
💜 Complimentary Exploratory Session

📸 Photo by Rebecca Storm

02/03/2025

Join us next Monday for a women’s circle to speak openly about our bodies, our desires and our reactions to the recent movie, “Baby Girl”. The world changes when women claim our sexuality! Cis, NB and trans women welcome. Space limited.💫

FB link in comments. 👇🏼

01/08/2025

Big announcement here y’all. 🎺 🎺🎺💨💨💨

After five long years of seeing my Intimacy coaching clients by video since the pandemic, I’m back!

Live and for an unlimited time, I’ll be seeing singles and couples from a beautiful suite above Imprint Bookshop in downtown Port Townsend. Woohoo!

Over the new year I sealed a sub-lease with the most kind, fabulous and fellow coach Oceanna Van Lelyveld. Thank you, friend, for coming back into my life at just the right time.♥️

More about my practice: Intimacy coaching is for anyone who realizes we don’t do this relationship thing by ourselves. Who realizes that relationships kick our proverbial butts harder than most any other life challenges do. And who want to take the stress, disappointment, and frustration of rocky relating and learn, grow and wildly improve from it.

It {IS} possible.

That said, after 13 years of practice, I’ve seen that my coaching tends to be a fit for you if:

- You are creative/artistic in some way
- You are sensitive or you are highly sensitive
- Being in your body is a thing to you, like maybe you dance or do yoga or walk in nature or just know that your body is important even if you don’t know how to inhabit it all the time
- You might be heady or extra smart and are challenged by getting vulnerable or into your heart
- Spiritual matters matter to you either explicitly or kind of secretly
- Due to any of the above, you have struggled to feel met by conventional mental health services and/or dominant culture at large

If any of this resonates, or if you’re just curious about this work, I’d love to hear you. For the next month, I am offering my complimentary initial consultation in person (rather than by phone). Come visit me above Imprint Bookstore! Let’s talk about how connection is going in your life and see if I may be a fit to help it go better.

I see singles and couples and celebrate different relationship styles, gender expansion and queerness of all kinds.

Check out the link below to read the “Behind the Scenes” story of this move plus nearly 50 other blogs, over 60 podcast episodes and testimonials from clients I have had the privilege of coaching over the years.

Thank you for celebrating with me. I hope to hear from you soon!♥️🧡💛💙

(Ps. I get a lot of referrals from people who know me who refer friends in need of relationship coaching. Please think about who in your life might need extra support and consider sharing this post with them! Tagging friends and colleagues below.👇🏼)

01/07/2025

Live Coaching Sessions Are Back! - https://mailchi.mp/drjessicatartaro/live-coaching-sessions-are-back

12/24/2024

Rock the Boat to Save Your Relationships 🚣‍♂️ -

Last week, my husband and I finally had the “come to Jesus” talk. Our daughter turned two recently - a truly joyous milestone - but also a marker of how long our marriage has gone untended. Rather than any major issue coming between us, we’ve had a hundred thousand little moments of disconnect...

11/18/2024

Last night at the The 2nd Community Conflict Lab: A Living Experiment, Evelyn Cilley led an exercise where we went around in a circle and named one way we like to be supported when we are in need.

The answers that people shared ranged from a hug to empathy to brave questions to affirmations of worth and more.

I’ve been thinking about this so much since. About what a great question that is, how helpful it was to hear other people’s answers and how vital it is that I stay aware of what I need moment to moment.

Answering that question is definitely not always easy.

Not long before co-leading the lab, I had been embroiled in a tense moment with Rich and Joya while trying to food shop in the rain. Neither she nor I slept well Saturday night and by Sunday midday, we had a very cranky child on our hands. Rich and I got through the breakdown when he revealed to me that he had felt extremely stressed by Joya’s crankiness and the impact of that had mounted for him, something I understand very well. His transparency supported me to have compassion for his snapping. So that’s what I shared in the circle. Someone else’s vulnerability helps support me to calm down.

Later in the lab, we had a chance to put this question into practice by asking one another for support in connection to a challenge in our lives. I asked the people in my small group for massage and singing! I was feeling more and more aware of my exhaustion and my needs felt very physical in that moment. It was balm to my overworked, underslept body and soul to receive exactly what I needed from my group.

I was reminded yesterday that when I have clarity about what I specifically need to feel supported, there’s such a better chance at getting my needs met!

👉🏼What is one way that {YOU} like to be supported in moments of need?👈🏼

✨Interested in joining our next Community Conflict Lab to grow your ability to know and ask for what you need? Dates will be announced soon. Stay tuned!✨

10/09/2024

I had trouble sleeping last night (again). And as I lay awake listening to my child, lightly snore, I got a download about my upcoming conflict class. In brief, between the all devouring demands of mothering and the additional stress in my life from my own unresolved conflicts (mmhmm), it is too much of a stretch for me to single-handedly teach this class. But then I realized…I don't have to.

