It is nice to have another class with you. It is interesting how sexuality counseling can assist all life stages. Long, Burnett, and Thomas (2006) state how sexuality counseling can help children who are curious about sexual behaviors or have experienced sexual abuse (p. 256). Whereas, the elderly can benefit from sexuality counseling due to losing an intimate partner or a decline in psychological factors during their aging development (p. 181). Indeed, this course was not required to complete in my clinical mental health study path, however, I believe learning about this counseling topic can benefit my professional practice when counseling different cultures, ethnicities, and ages.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) are one of the most common and preventable health care problems in the world. The ageism of the population and the increase in the number of older adults, along with healthcare advances that provide better and longer quality of life, has encourage changes in sexuality amongst older adults. This increase has prompted healthcare workers to familiarize themselves with the sexuality of older adults. In this report, I plan to discuss the significance of this topic, the concern for the public, and interventions that can be implemented from a Community Health Nurse prospective.
When I signed for the human sexuality class, I was so excited to take the class and learn more about sex and gender in a psychological matter. What made me more curious to take this class two elements. Firstly, I have never taken a human sexuality class before neither in schools nor colleges. Secondly, we know that every culture has different beliefs about sex, and as I am an international student and have a different background about sex, I wanted to gain experience from other cultures that will make my thoughts to be more broadened and will extremely help me in my future career.
Human sexuality can be fascinating, complex, contradictory, and sometimes frustrating. Sexuality is interwoven into every aspect of being human; therefore, having knowledge about sex is as essential as having education about human anatomy. However, it is highly recommended to pay close attention when sex education is delivered to youths. (Donatelle 171)
A mental health counselor is a counseling professional, whose duties involves helping individuals cope with difficult life events, managing mental illnesses, and referring patients to additional resources that can help them. Before they can start counseling, they need to follow their states specific requires. For instance, in Louisiana, one has to obtain a master’s degree from an accredited program, have the required hours of supervised practice and coursework, and pass the National Counselor Examination to be licensed and certified. In addition to receiving a license in this field, an individual has to complete an addition 40 hours of continuing education every year to renew their license. The Mental Health Counseling program, offered at Capella, would satisfy most, if not all, of the licensure requirements in Louisiana.
The AASECT ethical code that I can relate to the most is competence and integrity. Competence and integrity relates to a counselor’s responsibility for the consequences of their acts, by commission or omission, and making reasonable efforts for provision of all professional services in an adequate and appropriate manner (Long, Burnett, & Thomas, 2006). As human sexuality counselors, I believe that it is critical for us to maintain client’s confidentiality by ensuring the information obtained from clients is used for counseling purposes only and is kept private and confidential. This can only be done through competent practice and maintenance of professional integrity.
Over time many of the baby boomers that once had the outlook on life that each day was building onto the next in the same routine as always have changed from that and now pursue the “you only live once” view in how they will live each day. With that the need for advisement directed toward the older generation has spiked towards the need for sexual education in older adults.
This paper will outline sexuality at different life stages, and as a sexual therapist I will coach an adolescent girl with a boyfriend who is pressuring her to have sex; an elderly couple with a wife exhibiting a renewed interest in sexual activity and a unwilling husband; and finally a handicapped male that has been paralyzed since he was four years old.
The health professional providing sexual education should be facultative verses being viewed as an expert of knowledge. This education style builds rapport with the client, provides a productive
Conceive of an 11-year-old Caucasian male with compulsive sexual behavior. He comes into unwanted, sexual contact with infantile females, expressing extreme curiosity with their bodies. He is at risk for residential placement. He wants to practice positive adolescent sexuality. For this reason, he requires an intervention that will prevent and deter his sexually maladaptive behaviors.
In “Sexuality and Aging-Research on Aging” Dan Sewell, MD, explains the revised definition of sexual intimacy, the need for doctors to ask about sexual activity, and the need to take care of ourselves.
Using the PLISSIT model and considering the four areas of sexual concerns, I have developed a plan that addresses the specific diagnosis, age, and concerns of the following clients.
A counselor’s primary goal is to have integrity, while also having the client’s well-being as a priority. While competency is the most important factor in professional counseling, a level of trust needs to be met between the client and the counselor. When a client has full confidence that the counselor will maintain confidentiality, the counselor’s integrity has been established and the client can being to open up more to the counselor, establishing better tools for increasing mental health (Sanders, et. al., 2013, p. 263). Sexual identity therapy is also a potential means of.
The article suggests that nurses need training, education, and continuing education on how to address sexuality in a chronically ill older adult. In addition, the nurse completing the comprehensive physical assessment tends to ignore or omit taking a sexual history. A sexual history should include some of the following; the older adults needs for meeting sexual desires, role expectations, the reason for sexual concerns.
Health services provide information to parents that prompts them to generate a discussion with their children about sexual and reproductive health in a safe setting creating the necessary communication between a child and parent aside from the sexual education they receive in other settings such as schools or clinics. There are higher chances that parents can understand their child, as well as the young adults being able to communicate with others. No only that, but parents can also guide adolescents to services that offer sexual and reproductive health communication if the individual does not feel comfortable talking to them about it. These health services will support the young adult as well as emphasizing the importance of having parent-child communication. The main idea is that it is all about adolescents being conscious of their seaxual and reproductive health whthetr it’s from parental communication, formal communication, or health services. But, all together, these three factors can leave a great impact in the expertise of their sexual health and