The Vaginismus-Free Programme FAQs

This is probably THE most common concern that women express when they first contact me! Almost every women I have worked with initally believed that their vaginismus was more complicated, deep-rooted and difficult to resolve than anyone elses. It wasn't, and neither is yours!

They were initially doubtful & sceptical about whether or not it’ll work for them, or if they’re capable of making positive long-term changes. These doubts are completely understandable though, especially given many women have already tried other interventions with little success and may have been struggling with vaginismus for some time.

I always encourage everyone to go onto my testimonials pages and have a good read of what past clients have said. These are from people who have worked with me - a first-hand account. I’d much rather people believed them than me!
The Vaginismus-Free Programme is proven to be a hugely successful, educational and enjoyable process. There is NOTHING else that compares in terms of the speed and predictability with which you can overcome vaginismus and significantly change your life for the better.

The programme is evidence-based so we have the statistics to prove the efficacy of the programme. 92% of Cara's 25 most recent clients clients (date November 2023) believed that they would always have vaginismus when they started the programme. 6-7 weeks, that had decreased to just 4%. For more encouraging before and after data, see the BEFORE AND AFTER SCORES webpage.

I appreciate that it may require a leap of faith for you to believe that YOU can overcome vaginismus and that the very idea of being able to have enjoyable sex sounds too good to be true.

You may fear that although this programme has worked for other women, you’ll be that one tricky case, because your vaginismus is more deep-rooted or severe than most.

To help you understand why you feel this way, below is a list of the main reasons why you may doubt that you will overcome vaginismus:

1. You have previously tried other interventions to no avail. It’s very disappointing to have invested time, money and effort into other treatments that have ultimately failed to help you. Without yet understanding how significantly different this programme is, it’s understandable that you might be sceptical about the efficacy of this too.

2. If you’ve had vaginismus for a very long time or it has become so much a part of your identity, it’s difficult to imagine life being any other way.

3. You believe vaginismus is a physical problem and there is something abnormal about your vagina - perhaps even despite reassurances from medical professionals. You’re in good company – the majority of women believe that at this stage too!

4. You doubt YOU. If you are someone who generally lacks belief in yourself and your ability to achieve your goals, it’s understandable that you will also doubt your ability to succeed with this programme. To add fuel to the fire, you may also feel on some level that you don’t deserve to have a normal, enjoyable sex life.

5. You may have some unhelpful and/or incorrect beliefs about vaginismus that makes the condition seem harder to resolve. Similarly, if you don’t understand all the components and processes that cause vaginismus (i.e., everyone before they do the programme!), it’s hard to comprehend how you’re ever going to resolve it.

Your concerns are normal, predictable and understandable. All the points above relate to your beliefs, whether that’s beliefs about your past, your body, your capabilities or vaginismus itself. Do bear in mind that beliefs aren’t facts. 

Put in the effort to follow the programme correctly and you can absolutely overcome vaginismus.

• I can support and motivate you
  It's really important to me that every women I work with succeeds with this programme. I'll help to keep you motivated and you'll have the confidence of knowing you have my support throughout the programme.

• You can share your successes with me!
  The journey to overcoming vaginismus on your own can be a solitary one - especially if you are single or don't have a supportive partner. My clients are often as excited about sharing their achievements with me as I am hearing about them - it's the best part of my job.

• Enjoyable, engaging sessions
  My job is to teach, coach and guide you through the programme. My clients enjoy the interaction during our sessions because as well as being educational, sessions can be fun too and there are often laughs along the way.

• I can pace your progress
  I tailor the Programme to suit your own particular needs. I also help you pace your progression with physical/penetration exercises.

• I can bring the Programme to life
  Working together, we'll get to know eachother. The insight I get into your life means that I can help you apply the concepts from the programme to your own experiences, making it much more relatable.

• I can answer any questions you might have
  I have been helping women to overcome vaginismus for over 20 years now so you won't have a question that I can't answer.

• I can steer you in the right direction if you go off-track.
  There will be challenges for every woman who goes through the programme, and in fact, we grow more from being challenged than from when life runs smoothly. However, with my help they should seem like molehills rather than mountains!

• Accountability
  Having regular sessions will encourage you to be more accountable for your effort and actions during the week.

• I was awarded Thrive Programme Coach of the year
  The amazing Thrive Programme has helped TENS OF THOUSANDS of people worldwide to overcome their symptoms, and I'm proud to have been a coach right from the very start.

The Thrive Programme is one of THE most amazing and transformative things you can do in your life. I appreciate that is a bold statement, so please read the many testimonials that back that up. Therefore, you do want to make sure that you are following it correctly to achieve the best possible results - the support and guidance from 1-2-1 sessions will do that.

Basically EVERYTHING you need to know in order to be Vaginismus-Free! It is a structured, easy to follow training programme that involves you really getting to understand:

• How vaginismus happens - what is really going on 'behind the scenes' to cause the condition.

• How to be successful at preliminary physical exercises that will connect you with your body, eg, the confidence to insert the tip of a cotton bud or your finger tip.

• How to achieve penetration success with dilators and make the successful transition from dilators to enjoyable sex.

• The beliefs you have that dictate EVERYTHING about you and your vaginismus: how you feel about yourself, your body, your reactions to penetration, etc.

• The specific thinking styles you have that drive your thoughts and behaviour about penetration. Recognise and change the unhelpful ones, such as catastrophic thinking, brooding, perfectionism, etc.

• How much power you believe you have to make changes in your life,  how in control you feel. Learn how your desire for control means you may avoid situations - including dilators, sex and intimacy...and how to regain that control.

