61. When Intimate Touch Is Complicated

Rikki Spivak MS, OTR/L is a Columbia University–trained occupational therapist, graduating with her master's degree in 2002. For more than two decades, she has served children, adolescents, and adults with a specialized focus on emotional regulation, safety, and trauma healing. She maintains a thriving private practice in Monsey, where her work integrates a polyvagal-informed lens, somatic principles, and practical therapeutic tools to help clients build resilience and re-establish a grounded sense of safety in their bodies and relationships. Rikki is also a kallah teacher, trained by Rochel Goldbaum with additional trauma-informed training from the Eden Center. She specializes in teaching kallahs who are trauma survivors, those navigating religious differences, and kallahs coping with OCD, anxiety, or sensory processing challenges. She uniquely blends clinical expertise with deep sensitivity to the Jewish Orthodox community's needs, ensuring that education around intimacy remains safe, supportive, and empowering. A sought-after educator, Rikki has delivered classes and professional trainings to kallah teachers, clinicians, and mental health professionals on the centrality of safety in intimacy and the intersection of trauma, the nervous system, and sexual well-being. Her work bridges clinical insight with compassionate, practical guidance—helping individuals and couples step into relationships with greater clarity, confidence, and connection.

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