With Pleasure: Managing Trauma Triggers for More Vibrant Sex and Relationships is a companion for anyone experiencing the effects of trauma. Through true survivor stories, expert insight, writing prompts, and grounding exercises, it explores pleasure, relationships, and community as worthy and essential antidotes in trying times.  Written by trauma-informed sex therapist Jamila Dawson, LMFT, and sexuality journalist and podcaster August McLaughlin, With Pleasure provides a much-needed alternative to harmful "self-help" ideologies that instruct people to "change their thoughts" or "choose to be happy."

August McLaughlin is a nationally recognized health and sexuality writer, trauma-informed certified sex educator, and host and producer of the podcast Girl Boner Radio. Her articles have been featured by Cosmopolitan, the Washington Post, Salon, HuffPost, LIVESTRONG.com, and more. She is the author of Girl Boner: The Good Girl's Guide to Sexual Empowerment, featured in the New York Times, Health, and Shape. She has presented at colleges, recovery centers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.

Jamila Dawson, LMFT is a licensed sex and relationship therapist, writer, and educator. She runs her private psychotherapy and consulting business, Fire & Flow Therapy, and teaches as adjunct faculty at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has lectured at the University of Southern California and AASECT Summer Institute, and collaborated with a variety of sex therapists and educators, as well as Buzzfeed, Playboy, Harper's Bazaar, and other media outlets. She presents locally and nationally on sexuality, empowerment, BDSM/kink, pleasure, relationships, and trauma-informed/healing-focused psychotherapy.

As Senior Editor at Chicago Review Press, Kara Rota acquires and edits music, pop culture, memoir, and other nonfiction titles. Previously Kara worked at Macmillan, acquiring and editing cookbooks, mind/body/spirit books, and other nonfiction for multiple Macmillan imprints including Flatiron and St. Martin's Press. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Evanston, IL with her family.

With Pleasure: Managing Trauma Triggers for More Vibrant Sex and Relationships | August McLaughlin and Jamila Dawson in conversation with Kara Rota