Samantha Whittle, MSW, RSW
I am happy to offer a series of workshops for professionals, where I aim to help service providers feel more comfortable addressing sexuality with clients. Some of my most requested workshops are below, but I'm able to present on a variety of topics and tailor a training to your organization. Please contact me for booking requests and fees.
Sex Toys 101 for Service Providers
This engaging workshop is an intro overview of sex toys, and all the ways they might be helpful for your clients (or you!). We’ll cover lube, safer sex supplies, and commonly-used sex toys, with a special focus on products that can help to navigate issues like erectile dysfunction, anorgasmia, sexual pain, “low libido”, and the sexual side effects of commonly prescribed medications. We’ll also discuss how to approach these topics with clients while maintaining professional boundaries.
Consent Framework for Working with Clients
Mainstream conversations about consent are often based on a legal paradigm, and that doesn’t always connect to the lived experiences of our clients. This workshop offers an alternative way of discussing consent, with the goal of better supporting our clients in seeking positive, consensual sexual experiences.
Using a concrete consent framework, this workshop will help you clarify your own understanding of consent in practice, and will help you support your clients in doing the same. It will also offer you tools for supporting clients through common issues around communication, boundary-setting, and taking healthy risks while maintaining physical and emotional safety.
Queering Intimate Partner Violence: Supporting Queer & Trans Survivors of IPV
This workshop discusses the specificities of intimate partner violence for queer and trans people. Through our discussion, we’ll talk about some of the specific ways that abuse and control happens in LGBTTQ+ relationships, the systems that intertwine with and impact experiences of abuse, how conventional views of relationship violence can harm LGBTTQ+ survivors, and what we can do as service providers to create more access, safety and support for those who are living through or have survived abusive relationships.