How Focus on Intimacy Works — and Why We Started It
I'm Louise, an Occupational Therapist and the founder of Focus on Intimacy. I want to explain how this service actually works, because I think it makes a real difference to know what you're walking into — whether you're a clinician thinking about prescribing equipment for the first time, or someone navigating this for yourself.
Why this exists
I've spent years working alongside people with significant injuries, prescribing equipment and supports that help them get back to doing the things that matter to them. Somewhere along the way it became obvious that intimacy and sexuality — while absolutely one of "the things that matter" — were treated as an afterthought. If someone needed a wheelchair, a shower chair, or a hospital bed, there was a clear, well-worn pathway. If someone needed support around intimacy after an injury, the pathway was murky at best, and for a lot of people, it simply didn't exist. People were left to either go without, or go it alone — often ending up with a drawer full of things that didn't help, bought online with no guidance, because there wasn't a better option.
That gap didn't sit well with me. Sexuality doesn't stop mattering because someone has had an injury or lives with a disability — it changes, and it deserves the same thoughtful, practical support as any other part of a person's recovery and daily life. So Focus on Intimacy was created to close that gap: a proper, legitimate supply pathway for adaptive intimacy and wellness products, built the same way we'd build access to any other piece of equipment.
Who this is for
Focus on Intimacy exists for two groups:
● Prescribing clinicians — OTs, nurses, case managers, physios, and psychosexual therapists — who need a straightforward way to source appropriate equipment for the people they support, without having to chase price checks over text message or figure out a supplier relationship from scratch.
● People managing their own funding or purchasing privately — for those who want to explore options themselves, without a clinician involved.
We work across Australia, not just regionally, and across the range of funding schemes people commonly use — iCare, NDIS, workers compensation, and others.
How the process actually works
Here's the practical version, step by step:
1. A need is identified — either by a treating clinician as part of someone's care, or by the person themselves.
2. We help identify the right product — we don't hold stock ourselves. Instead, we work with a wholesale supplier who carries the range, so we can match the right product to the person's needs, hand function, sensory considerations, or whatever else is relevant.
3. We invoice the funding body directly — where a service is being funded (for example through iCare or another compensable scheme), we invoice that body directly. The person themselves is never in the position of having to pay up front and claim it back.
4. The product is sent directly to the person — or wherever the prescribing clinician nominates. There's no showroom, no walking into a shop, and no one else needs to be involved in the process beyond the people who already need to be.
Why we built it this way
A few things were non-negotiable for me when I set this up:
Privacy and dignity come first
A lot of people are genuinely comfortable with the idea of using intimacy aids — they just don't want to be the one standing in a shop, or explaining themselves to a stranger, or having it show up as a mystery charge. Routing everything through a clinician and a funding body removes almost all of that friction. The fewer touchpoints a person has to go through, the more likely they are to actually get the support they need.
This isn't a generic sex shop, and it isn't trying to be one
It's a bridge between two worlds that don't usually talk to each other — mainstream intimacy products on one side, and rehabilitation and disability support on the other. That means thinking about hand function, positioning, sensory needs, and safety in a way a general retailer simply isn't set up to do.
No pretending there's a single right answer
Everyone's needs, bodies, and relationships are different, and what works brilliantly for one person won't work at all for another. We'd rather help someone find the right option for them than sell a "solution" that photographs well but doesn't actually hold up in real life.
Inclusive by design
This isn't built around one type of body, one type of relationship, or the assumption that penetrative sex is always the goal. It's built to reflect the actual diversity of the people we work with.
Where to from here
If you're a clinician, you can get in touch to talk through what's available for a specific person's needs — you don't need to have it all figured out before you reach out. If you're managing this for yourself, we're building a direct pathway for that too, and in the meantime, reach out and we'll point you in the right direction.
This is still a young service, and it will keep growing — but the reason it exists hasn't changed and won't: everyone deserves thoughtful, dignified support to stay connected to this part of life, whatever their circumstances.
About the author
Louise Whitton is an occupational therapist and the founder of Focus on Intimacy. She has spent the past fifteen years working in catastrophic injury management across regional NSW, and leads a team of allied health clinicians and nurses at Focus on Function in Tamworth, Armidale and Gunnedah.