Continuing Education Center

Practitioners and parents alike have seen the dramatic increase of sexually explicit media (SEM) across various digital platforms, extending beyond traditional adult websites to social media and mainstream online spaces. This presents new challenges for parents, educators, and health professionals in guiding adolescents and children through their media consumption.

As media outlets evolve to keep viewers engaged, so too must our approaches to media literacy and education for young people. However, professionals and caregivers face many challenges when teaching youths how to be sophisticated consumers of media:

The sensitive and controversial nature of pornography
How easily accessible SEM is online
Lack of comprehensive sex education curriculums
Rapidly evolving digital landscape
Combating misinformation and unrealistic/harmful sexual scenarios
Potential legal concerns
Addressing compulsive behaviors
Promoting critical thinking
In summary, the prevalence of online pornography, discomfort discussing sex, lack of resources, and the harmful content itself make it very challenging for professionals and caregivers to effectively teach youths about these issues.

Join us for an upcoming Our Safe Haven session, featuring a discussion moderated by Seth Wescott and David Prescott. These sessions provide a forum for professional dialogue on the challenges associated with SEM and its dangerous impacts on youths.

We invite mental health providers who are allies for LGBTQ+ clients, as well as LGBT+ practitioners, to participate in our upcoming “Our Safe Haven” session series. These gatherings provide a space for open dialogue and shared insights on how to establish and sustain safe spaces for individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

During each session, we explore several discussion topics, including but not limited to:

Stress, including the chronic social pressures faced by stigmatized minority groups.
Professional biases, including those faced by both LGBTQ+ clients and practitioners
Resources for specialized knowledge and training
Ethical and professional challenges
Creating and maintaining safe spaces for clients and providers can be daunting, often feeling overwhelming. However, by fostering collaboration and mutual learning, we can create supportive environments for our work and ourselves.

We invite mental health providers who are allies for LGBTQ+ clients, as well as LGBT+ practitioners, to participate in our upcoming “Our Safe Haven” session series. These gatherings provide a space for open dialogue and shared insights on how to establish and sustain safe spaces for individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

During each session, we explore several discussion topics, including but not limited to:

Stress, including the chronic social pressures faced by stigmatized minority groups.
Professional biases, including those faced by both LGBTQ+ clients and practitioners
Resources for specialized knowledge and training
Ethical and professional challenges
Creating and maintaining safe spaces for clients and providers can be daunting, often feeling overwhelming. However, by fostering collaboration and mutual learning, we can create supportive environments for our work and ourselves.

Adopting a sex-positive outlook enables supportive and nonjudgmental discussions with clients. Dr. Bud Ballinger—clinical and forensic psychologist with extensive experience in the assessment, treatment, and risk management of individuals who engage in sexually abusive behavior—designed this training to:

Explore the Origins of Sex-Negativity: Understand the historical context and development of sex-negative attitudes.
Enhance Treatment through Sex-Positive Perspectives: Explain how and why developing a sex-positive perspective can improve treatment.
Challenge Personal Beliefs and Biases: Engage in self-reflection to identify and challenge personal beliefs and biases about sex that may hinder treatment.
Develop and Implement Ethical Decision-Making Skills: Gain practical strategies for helping clients develop skills for informed and ethical decision-making regarding sex, sexual media, and pornography use.
Promote Healthy Sexual Behavior: Establish the goal of treatment as fostering sexual behaviors that are healthy for each client.

Practitioners and parents alike have seen the dramatic increase of sexually explicit media (SEM) across various digital platforms, extending beyond traditional adult websites to social media and mainstream online spaces. This presents new challenges for parents, educators, and health professionals in guiding adolescents and children through their media consumption.

As media outlets evolve to keep viewers engaged, so too must our approaches to media literacy and education for young people. However, professionals and caregivers face many challenges when teaching youths how to be sophisticated consumers of media:

The sensitive and controversial nature of pornography
How easily accessible SEM is online
Lack of comprehensive sex education curriculums
Rapidly evolving digital landscape
Combating misinformation and unrealistic/harmful sexual scenarios
Potential legal concerns
Addressing compulsive behaviors
Promoting critical thinking
In summary, the prevalence of online pornography, discomfort discussing sex, lack of resources, and the harmful content itself make it very challenging for professionals and caregivers to effectively teach youths about these issues.

Join us for an upcoming Our Safe Haven session, featuring a discussion moderated by Seth Wescott and David Prescott. These sessions provide a forum for professional dialogue on the challenges associated with SEM and its dangerous impacts on youths.

Has your work been affected by sex trafficking? Do you work with individuals who have been trafficked or those who have engaged in trafficking? Or would you simply like to deepen your understanding of these issues?

Join us for these Our Safe Haven sessions, where we delve into the stresses and solutions of navigating such challenging situations. These sessions provide a secure and supportive environment for professionals to engage in meaningful dialogue, share experiences, and collectively work toward prevention, protection, and rehabilitation for those affected by human trafficking. Our hosts, Katie and David, are seasoned professionals in the field who empathize with the hurdles you face and are here to help guide you through.

Has your work been affected by sex trafficking? Do you work with individuals who have been trafficked or those who have engaged in trafficking? Or would you simply like to deepen your understanding of these issues?

Join us for these Our Safe Haven sessions, where we delve into the stresses and solutions of navigating such challenging situations. These sessions provide a secure and supportive environment for professionals to engage in meaningful dialogue, share experiences, and collectively work toward prevention, protection, and rehabilitation for those affected by human trafficking. Our hosts, Katie and David, are seasoned professionals in the field who empathize with the hurdles you face and are here to help guide you through.