Speaking Engagements

January 04, 2011. Understanding Sexual Addiction and Sexual Compulsivity. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School: Human Sexuality Program. Piscataway, NJ. Two 1.5 Hour lectures. Generating more controversy than conversation terms such as “sexual addiction”, “sexual compulsivity” and “out of control sexual behavior”, have served to polarize the mental heal and sexology communities. On one side of the argument are those that feel that the concept of “sexual addiction” is an artifact of a sex negative culture seeking to exert greater social control over the expression of human sexuality. On the other side of this debate are those who feel that people can, and do, struggle with controlling their relationship to sexual behavior. This workshop provided an overview of the theories related to the “addiction” and “compulsivity” models of out of control sexual behavior, while also inviting participants to assess for alternate biopsychosocial explanations of “compulsive” or “addiction” based sexual activity.

April 7 & 8th 2011. Sexual Compulsivity: Effective Assessment & Treatment: Hong Kong, China: This 2 day interactive workshop, which builds on the 6-hour course co-led with Dr. Gina Ogden, is designed to address the needs of sex therapists interested in working with clients’ who present with out of control sexual behavior. This educational offering is designed to invite clinicians to expand their understanding of out of control sexual behavior beyond the current cultural debate and to develop a broader appreciation of the various biopsychosocial issues that often contribute to the development of problematic sexual behavior. Participants will be instructed in considering alternative explanations for the development of out of control sexual behavior, including systemic, psychodynamic and existential factors as well as differential diagnosis and neurological factors that may masquerade as out of control sexual behavior. Participants will also be introduced to a range of assessment, intervention and treatment strategies structured and presented within a sex positive framework.

April 9th 2011: Sexual Compulsivity: Effective Assessment & Treatment: Hong Kong, China: This workshop was designed to introduce participants to various models of problematic sexual behavior, e.g., the addiction, impulsive / compulsive, and social control and medicalization perspectives. Participants were introduced to the controversy surrounding this phenomenon, as well as the research related to etiology, normophilic and paraphilic presentation, and co-morbidity. Participants were invited to explore how their own values, and attitudes, could result in the over-diagnosis, and under-diagnosis, of sexually compulsive behavior. Participants were provided with an original assessment framework, developed by this presenter, to begin thinking about problematic and non-problematic sexual behavior from multiple perspectives.

September 25, 2011. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences: School of Nursing, Boston, MA. Meeting The Health Care Needs of GLBTQQI Populations: 3 hour course: The health care needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, quer, quesitoning and intersexed people in The United States have continued to lag far behind those of their heterosexual peers. Under the Healthy People 2010/2022 National Health Care Initiative, this course is designed to provide graduating nurses and college staff with information and strategies for assessing and providing quality health care to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals. Utilizing lecture and case examples, participants will be invited to recognize and challenge personal, institutional and cultural barriers that interfere with GLBT people gaining access to health care services. Specific focus will be placed on differentiating between self-reported sexual orientation from sexual practices, as well as exploring the unique medical needs of transgendered people.

October 14, 15 and 16, 2011. Sexual Attitude Reassessment. The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health. Providence, RI. 24 hour course: Sexuality is one of the most basic aspects of life, yet it's also one of the hardest subject areas to teach and discuss. The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health SAR (Sexual Attitude Reassessment) is an intensive three-day workshop that provides participants an opportunity to explore their own attitudes, values and beliefs about human sexual behavior in a safe, comfortable and nonjudgmental environment. The SAR uses emotionally evocative and sexually explicit films, presentations and small group exercises to explore personal attitudes and values. The SAR is a basic course requirement for anyone seeking to become an AASECT certified sexuality educator, counselor or therapist and is designed to promote open, honest self-awareness for anyone who deals with sexuality issues in their work. Topics include: body image, aging and disability; sexual orientation, gender variance and identity, masturbation, BDSM, Kink and fetishism, language, myths and stereotypes.

October 19, 26, November 2, 2010. Sexual Compulsivity: Effective Assessment & Treatment: Joseph Winn, MSW, LICSW co-presentation with Gina Ogden, PhD, LMFT. Cambridge, MA. 6 hour course: Sexual compulsivity is a controversial and hotly debated topic that is frequently referred to as addiction, impulsive / compulsive sexual behavior, hypersexuality, and paraphilias—all of which may resist the best efforts of skilled clinicians. In this 3-session training, we identify terms, outline major clinical models, and provide step-by-step suggestions for effective assessment and treatment of a wide range of personal problems and relational impasses associated with sexual compulsivity. We explore differential diagnoses, systemic issues, medical conditions, and pharmacological agents that may actually trigger sexual compulsivity. We also explore emotional and spiritual implications for clients, along with our own attitudes about what constitutes “normative” sexual behavior. Part of each session is interactive, with encouragement for participants to offer cases for creative group supervision.

