NEW NZ EXPERT JO - LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX!'

The Kiwi relationships therapist reveals how she was convinced to join MAFS and shares her top tips for the bed room

It's safe to say intimacy is not a taboo subject for Married At First Sight NZ's new sex and relationship expert. In fact, Jo Robertson is so intrigued by what goes on between the sheets, she's built a career on it.

"Talking to people about their sex lives is so intimate - once you talk about sex, you can talk about everything," the 36-year-old shares, chatting to Woman's Day from her West Auckland home. "Sex is often, but not always, a symptom of stuff going wrong in a relationship. What I find so interesting is that it's the most private, secretive, dark space.

"I've discovered that there can be so much hidden pain, wounds and hurt within someone, and while you may work on everything else in their lives, all the trauma comes from this really sacred part of them. It's really powerful to tap into that."

Married to husband Dave - with whom she has three boys, Jack, 10, Beau, nine, and Danny, six- Jo has her own successful therapy practice that specialises in relationship issues, betrayal and, obviously, sex.

"Even as a kid, I was really curious about sex," remembers Jo. "I was front row in every school sex-ed class, asking a million questions. Then at uni, I was asking friends about their sex lives and everything that went with it - pregnancies, STIS, what partners wanted them to do... It was fascinating.

I learnt how to listen and ask the right questions." However, Jo's earliest career ambition was to be prime minister. Laughing, she confesses, "I did social policy and sociology at uni, graduated at 20 and then realised no one wants a 20-year-old PM, so in the meantime, I decided I'd go into the community and get to know what happens in people's lives. I trained to be a counsellor so I could hear what people were struggling with.