Three pearls that have changed the way I treat patients in Sexuality Counseling, by Erin Dean, PT, DPT:
“Three pearls from the AASECT conference that have changed the way I treat patients in Sexuality Counseling, by Erin Dean, PT, DPT:
I now incorporate somatic work not only in pelvic floor physical therapy, but also in sexuality counseling. Somatic work describes learning to become more practiced and aware of internal experiences and sensations in the body, eventually leading to less suffering and more pleasure. It is especially challenging for people who have undergone cancer treatment to get back into their body and pleasure, and somatic work can speed this process up for patients.
Sexual health is still a hush-hush topic, especially in the medical field, and often disproportionally for marginalized people. It is often blown over as superfluous when survival is the top priority. It is our job, as the practitioners who know the importance of sexual wellbeing for all people, to bring it up in clinic. But if your providers don’t, it is important for you to advocate for yourself to get this care. You deserve that.
Sexual health is so much more than just sex. In sexuality counseling, we explore something Audre Lorde wrote in Uses of the Erotic (1978): “The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.” Reclaiming the erotic = reclaiming power.”