Background & Education

David Ortmann is a San Francisco based psychotherapist and sex therapist in private practice.

He was educated at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Westminster Maryland in theater, philosophy, and socio-political theory under scholar Christianna Nichols, Ph.D. He completed his studies in International Relations and Conflict Resolution at The American University under his mentor Dr. Abdul Aziz Said and Adrienne Kaufman.

He spent 1992 in the Czech Republic teaching Theater and English while conducting grass-roots conflict mediation during the Czecho-Slovak national split.

He earned his Masters degree in Social Work from San Francisco State with honors in 1999 and is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of California.

David has presented on the subject of clinical psychotherapy with communities of alternative sexualities in an effort to promote sexual freedom, increase visibility and understanding and to improve clinical psychotherapeutic interventions for sexual minorities and members of alternative sexual communities.

As an author, he has been published in journals, magazines, and anthologies of fiction and non-fiction. He serves as an expert witness, providing testimony regarding the psychology, scope, process, and ritual of consensual BDSM sex for civil and criminal cases.

David assisted in the development of the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS) at the 9th annual Leather Leadership Conference in 2005 in Phoenix Arizona. In addition to CARAS, David is a member of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF), and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (ASSECT).

David serves as an advisor and consultant on sexuality and psychotherapy to several Bay Area organizations.