Founder and Director
Marnie C. Ferree
M.A.,LMFT,CSAT
Marnie C. Ferree is the founder of Bethesda Workshops and has a national reputation as a leader in the field of sexual addiction. She has an active role in every workshop.
In 1997, Marnie established a workshop program for female sex addicts that was the first of its kind, and today draws participants from across the United States and Canada. That program expanded in 2001 to include workshops for male sex addicts, partners, and couples, and it was renamed Bethesda Workshops. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a certified sex addiction therapist (CSAT).
Marnie’s Story Testimony Email Phone
Marnie’s book about female sexual addiction, No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction, (Intervarsity Press) is the first Christian book on the subject by a woman personally in recovery. No Stones has been widely acclaimed as a pioneering work and is considered the standard in the field. Her second book is L.I.F.E. Guide for Women, a workbook for female sex addicts.
She is also the editor of Making Advances – A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts, which is the first book to address this population. Making Advances was written by 10 female leaders in the clinical community, and Marnie shaped the volume, edited the entire project, and contributed to several chapters. In 2018, she co-authored Out of the Doghouse for Christian Men – A Redemptive Guide for Men Caught Cheating.
Marnie is a frequent lecturer at professional and recovery conferences, churches, and schools. She also consults with Christian churches and organizations about sexual integrity, especially when a leader has fallen into sexual sin or committed clergy sexual abuse. Marnie is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, which is the certifying body for the CSAT (certified sex addiction therapist) designation, which is the highest in the field. She is also a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (clinical fellow), the American Association for Christian Counselors, and the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, where she served nearly 20 years on the editorial board of the professional journal Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity. She received her master’s degree in counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville.
Marnie has published dozens of articles in a variety of professional journals, magazines and newspapers. Of particular note is a comprehensive series on childhood sexual abuse, which was published in 1993 in The Tennessean. The series was ground-breaking in telling survivors’ first-person stories on the record, including her own, and it generated hundreds of responses.
Marnie is the mother of two married adult children and “GrandMarnie” to four grandchildren.
Sexual addiction is a complex issue, but there is hope! Many of our clinical staff are trained Certified Sex Addiction Therapists (CSAT®) or CSAT® candidates through the Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (ITTAP). This training, developed by Dr. Patrick Carnes, requires attendance at multiple training modules and supervision with a CSAT® supervisor. It also requires ongoing education requirements so that CSATs are experts in providing the latest innovations in sexual addiction therapy. CSAT® training is a rigorous process designed to help professionals best serve their clients.
To learn more about treatment for sex addiction, visit www.sexhelp.com. This website also has links to www.recoveryzone.com for helpful resources for potential addicts and their partners: an initial (free) sexual addiction screening assessment and a partner sexuality survey.
Clinical Staff

Ph.D., LPC Small Group Therapist

Ph.D., LPC-MHSP, CSAT Small Group Therapist

Ph.D., CSAT(c) Small Group Therapist

M.A., CSAT Small Group Therapist

M.A.., PSAP Small Group Leader - Teens

LCSW, CSAT, CPTT Small Group Therapist,

M.A., LSPE Small Group Therapist

M.A., LPCC-S, CPTT Small Group Therapist

M.A., LCPC, CSAT Small Group Therapist



M.A., LPC, CSAT Small Group Therapist
Administrative Staff





M.A., LMFT
Board of Directors



M.D.

M.A., LMFT

M.A., LPE-MHSP

J.D.

MBA