Sexual Health Week

This week marks Sexual Health Week (Feb 12-16th, 2024) in Canada. The theme is “Sexual Health is for Everyone”. It is important to note that sexual health should involve informed consent. Sexual health may also include understanding practices, risks, health care options and having support. Within society, there are people who are unnecessarily judged for simply existing due to stigmatization and discrimination. People identifying as part of marginalized groups often have to advocate for themselves for access to information that non-marginalized groups take for granted. Within the health care system, it is especially important to ensure we remain at the forefront of trying to build better practices and continuously evolving our practice to be inclusive and that starts with education.

Knowledge= Power

Knowing about who is sitting at the table and understanding who you are speaking to is very important. When two people engage in a sexual health scenario, informed consent is a basic necessity. Even people who enjoy pushing the boundaries of what they consider desirable have to have informed consent otherwise it may be abusive/coercive. In committed relationships, ensuring that you and your partner are communicating your comfort zones and not fearing saying you are uncomfortable is also essential. Trauma and anxiety can make that challenging for people sometimes. It is important to ask yourself questions about whether you are ensuring protection of your mental health when engaging with your sexual health.

Couples

Anxiety & depression can impact one’s sexual health and sometimes can lead to decreases in one’s sexual drive. If this occurs, it is important to ensure if you are partnered, that you partner understands that having a mental illness is not their fault. You can support a partner who has a different sexual drive than yourself and work together to build opportunities for greater intimacy.

For couples where there exists a trauma history, it is also important to ensure that pacing, choice, informed consent and great communication occur. Trauma disrupts memories and can cause “flashbacks” as well as other problematic behaviours if not adequately addressed and intentionally worked on to mitigate its impact and health. Therapy for PTSD, anxiety, depression can assist with healing from trauma memories.

Psychosocial Factors

Sexual health also can be contentious for some people due to religion & education systems. It is important that people have access to knowledgeable supports & information. People who are part of the LGBTQ+ community especially deserve knowledgeable professionals who will not discriminate or judge based upon sexual orientation. Mental health can be negatively impacted when you are shamed and that experience can make you distrust the health care system in many ways. It is important that doctors, nurses, therapists etc provide options so individuals can make informed decisions about their sexual health.

Sexual health also includes gender. Today gender seems to be an area which many people get very stressed about depending on who you are talking to/with. Gender simply means how you see yourself in your own body. If ‘man’ or ‘woman’ are categories that do not fit you, other categories might include more fluid or diverse experiences sometimes labelled as ‘trans/gender fluid/gender non-conforming’. The main thing is not the word but the experience and having it validated in my opinion as a therapist. Language is in the eyes of the beholder and not the clinician to use. The client gets to decide how they want to be seen in the same way that disclosing whether or not you want support on a particular subject is up to the client. The therapist has no right to impose their beliefs on a client at all. This is part of professional practice and continued self-reflection. It is however important to be open to learning & discovering blind spots and continued ways to improve service provision as inclusively as possible.

Sexual health may also include religious beliefs (or the impact of them). If you were raised with a religion you might believe that sex has to occur at a particular relationship status or if the relationship status is changed then it could mean something else. Religion varies per person and really it will be subjective. This also relates to experiences of your family of origin and how you learned about sexual health (or not). You might have a very empowering experience, a complex one, traumatic, etc. Sexual health & religion also matters when it comes to your cultural background. In Canada, there are laws that protect you if you have been violated sexually and communities of support to assist victims to get justice. But, that is another separate topic.

Lastly, sexual health is linked to mental health. When we are authentic and express our sexual health needs in ways that adhere to informed consent, then we may be living in line with our values. Values differ from person to person. It is important that a therapist understands your core values when working with you relating to your sexual health in order to better assist you to improve your mental health.

As always, please contact me if you require further support relating to psychotherapy and your wellness. I offer free 15 minute phone consultations.