September 22, 2010. How, Why, and When, to take a Sexual History. 3-Hour Program Boston College School of Social Work Continuing Education. Newton, MA: This presentation was designed to assist participants in developing competence in discussing sexuality with their clients as a component of psychosocial assessment. Specific areas of instruction included introduction to the PLISSIT and BETTER models of sexual assessment, questioning assumptions that interfere with taking a sexual history, and understanding how difficulties with sexual functioning can be indicators of various physical, mental health and psychosocial concerns. Participants were introduced to understanding sexuality across the lifespan, addressing the sexual, and mental health, needs of LGBTI populations, discussing the role of pleasure in sexuality, and assessing safer sex behaviors and challenging misconceptions related to kink practices.

June 30, 2010. Understanding and Treating Sexual Compulsivity. 3-Hour Program Boston College School of Social Work Continuing Education Workshop, Boston, MA: This workshop was designed to introduce participants to various models of problematic sexual behavior, e.g., the addiction, impulsive / compulsive, and social control and medicalization perspectives. Participants were introduced to the controversy surrounding this phenomenon, as well as the research related to etiology, normophilic and paraphilic presentation, and co-morbidity. Participants were invited to explore how their own values, and attitudes, could result in the over-diagnosis, and under-diagnosis, of sexually compulsive behavior. Participants were provided with an original assessment framework, developed by this presenter, to begin thinking about problematic and non-problematic sexual behavior from multiple perspectives.

April 29, 2010. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sex – But Were Never Taught: 2 Hour Program. Middlesex Community College: School of Nursing. Lowell, MA: This program was designed to assist student nurses, and teaching faculty, to recognize sexuality as a core, and often ignored, component of health assessment in primary practice, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. Specific areas of instruction included challenging discomfort, and assumptions, that interfere with taking a sexual history. Models such as PLISSIT and BETTER, were presented to assist participants in discussing sexuality with their patients. The importance of viewing sexual dysfunction as an indicator of overall health and physiological compromise, e.g., cardio-vascular, neurological, and other disease processes was emphasized. The impact of spinal cord injury, breast, cervical, and prostate cancers, surgery, and other disease entities, on the perception of self and sexual health, was discussed throughout the presentation. The course addressed the importance of understanding sexuality across the lifespan, addressing the sexual, and psychosocial, needs of LGBTI populations, and working respectfully with sexually diverse practices.

March 5-6, 2010. Understanding and Treating Sexual Addictions. 1-Hour Program. Annual Treating The Addictions Conference: Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA: Program Hosted by Harvard Medical School: This 1-hour program was designed to introduce participants to various models of problematic sexual behavior, e.g., the addiction, impulsive / compulsive, and social control and medicalization perspectives. Participants were introduced to the controversy surrounding this phenomenon, as well as the research related to etiology, normophilic and paraphilic presentation, and co-morbidity. Participants were invited to explore how their own values, and attitudes, could result in the over-diagnosis and under-diagnosis of sexually compulsive behavior. Participants were provided with an original assessment framework, developed by this presenter to begin thinking about problematic and non-problematic sexual behavior from multiple perspectives.

November 13, 2009. Clinical Practice with Gender Variant Populations. 6-Hour Program. The Psychological Centers, Inc. Providence, RI: This workshop was designed to assist participants in developing basic clinical skills in understanding and working respectfully and effectively with gender variant individuals, their significant others, and family systems. Participants were introduced to cross cultural perspectives on gender formation and identity, intersex conditions, cross-dressing behaviors, and MtF and FtM transexuality, in children, adolescents and adults. Medical and psychosocial intervention strategies of intervention were discussed as well as socioeconomic realities that interfere with accessing appropriate mental health and medical care. Issues related to violence, sex work, and social stigma were explored, as was the role of internalized transphobia and substance abuse among gender variant populations. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care was reviewed and current controversies surrounding the DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder was discussed.

September/October 2006. Clinical Practice with Multi-Stressed Families. 14-Hour Program. Health and Education Services. Lowell, MA. and Salem, MA: This multi week workshop, co-developed with James Mahfuz MSW, LICSW, was designed to instruct clinicians on the use of various family system models of assessment, treatment formulation, and intervention, with high risk, multi-stressed families. Specialty topics included substance abuse and domestic violence issues, severe and persistent mental illness, and issues related to the needs of GLBT children and parents. Other topics included collaborative relationship building with collaterals and working interdepartmentally with various state agencies.

September 2000. Simmons School of Social Work. 14-Hour Program. Simmons. College School of Social Work. Boston, MA: Developed and taught course 479-01 Community and Home Based Work with Families. Focused on working in home-based settings and developing collaborative approaches to engage collateral providers. Topics included domestic violence, substance abuse, chronic mental illness, and engaging the family as a resource in the change process.

February 2000 / January 2001. Simmons School of Social Work. 14-Hour Program. Simmons College School of Social Work. Boston, MA: Developed and taught course 425-01 Family Centered Clinical Social Work. Taught second year graduate students family systems therapy and intervention techniques. Specific topics include domestic violence substance abuse and collateral relationship building. Course also addressed working with family structures of varying class, culture and sexual orientations.