Whether the subject is infidelity or desire, whether it’s fantasies, medication, secrets, dysfunction, performance anxiety, sex workers, fertility, dating, shame, BDSM, or arousal, most physicians, therapists, and allied health professionals deal with sexuality every week.
Most professional training in this area is insufficient to enable us to provide high-quality care. This workshop is for professionals of all orientations who wish to understand and influence their clients’ sexual functioning and decision-making.
Unfortunately, almost all of us grew up in a sex-negative culture, which affects our work as much as it affects our clients’ lives. Participants, therefore, will learn a compelling new model of sexuality that focuses on its positive aspects; challenges clients’ tendencies to self-identify as inadequate; sees society’s sex-negativity as a source of psycho-sexual pathology; and confronts ways in which psychotherapy and medicine demonize sexuality.
As a result, participants will be able to empower clients to make better sexual choices, function more as they would like to, and better integrate eroticism into their relationships. With plenty of specific case material and time for questions, topics covered include:
- Noticing & challenging clients’ assumptions about sexuality & intimacy
- The most common sexual question is “am I normal?” Here’s a simple, empowering response.
- In many crucial ways, male and female sexuality are more similar than different. How can we use this fact to reduce patients’ anxiety and encourage communication around sex?
- What are the two most direct ways to increase sexual satisfaction?
- Integrating sex counseling, psychotherapy, & marriage counseling
- Sexual aspects of health issues, including aging, illness, & medications
- Most men under 40 who fear they have erectile dysfunction don’t actually have ED. What’s a simple yet effective way to help them understand their bodies and their sexuality?
- Many people believe that getting herpes or another STI is the end of the world. How can we help people accept their diagnosis and handle their future sexual encounters responsibly?
- Most people concerned about their sexuality focus way too much on their own or their partner’s orgasm. What’s the best way to explain that orgasm is not the most important part of sex?
- What are the most common reasons that people lack sexual desire—and what’s the best way to help them?
Ultimately, we’ll talk about how both professionals and patients think about sex, and how that can keep both stuck. After all, sex is more than an activity—it’s an idea.