Topic: Treating Individuals with Dignity and Kindness in Potential Romantic/Sexual Encounters When They Disclose Vulnerable Information to You

Listen to the interview with host Eric Michaels and guest Dr. Nikki Martinez discuss the following:

1. You note that “How and When to Tell a potential romantic/sexual partner” is a semi-frequent topic that comes up in your work. Can you talk a little about that?
2. You noted that the percentage of people with some of the most common STDs, and WHICH STDs are currently the most prominent, might surprise listeners. Can you tell them what the current statistics are?
3. You discussed how far things have come in terms of access, privacy, and speed of results for individuals, while I know you are not promoting any services or brands, do you have any examples listeners could investigate?
4. You also note that while individuals must make decisions, they are comfortable with, they should make educated decisions, and that there are some sites, which we will include in the show notes, that you think do a nice job of explaining things in a way that the reader can understand and answer most questions they could think of. What are some of the ones that come to mind?
5. When it comes to this topic, what would you like listeners to walk away remembering?

Dr. Nicole Martinez received her master’s and her Doctorate from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology and completed her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowship at Gateway Foundation in Lake Villa, Illinois. Before that, she attended the University of St. Francis where she completed a double major in Psychology and Therapeutic Recreation, with a specialization in the arts. Dr. Martinez has experience working with adolescents, children, and adults in individual, family, and group treatment.

Her therapeutic style can be described as integrative, assessing the needs and style that will best serve the individual client. She typically has a mix of Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy and various holistic approaches, with an emphasis on CBT, Solution Focused Therapy, Reality Therapy, and Positive Psychology. She believes in exploring the connection between the body and the mind to treat all the individuals’ needs. She believes that an individual must explore many areas of their functioning to ensure optimum health physically and emotionally.

She stresses the essential belief that the therapist and client relationship is collaborative, and the two are partners who communicate from the first steps of designing the course and goals of treatment, as well as what the priorities will be. Dr. Martinez understands that it is just as important to identify any treatment styles, tools, techniques, or methods that did work, but what did not work as well, so that the two of you can work together charting a new path and avoiding precious time lost and frustration on that which has already been proven to be a poor fit.

Dr. Martinez also understands that each person is unique, there is no one size fits all, and that the needs of an individual may not only change from the initial inception of a treatment plan but from month to month or session to session, and that adapting and meeting the patient; where they are at; at any given moment is essential to both letting the patient knows they are being heard and attended to, as well as positive treatment outcomes.

Areas of expertise: medical and health psychology, trauma, trauma-focused CBT, PTSD, depression, anxiety, social anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, neurodivergent emerging considerations, LGBTQIA populations, bereavement, forensics, substance abuse, and misuse disorders, addictive issues and behaviors, couples work, MISA populations, co-occurring disorders, domestic violence issues, sex offenders, special needs populations, and chronic medical issues and rare diseases. Evaluation and assessment of the above-mentioned individuals, as well as review of previous assessments.

Website: https://www.drnikkimartinez.com

Current Contributor: https://resilientstories.com

Article Archives:EverydayPower: https://everydaypower.com/author/nmmartinezHuffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/author/nmmartinez1313-296

Social Media:Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/nikki-martinezPodbean: https://drnikkimartinez.podbean.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkimaramartinez 

HSV 1: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/herpes-hsv1-and-hsv2/oral-herpes

HSV 2: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/herpes-hsv1-and-hsv2/genital-herpes

Healthline Comparison of Various at-home STI Testing Kits/Sites: https://www.healthline.com/health/std/everlywell-std-test#fa-qs

Everlywell: https://www.everlywell.com/products/?category=8

MyLabBox: www.mylabbox.com

STDCheck: STDCheck.com

LetsGetChecked: www.letsgetchecked.com

Common Symptoms and Timeframes of Symptom Presentation:    https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sexually-transmitted-diseases-stds/in-depth/std-symptoms/art-20047081

CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/std/default.htm

Symptoms of Common STIs/STDs and Links to At-home Testing with Reviews: www.stdwatch.com/us/std-symptoms