This document discusses several topics related to sexuality counseling, including: 1) Clients' and counselors' views of sexuality are shaped by religious, cultural, gender, and societal factors. Counselors should reflect on how these influence their work and be attuned to clients' perspectives. 2) To effectively address clients' sexuality concerns, counselors need to develop personal and professional competencies through activities like discussing positive sexuality concepts, analyzing controversies, and gaining insights from advocacy planning. 3) The final project involves creating an advocacy plan by interviewing a sexuality professional, identifying a social change need, and outlining specific actions counselors could take to address this need.

1. Clients’ and counselors’ views toward sexuality are influenced by a
Clients’ and counselors’ views toward sexuality are influenced by a range of contextual
issues, including their religious and spiritual beliefs, their cultural backgrounds, their
gender expectations,their body image, and societal norms. Counselors should reflect on how
these influence their own beliefs and perspectives about the sexuality counseling work they
do with clients. Likewise, they should be attuned to these issues when working with clients.
Clients may benefit from a discussion of their perceptions of how these issues impact their
functioning currently.In this final week, you are invited to view sexuality through a positive
lens and consider what it means to have a healthy and positive sexuality. Cultural, religion,
and gender certainly play an important role in healthy sexual functioning and thus, it
becomes important to consistently link these concepts together for the good of the
therapeutic process.You are asked to consider steps you can take professionally to continue
to become better prepared to help your clients move toward a healthy level of sexual
functioning. Lastly, you are asked to contemplate professional and personal growth that can
help you to meet your clients various needs, and how you will specifically meet these
needs.ObjectivesBy the end of this week, you should be able to:• Explain insights gained
from developing an advocacy plan to promote social change• Develop an advocacy plan for
a social change need related to sexuality• Analyze positive sexuality and healthy sexual
functioning• Analyze controversies related to positive sexuality and healthy sexual
functioning• Explain personal competency to address client sexuality concerns• Explain
professional development steps to increase competency to address client sexuality
concernsFinal Project: Advocacy PlanFor the Final Project, you conduct an interview with a
professional in your community who works in a sexuality-related job (e.g., pregnancy
counselor, sex therapist, OB/GYN) to: a) learn about his or her work, b) observe how the
professional discusses the topic of sexuality, and c) identify social change related to human
sexuality that, from the perspective of the professional, is needed to advance his or her
work. Based on this information, you will outline an advocacy plan to address this need.An
advocacy plan outlines a problem that will be addressed through professional advocacy
practices. Such a plan should include a description of the problem to be addressed through
the advocacy activities, the goal(s) of the advocacy activities, and some specific activities
that can be undertaken to make progress toward these goals.This plan should outline
specific actions that could be taken by a counselor to effect change at various levels of the

2. social context (e.g., within organizations, in the local community, and in public policy).Use
the following interview guide for your interview:1. Describe the work you do and your work
setting.2. What kind of training do you have specific to sexuality?3. What do you find helpful
in talking to clients about sexuality?4. What social change related to human sexuality is
needed to better serve clients?5. How do you see cultural, gender, and religious
considerations impacting the clients you serve?6. What client populations are most difficult
for you to work with and why?The project you submit will be a 10- to 15-page paper that
outlines a plan for an advocacy effort to promote social change. It must include the
following:1. A description of common experiences of the client population served (literature
review)2. A description of the type of professional you interviewed (what type of work the
person does and the organization in which he or she works)3. A summary of your
observations regarding how the professional communicates about sexuality (both how he
or she communicated during the interview and how he or she describe this aspect of his or
her work)4. A summary of cultural, gender-related, and religious considerations discussed
by the interviewee and a description of how these relate to current literature5. A
description of an area of social change related to human sexuality that the professional
indicated would be needed to more effectively do his or her work6. A description of how
you would address this specific need through an advocacy plan (should include at least
three actions you could take)7. A description of the stakeholders involved and the issues
you would need to consider when implementing the planAs you write your Final Project,
use the Assignment and Final Project Writing Rubric. A rubric is a guideline for evaluating
your work.This rubric is in the form of a checklist. Your Instructor will also use this rubric
to grade your Final Project. Be sure to address all aspects of the rubric if you want to earn
full points on this Final Project assignment.Required ResourcesNote: To access this week’s
required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials section of your syllabus.Readings• Course Text: Handbook of Clinical
Sexuality for Mental Health Professionalso Chapter 4, Lessons from Great Lovers• Article:
Bancroft, J. (2002). The medicalization of female sexual dysfunction: The need for
caution.Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31(5), 451– 455. Retrieved from the Walden Library
using the ProQuest database.• Article: Dundon, C. M., & Rellini, A. H. (2010). More than
sexual function: Predictors of sexual satisfaction in a sample of women age 40-70. Journal of
Sexual Medicine, 7(2), 896– 904.• Article: Gillen, M. M., Lefkowitz, E. S., & Shearer, C. L.
(2006). Does body image play a role in risky sexual behavior and attitudes? Journal of Youth
and Adolescence, 35(2), 230– 243. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SocINDEX
database.• Article: Sherry, A., Adelman, A., Whilde, M. r., & Quick, D. (2010). Competing
selves: Negotiating the intersection of spiritual and sexual identities. Professional
Psychology: Research and Practice, 41(2), 112– 119. Retrieved from the Walden Library
using the PsycARTICLES database.• Article: Woodward, A. J., Findlay, B. M., & Moore, S. M.
(2009). Peak and mystical experiences in intimate relationships. Journal of Social and
Personal Relationships, 26(4), 429– 442.• Book Excerpt: Peterson, F. L, Dobbins, J.,
Coleman, F., & Razzouk, J. (2007). Culturally competent sex therapy. In VandeCreek, L.,
Peterson, F. L., & Bley, J. W., Innovations in clinical practice: Focus on sexual health (pp.
245– 260). Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press. Focus on sexual health by

3. VandeCreek, L. Copyright 2007 by Professional Resource Exchange/Press, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Professional Resource Exchange/Press, Inc., via the Copyright Clearance
Center.