HSX8595 - SEX AND SEXUALITY: AN INTRODUCTORY OVERVIEW FOR MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS

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SEX AND SEXUALITY: AN INTRODUCTORY OVERVIEW FOR MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS

by Sally Lehr, PhD, APRN, BC, FAACS, CIRT


Sally Lehr, a faculty member of the Emory University School of Nursing since 1976, also maintains a private practice as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists, an AASECT Certified Sex Educator and Sex Therapist, and a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist. She is an author and frequent presenter at conferences and seminars.

This course is the copyrighted property of yourceus.com and may not be copied in part or in entirety without the express written permission of yourceus.com. For information on how to secure permission to use this course or any part of this course, contact us at: info@yourceus.com.

THIS COURSE MAY NOT BE UTILIZED WITHOUT FIRST MAKING PROPER PAYMENT. ENTERING THIS COURSE IN AN UNAUTHORIZED MANNER WOULD REPRESENT AN ETHICAL VIOLATION.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this course is to provide the mental health clinician with a comprehensive introductory overview of sexuality. When the trainee completes this course, he/she will:

1. Clarify personal values by becoming aware of and examining ideas, feelings, and attitudes about a broad range of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of human sexuality.
2. Comprehend strategies for sexuality assessment.
3. Understand the sexual response cycle.
4. Know trends in sexuality in Western society.
5. Be able to describe sexual problems commonly seen in therapy practices.
6. Understand female sexual concerns and dysfunctions.
7. Understand male sexual concerns and dysfunctions.
8. Comprehend uncommon sexual practices.

This course is primarily designed for clinicians in the early or middle stages of their career, or for more advanced clinicians reviewing basic concepts in this area.

REFERNCES AND TEST

Foreword

Most clinicians who work with individuals, couples, or families will be confronted at some point in time with one or more clients whose problem may be - or may include – sexual concerns or sexual dysfunction. Sometimes, such clients may be referred by an internist or a family physician who has become aware of sexual problems that are part of the client's overall health issues.

In other instances, the client may present with some other kind of emotional or psychological difficulty and the presence of sexual concerns may be uncovered later in the course of the treatment. Because the arena of human sexuality can be loaded with cultural and emotional baggage, it may be more comfortable for some clients to underplay or hide that component of their difficulties – at least until the therapeutic relationship feels a little safer. At that point in time, the relationship may be well enough established that a transfer to a specialist in sex and sexuality may create a difficult transition for the client.

In such instances the clinician will be asked to determine whether the need for a sex and sexuality specialist is compelling enough to warrant the disruption of the established relationship, or whether the clinician can bring sufficient knowledge about to the treatment that each client's needs for help and support for their sexual difficulties can be successfully addressed.

There will be two groups of clinicians for whom this course will be appropriate. The first group is the larger group: those clinicians who will not necessarily become specialists in sex and sexuality, but who will need a solid foundation in the nature, course and treatment of sexual issues in order to possess both skill and knowledge when a client with sexual concerns appears as part of their practice.

Because this represents the more usual circumstance, the course will have as its focus providing this target group with the most useful information possible.

For this group of trainees, this course does not pretend to serve as a comprehensive training of the sort that would allow a clinician subsequently to present himself or herself as a specialist and expert in the treatment of sexual concerns. Rather, it will provide a solid foundation for knowing how to proceed with such cases when they arrive on the clinician's doorstep. This knowledge base – for the non-specialist – may need to include how to make successful referrals to clinicians who do specialize in sex and sexuality.

The second – and smaller - group will consist of those clinicians who may indeed wish to become specialists in issues related to sex and sexuality, but who are just at the beginning phases of preparing themselves for that path. The hope is that this training course will also provide for them a solid and detailed foundation for their professional journey, with some direction about other areas of study that may be required on the way to achieving expertise in this kind of work.

About the use of sexuality factoids:

The professional authority of mental health clinicians is at least partially determined by the amount of knowledge possessed in areas related to counseling.

Towards the end of increasing important knowledge around sex and sexuality, this course will present a number of factoids with key facts around sex and sexuality. Some of this knowledge may be considered important enough to be included in the post-test section of this course.

Sexuality Factoid

90% of men and 86% of women have had sex in the past year

Source: Laumann, E., Gagnon, J.H., Michael, R.T., and Michaels, S. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. 1994. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

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