Introduction to working with psychosexual issues in therapy

What is the course about?

This course aims to help counsellors and psychotherapists gain an understanding of the physiological and psychological aspects of common psychosexual issues they may come across in their practice with individuals and relationships.

This course will aim to increase understanding of desire issues, one of the most common presenting issues as well as providing a framework for working integratively with these issues in the context of general counselling and psychotherapy.

You will also have an opportunity to become more aware of your own desires through experiential exercises, including visualisation.

What will we cover?

The common psychosexual presenting issues and some of the contributing factors, including the interrelationship between physical and psychological aspects of the issue
What to consider when referring on
Exploring our own desire through experiential work including visualisation
How you might work integratively with sexual desire issues arising in with your clients.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

- Identify some of the main psychosexual presentations and potential underlying factors
- Feel more confident to talk about sexual issues with your clients and identify whether to refer for specialist psychosexual work
- Have more awareness of what influences your own sexual desire.
- Have a framework to understand and work with common sexual desire issues with clients.
- Apply your understanding to your own life as well as your clients.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is suitable for therapists from a range of training modalities who are interested in developing their awareness of psychosexual issues. Students are likely to have experience of working therapeutically with clients although you do not have to have any previous experience of working with psychosexual issues.

Although some of the learning will be experiential, there will be no expectation that you will share the content of the personal exercises with other students.

You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions to support demonstrations, hand-outs and for health and safety information, and will be invited to take part in group discussion.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

Teaching will involve an element of presentation through PowerPoint, group discussion activities and pair work. Students will be invited to work experientially so that they may appreciate their own feelings around desire as preparation for exploring desire issues with clients.

Students will be to do an exercise between classes, but this is not a requirement.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

No additional costs, please bring a notebook and pen.
A reading list will be provided, and a link will be emailed to you before the course so you can download handouts.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

The City Lit offers an exciting variety of courses on psychology, counselling and personal development.