• How to feel much more confident and in control in your relationship (or future relationships). Recognise and change any unhelpful feelings and responses towards your partner inside the bedroom and outside of it.

• The unhelpful cycle of behaviour that causes vaginismus and how to change that to to a helpful, powerful cycle of behaviour that leads to penetration success.

• How to reach your goals with penetration, and troubleshooting difficulties.

• How to build your beliefs and confidence in yourself so that you feel much more powerful and capable when doing penetration exercises.

• Informative and relatable quotes from women who have been through the programme about their experiences: their struggles and successes.

There are 2 ways of going through the programme depending upon your budget and how much support you would like:

SUPPORTED SESSIONS

1. You can complete the programme by having Cara or Philippa coach and support you through the programme in 1-2-1 sessions.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

2.  Enhanced Programme -
This is a self-paced programme, including the Vaginismus-Free manual and 27 support videos guiding you through the programme. 

Absolutely - this is an entirely holistic mind-body approach. You will learn to understand and control how your vagina responds, which will be a combination of learning and practical exercises. You are guided on how to pace yourself with penetration exercises and how to optimise your successes. There is plenty of advice to ensure that your practical application of the programme goes as smoothly and easily as possible.

There is no pressure to be proactive with practical exercises until your mindset has started to change and you are feeling more powerful and in control of your body.

If you have 1-2-1 sessions with Cara, she is able to tailor the penetration exercises to your needs. You are paced so that the specific exercises are in line with your beliefs and thinking to ensure that your practical exercises are as effective and successful as possible.

It is entirely possible to complete the programme in six weeks, and the most committed and motivated people can do that.

However, it's not a race! You want to work through the programme carefully and steadily, so a good target to set yourself is to complete the programme in 8-10 weeks.

Approx an hour on average. Allow a little longer for the first couple of sessions and the last two sessions are a little shorter as most of the learning has been done by that stage.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve suffered with vaginismus for 50 years or 5 months, anybody who is capable of understanding and applying the programme can cure vaginismus.

This is a very 'doing' programme and you get out of it exactly what you put into it.

It's very much like getting fit - the more effort you put in, the faster and better your results will be.

It is recommended that you spend at least 30-45 minutes every day doing some form of programme activity, whether that is studying the manual or watching support videos.

Follow the programme correctly, and put in a good amount of effort each day to study and apply what you are learning and you will predictably overcome vaginismus in just 6-8 weeks.

I believe that this programme is THE most effective and predictable way of permanently resolving vaginismus. The results from The Vaginismus-Free Programme directly reflect the effort YOU put into the process. Ultimately, YOU are the only person who can change you. In the same way that if you wanted to lose weight, no one can make you eat well and exercise - that effort has to come from you.

My job is to be your personal coach throughout the journey but it is your responsibility to fully engage with the programme, applying what you learn in between sessions. Everyone who thoroughly engages with the programme WILL overcome vaginismus.
This programme will not work for people who are looking for a magical quick fix or for someone else to cure them.

You cannot pick individual elements and expect to get the same results as someone completing it the whole programme. As you work your way through the programme every week, there is a gradual build up of knowledge and insights, like putting together pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Everything you learn will give you essential insights into yourself and it's important that you understand all the components that make up who you are and how you respond. Knowledge is power so we want to avoid there being any gaps in your knowledge.

It's not advisable to, for a few reasons:

• There is nothing like this programme, so it’s very likely that any other intervention you are going through will conflict in some manner, lessening the positive affects.
• The programme involves consistent effort, so it’s important to devote full attention to it.
• It’s helpful to see cause and effect and you will want to know exactly what you are doing to achieve your positive results. Engaging in other interventions is likely to just muddy the water.

Most treatments for vaginismus rely upon techniques to try to combat the symptoms of muscle tightness. The problem with this approach is that you are just trying to fire-fight away the symptoms AFTER they have occurred. The Vaginismus-Free programme gets to the heart of what drives vaginismus symptoms by empowering you to feel much more powerful and in control of your mind and your body.

The Vaginismus-Free Programme brings together scientific research and years of clinical experience in a unique and dynamic manner that is easily accessible to all.

Although many other training courses and techniques do focus upon some similar concepts to Vaginismus-Free, they don’t go into the same in-depth detail into the essential underlying fundamentals nor integrate the knowledge in such a comprehensive manner.

It is because Vaginismus-Free Programme clients are helped to attain a very high degree of self-awareness, that they are able to clearly see what they need to do in order to ‘get better’, and why they are then also willing to put in as much effort as is required.

Unlike some other courses The Vaginismus-Free Programme is empowering because it is understandable and accessible. The Vaginismus-Free Programme is not therapy or a treatment programme where something is ‘done to’ a person. It is all about empowering people to make the necessary changes for themselves.

It’s best to embark on the programme when you have a few weeks to focus on it. It doesn’t take long but you need to be able to dedicate time, energy and commitment in order to see achieve maximum results. Feedback from people who have completed the programme is very positive – doing the Vaginismus-Free Programme is really enjoyable, and the quicker you start, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits!

We're confident that you'll love this programme and if you follow it correctly, you WILL overcome vaginismus. But, if within the first 14 days of purchasing the Standard or Enhanced programmes you are not 100% happy – for any reason at all – we will give you your full money back.

Please note that the money back offer is not a guarantee of how successful you will be - this is not something that ANYONE can guarantee (or should!). The results of the programme are dependent upon how much effort you put into applying the programme - and that’s not something that we can control. 

What this programme will do is teach you the all the self-insight and the skills that you need in order to achieve success for yourself – and there’s nothing more empowering than that.