Title: Adolescents and Older Adults’ Sexuality

Authors: Angela M. Schubert, Theresa L. Keown, Anastasia Canfield, Sarah Richards, Melissa Franzen, Sharon Gerstein, and Karen O’Hearn

Description: It is foundational for counselors to understand human sexuality across the lifespan. This continuing education explores sexuality in adolescents and older adults. For adolescents’ sexuality, the authors provide an understanding of the theoretical basis for the two predominant viewpoints on sex education, a review of the related research, and an understanding of the impact of the cultural and political environments. For sexuality among older adults, the authors address the barriers and myths surrounding older adult sexuality and explore a sex-positive approach to counter each barrier. They also expand on how adults change and adapt their bodies and sexual functioning.

Title: Healthy While Sexual: Preventing and Living with Sexually Transmitted Infections

Authors: J. Richelle Joe, PhD and John Super, PhD

Description: Sexually transmitted infections (STI) can affect an individual’s mental and physical health, and counselors may encounter clients who are living with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or who are interested in available methods to prevent contracting HIV or any other STI. For counseling to be effective for those clients, counselors must be equipped with current and accurate information about the prevention, transmission, prognosis, and treatment of STIs and know how to engage clients in meaningful conversations. This Continuing Professional Development resource is based on chapter 14 authored by J. Richelle Joe and John T. Super from the Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling: A Sex Positive Approach (ACA, 2023) and provides counselors with a rationale to: (1) know HIV basics, prevention, and treatment, (2) explain how counselors can be active in engaging clients in the topic of sexuality, (3) understand how counselors can support clients through testing, diagnosis, treatment, and the experience of living with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

Title: Sexuality and the Intersection of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities

Authors: Julie Lynn Williams, PsyD and Virginia Ogletree, PsyD

Description: The community of people with disabilities who identify as LGBTQ+ is largely invisible. In fact, Williams, and Ogletree (2023) describe this population as ´Erased and absent from professional literature’ (p.259). A continuing education (CE) addressing sexuality and disability in and of itself is essential to counselors. This Continuing Professional Development resource is based on Chapter 16 from the Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling: A Sex Positive Approach (ACA, 2023) and was authored from the voice of a dwarf, queer, hard-of-hearing, White and cisgender (Julie Lynn Williams) and of a nondisabled, lesbian, White and cisgender woman from a low socio-economic status background (Virginia Ogletree). This CE provides counselors with a rationale to: (1) understand sexuality and disability at the intersection of persons with disabilities and LGBTQ+ identities, (2) know how to support clients to embrace their disability and LGBTQ+ identities, (3) describe sex surrogacy as a healing and valid intervention for persons with disabilities who are LGBTQ+.