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.

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. These sessions offer attendees an opportunity for open discussion, support, and skill development. Your contributions will enrich the collective understanding and help shape best practices in this evolving field.

This training summarizes the origins of co-facilitation, its benefits, and the issues and opportunities of it with those who have sexually abused. Ms. Crowder and Mr. Sawyer, two established experts in group therapy, highlight common mistakes among co-facilitators and considerations for developing the most effective relationships. They also discuss the research behind its effectiveness and ways in which this relationship can be improved to further expand the growth and progress of the group members.

The holiday season, while often a time of joy and celebration, can also bring about significant emotional challenges, particularly for mental health professionals. The phenomenon known as “holiday blues” can strain self-care capacities as these individuals face heightened demands from their work and from their own family. During this time of year, mental health professionals continue to tirelessly support clients grappling with difficult emotions, yet their efforts frequently go unrecognized.

We invite you to join us for an upcoming Our Safe Haven session featuring Jill Levenson and David Prescott. Participate in a discussion on navigating the unique challenges of our work during the holiday season. This is an opportunity to engage in open dialogue, offer support to one another, and receive the support you deserve.

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.

Working with family and other caregivers after sexual abuse has occurred entails navigating significant challenges. Professionals in this field, despite being invaluable, often go without due recognition. Sexual abuse by siblings, commonly seen in our field, underscores the need for comprehensive guidance for facilitating resolution and supporting families in their journey toward reconciliation and recovery—a resource that is often in short supply.

To the dedicated professionals supporting individuals who perpetrate abuse and encounter cases of sibling sexual abuse, we see you. We recognize the challenges you navigate with limited resources.

Join us for an upcoming Our Safe Haven session, where Linda Valenta joins David Prescott from Australia to discuss the challenges inherent in this line of work. Engage in open discussions, offer support, and be supported!