Sexual and Relationship Health Series

Session 1: Healthy Sex vs Sexual Pathology | November 8, 2019 - 1.5 CEUs
Session 2: Kids, Sex, and the Internet, SWOT analysis | December 13, 2019- 1.5 CEUs
Session 3: Untangling Meth, Sex and Intimacy | January 10, 2020 - 1.5 CEUs
Session 4: Prodependence | February 14, 2020 - 1.5 CEUs

• Choose one or more of this series of four webinars.   
• Each session will be a live 90 minute webinar from 12-1:30 p.m.  ZOOM information to join the webinar will be provided in advance.
• Recorded webinars will be available in the members-only area of the website.

Cost: 
Members: $25 per session or $90 for all four
Nonmembers: $40 per session or $140 for all four 

Session 1: Healthy Sex vs Sexual Pathology 
Presenter: Robert Weiss, PhD, MSW
Date: November 8, 2019 - 12:00-1:30 p.m.
CEUs: 1.5

In this presentation, Dr. Robert Weiss discusses sex and gender issues that commonly arise in clinical settings. He discusses the need for at least a few basic sex-related questions during assessment, what questions to ask, and how to ask them. He notes that healthy sex looks different for every person and every relationship. Topics specifically addressed include: Sexual Orientation; Gender Identity; Kinks, Fetishes, Paraphilias; Sexual Dysfunction; Infidelity; Highly Sexual vs. Asexual; Sexual Compulsivity/Addiction; and Sexual Offending. At the end of this session, participants should have a basic understanding of sex and gender issues as they present in clinical practice, including how to assess pathology vs non-pathology and when/how to move forward with treatment.

Objectives:

1. Viewers will learn to differentiate sexual pathology from sexual health.
2. Viewers will understand the differences between sexual compulsivity and sexual desire.

Session 2: Kids, Sex, and the Internet, SWOT analysis
Presenter: Robert Weiss, PhD, MSW
Date: December 13, 2019 - 12:00-1:30 p.m.
CEUs: 1.5

In this presentation, Dr. Robert Weiss introduces the idea that today’s kids are faced with very different (digital-era) challenges than predecessor generations. The Triple-A Engine of Accessibility, Affordability, and Anonymity is introduced, with discussion of how this affects today’s young people. The discussion then moves to a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis related to kids and life online. Today’s kids have more access to information, entertainment, and connection than any previous generation, but they may be less tuned-in to real-world interaction. They can engage socially in exciting new ways, but they are simultaneously exposed to threats ranging from peer-focused cyber-bullying to adult-child stranger danger. How do parents and clinicians help kids deal with all of this? What tools are available to protect young people while still allowing them access to the online world in which they live and interact? At the end of this session, participants should have a basic understanding of why young people are so digitally oriented and how they can be helped to interact online healthfully and safely.

Objectives:

1. Viewers will learn how underage children can access sexual education, sexual content and sexual experiences online.
2. Viewers will compare and contrast how our children’s access to online sexual content may be useful (education) vs. where it can be problematic (pornography).

Session 3: Untangling Meth, Sex and Intimacy: Chemsex in the MSM Community
Presenter: David Fawcett PhD, LCSW
Date: January 10, 2020 - 12:00-1:30 p.m.
CEUs: 1.5

This presentation examines the increasing prevalence of chemsex in the MSM community. Although combining stimulants, other drugs and sex is widespread among all populations, in the MSM community it has merged with the HIV epidemic, especially among Black and Latinx men. This workshop reviews epidemiology and the neurological impact of meth on the reward circuitry of the brain. These changes have implications both for high-risk sexual behaviors and a difficult recovery from the neurotoxic effects of meth. The fusion of meth and sex will be examined including recommendations for clinical approaches both for recovery from the drug and reclaiming healthy sex and intimacy.

Objectives:

1. Recognize clinical signs and symptoms related to stimulant misuse and co-occurring sex addiction in gay and transgender populations.
2. List the effects of meth on the brain and the drug’s powerful ability to heighten sexual arousal and mood while mitigating distressing feelings.
3. Identify clinical approaches for redifferentiating sex and drugs, and regaining healthy sex and intimacy.

Session 4: Prodependence 
Presenter: Robert Weiss, PhD, MSW
Date: February 14, 2020 - 12:00-1:30 p.m.
CEUs: 1.5

The past 35 years have brought endless new, useful, and cutting edge treatments to the addiction space. During this time we have integrated all sorts of methods like: motivational interviewing, Smart Recovery, EMDR, trauma work, somatic and equine therapies, and more -- all to foster better outcomes for our addicted clients. But when it comes to the treatment of an addict’s partner and loved ones, we have seen little new thought since the concept of codependency was first fleshed out over three decades ago. Prodependence, the first attachment-based model for the treatment of addict’s partners and loved ones, moves beyond the trauma-based theories of codependency and co-addiction, allowing us to view this population with fresh eyes and fresh ideas. Prodependence as a model is more invitational, less pathological, and more personally affirming to those who are intimately involved with addicts, as Prodependence neither assumes nor assigns any pathology or label to people simply because they are loving an addict in the best way they can.

Objectives:

1. Introduce a new model of treatment (educate participants) for partners and families of addicts.
2. Attendees will be able to compare and contrast codependency and prodependency to understand the differences between the models.
3. Attendees will develop new skills to intervene on loved ones of addicts.