Let's Talk About Sex

6 CEs Recorded: Fall: 2024

Research shows that if sex isn’t brought up in the first three therapy sessions, it is unlikely to ever come up in the therapy space.

A large majority of clinicians don’t know how to talk to their clients about sexuality and, subsequently, aren’t able to help their clients with issues about their sex lives. Many clinicians also believe that conversations about sex are out of their scope of practice, and while this is true in rare cases, it's usually not true.

Every single person has a relationship with sexuality, whether they are asexual or very sexually experienced. Everyone we work with as therapists has a relationship with their sexuality.

Discussing sexual health is well within our scope as clinicians! It is ethically mandated for clinicians to continue learning and growing so we can offer the best and most tailored support to our clients.

That need has prompted the creation of this workshop, NOT Your Mom's Sex Ed Class!

Socialization teaches us that everyone is cis-gender, hetero, and monogamous. Everyone is taught that certain sexual behaviors are “normal” and others are “not.” These norms are echoed in the education systems that clinicians are trained in. Because of the shame-filled way our society treats sexuality, most folks have a complicated relationship with it.

We can serve the entire person when we choose to include conversations about sex and sexual health with our clients.

This course will go over the basics of human sexuality and anatomy, including sexual and gender identities, as well as the roles of desire, arousal, and libido. This course will explore types of sexual dysfunction commonly experienced by clients and how to know if a referral is needed. In addition, this course will identify ways that all clinicians can become more informed and sex-positive with everyday clients.

Objectives:

• Learn the process of expected sexual development over the lifetime
• Identify sex organs and their functions
• Review gender and gender identities
• Review sexual identities
• Differentiate between types of arousal, desire, and variations in libido
• Explore concepts about sex/porn addiction vs. out-of-control sexual behaviors
• Identify the role of society in determining sexual norms and expectations
• Define the impact of expectation of sexual normativity
• Explore common non-normative identities and behaviors
• Learn common types of sexual dysfunction experienced by everyday clients
• Distinguish the role of attachment wounds and trauma on sexual experiences
• Identify when a referral to a sex therapy specialist is needed
• Understand the basics of sex-positive therapy and how to explore sexual topics with clients
• Learn common types of sexual dysfunction experienced by everyday clients
• Distinguish the role of attachment wounds and trauma on sexual experiences
• Identify when a referral to a sex therapy specialist is needed
• Understand the basics of sex-positive therapy and how to explore sexual topics with clients
• Discuss ethical best practices around client sexuality and identify possible misdiagnoses due to clinician misinformation
• Explore how cultural norms impact sexual attitudes and perpetuate stigmatizing myths
• Identify the ethics that mandate we provide culturally sensitive and inclusive clinical practices

EPDC CE Hours: 6

Presenter: B. Lourenco, LMHC

B Lourenco is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, advocate, and activist. B has been working in community support for 15 years and is committed to social change on all system levels. Seeing mental health as a way to serve the community, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology, with a Systems Emphasis, in 2015 and began her private practice in 2017. B has also worked in the public school system, providing support to students with behavioral issues that made attending school challenging for them. Highly trained in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), B became a district-wide expert in supporting neurodivergent students. It was during this work that she began to be critical of the current models of support for neurodivergence, including ABA. Making the shift from the medical to the affirming model has allowed her to finally identify her own neurodivergence, including Autism and ADHD. Combining her lived experience of neurodivergence, along with years of anti-oppression work, B is passionate about helping others untangle themselves from harmful practices and align themselves with those that instead support marginalized communities. In addition to her work in neurodiversity, B is also a sex and relationship therapist, specializing in ethical non-monogamy and kink exploration. She has been a speaker on panels and podcasts, as well as facilitating therapeutic workshops in her area of Washington State.