Understanding Sexual Function and Wellness: A Course for Pelvic Floor Therapists

2014 Dates Pending

Presented by: Myrtle Wilhite, MD, MS and Ellen Barnard MSSW

Course Description:
The very nature of pelvic floor therapy puts the therapist in a unique position to encounter a variety of questions and concerns about sexual function and wellness. This one day course will help you become comfortable talking about sex and sexuality, understand sexual anatomy & physiology, basic sexual psychology, and will help you develop the skills to answer basic questions, make useful suggestions, and make referrals to the appropriate professionals when needed.

Objectives:

• Participants will gain a better understanding of healthy sexual function and common sexual dysfunction they are likely to encounter in pelvic floor patients
• Participants will gain the skills to comfortably elicit concerns from patients about sexual health and function
• Participants will learn how cancer treatment affects sexual function
• Participants will learn about resources and simple strategies to offer patients to improve sexual health and function

Faculty:

Myrtle Wilhite, MD, MS is a physician who specializes in understanding the integration between overall health and sexual health, and develops strategies for addressing sexual health concerns that are related to underlying physical health issues. She is the primary developer of the Vaginal Renewal Program, a strategy for addressing vaginal atrophy, dryness and/or fibrosis. She is the co-owner of A Woman’s Touch Sexuality Resource Center, a business offering education, information and products to enhance sexual health and pleasure for consumers and health care professionals.

Ellen Barnard MSSW is a sex educator and counselor who specializes in helping people learn about sexual wellness and pleasure, and what resources and strategies they can use when their sexual function changes or is not what they want. She has a particular interest in the ways that aging and cancer affect sexual wellness, and has helped develop the Vaginal Renewal Program and other strategies for enhancing sexual health and pleasure over the lifespan. She is the co-owner of A Woman’s Touch Sexuality Resource Center.

Course Schedule and Content:(8:30 AM-5:30 PM)

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast and Registration

9:00 – 9:15 Introduction

9:15-10:45 Anatomy and neurophysiology of sexual function, pain, arousal

10:45 Break

11:00 Lecture continues

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:00 How to have a comfortable conversation about sexual health and wellness:

Developing your communication skills, including interviewing about sexual health and basic sexual function assessment

• Developing a basic skill set/comfort with basic terminology
• Determining/understanding the patient’s problem- is it physical, psychological, or both
• Resources available and how to refer

3:00 Break

3:15 – 4:15 Sexuality after cancer treatment-physical and psychological considerations:

• Ways that cancer treatment affects sexual function and physiology
• Cancer treatment’s psychological effects and the relationship to sexual function and health.
• Basic ways to support cancer survivors in their journey back to sexual wellness

4:15-4:45  Vaginal Renewal Program: addressing vaginal atrophy and dryness for post-menopausal women, and fibrosis in persons who have received pelvic radiation treatment

4:45–5:30 Questions, case scenarios