Sunday October 20th, instead  of the previously planned conflict skills class, my teaching team and I will be hosting A Community Conflict Lab!!!

WTF is that, you ask?

A community conflict lab is a place where there is less of an "expert" teaching and more of a community circle of like minded folks pooling shared intelligence, wisdom, patience and skill on behalf of each person and the whole.

What that means in practice is...

You will NOT come in and hear a lecture. You WILL be invited to share your voice and your ideas.

You will NOT be attending a scripted event. You WILL be invited to shape the event according to your needs.

You may NOT leave with simple answers. You MAY definitely leave with a shared sense of belonging and a reminder of how much you are needed.

Here's your opportunity, should you choose to accept it:

Mark your calendar and join us Sunday, October 20th, Hive gym in Port Hadlock from 3-5pm (time changed from original class time). We will be gathering in circle to talk about the conflicts in our lives and get creative. Each person will have the chance to take a turn and share a little bit about the conflict on your heart and ask the circle for support.

That support could come in the form of:

- Advice
- Role Play
- Stories of related experiences
- Dance, song and prayer
- Resources suggested (eg. books, videos, classes)
- Affirmations and empathy
- Silent witness
- Shared grief
- Spontaneous dancing (I will have a speaker)
- Or something else you come up with and ask for that is unique to your situation

Think less like watching a concert and more like jamming in a jam band and making up music together! 🎸🥁🎺🎷🪕🤹🏽‍♀️🎶

To prepare ---> think of a medium sized conflict in your life that you would feel comfortable sharing in circle.

I (Dr. Jessica Tartaro) will lightly facilitate this event to ensure an ethic of care, consideration, respect and time sharing threads throughout. But each person who attends will also be contributing to the facilitation by sharing your needs and vision.

Cost: $5-15 sliding scale (bring cash)

I hope you will consider joining us, sharing your gifts, sharing your witness, sharing your heart and especially, sharing the heaviness of a conflict in your life so that our burden may be lightened by our time together.

📸 Photo Licensed under the Unsplash+ License
More details in link below!

09/27/2024

I’m teaching my next class on conflict and my fourth one this year! Come find out how to take care of our relationships even when we disagree! Sunday October 20th from 3-6pm at The Hive in Hadlock, WA. Link in comments.

09/27/2024

I'm teaching my next class on conflict and my fourth one this year! Join me and a fantastic teaching team on Sunday October 20th at The Hive gym in Port Hadlock from 3-6pm. Class limited to 22 people. Link in comments.

This will be an afternoon of talking about conflict NOT to debate who is right and who is wrong about (fill in the blank topic), but to equip all of us to take better care of our relationships while having tough conversations.

Here's the thing: whenever we get triggered, our bodies convince us that we are unsafe. And then we do and say things that, unfortunately, can hurt the people we are talking to as well as compromise our own sense of well-being. Basically, we backfire.

But we don't have to.

Just last week, I spoke with a friend with whom I have differing political views. She was very impassioned. Her face was red, her brows were furrowed and her speech was adamant. I'm not sure why I didn't get triggered except that I adore this friend with all of my soul. Our political differences in that moment didn't change that. And I was able to stay curious and compassionate with her, to acknowledge her pain, and to mostly listen as she shared her fears and concerns.

I was frankly amazed at what happened. I had no agenda, only to be the friend I have always been to her. But by the end of our time, she was calm, openly hearing my point of view and very much still connected to me.

I didn't defend. I didn't dominate. I listened. AND, I made sure I kept my breath moving, kept my feet flat on the ground and maintained a tracking of my nervous system.

On Sunday, October 20th, we are going to practice bringing kindness to one another through communication and connection practices designed to slow it all down, to help us all resource and to signal to our bodies, you are safe.

It's that "I am safe" feeling that makes it possible to learn the skills we need to connect rather than divide our communities.

I hope you will consider joining us for this afternoon of practice and growth. I have a feeling that the more of us who develop these skills, the less friendships we will lose, the more depth of connection we will protect and grow, whatever comes our way.

It's a good time for it, don't you think? Sign up info in comments.

Photo by Tamara Menzi on Unsplash

09/04/2024

I just said to a client, who is under the weather, “Can I Jewish mother you?” They got a very big kick out of this. 🤭This line was my disclaimer before suggesting ginger lemon honey tea for all that ails.

Good coaching is part a sophisticated blend of years of insight, study, tools and attunement. And really, part good old fashioned love. ❤️

I am accepting new Intimacy Coaching clients for the fall! PM me if you - or you and your partner - are interested in deepening your capacity to get close to one another, to prioritize what truly matters, and to find more pleasure while doing it.

🌀Note 👉🏼I celebrate different relationship styles, gender expansion and queerness of all kinds.

My website is in comments where you can read testimonials as well as check out my podcast to get a taste of what I offer.

📸 Photo credit Rebecca Storm