Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling

Book excerpt: Sexuality is a significant part of the human experience, yet it is often a neglected topic in both counselor training and the counseling process. In this preeminent guide, expert clinicians with a variety of mental health and medical backgrounds write on diverse issues related to sexuality through a radical acceptance lens. Each chapter illustrates an affirmative and expansive approach to sexuality that consider's clients' sexual an cultural idetntities and emphasizes sexual wellness. Students and professionals alike will learn how to respectfully and ethically approach sexuality considerations not commonly mentioned in the profesioonal literature, such as sexuality and disability, healing after sexual violence, older adult sexuality, the impact of chronic illness on sexual expression, and paraphilias. The text is organized around eight comprehensive parts- Foundations; Physiological and Psychological; Attraction, Orientation, and Gender; Sexual Wellness; Sexual Agency; Approaches to Sexual Divergence; Relationships; and Education- with case examples, "Questions You Always Wanted to Ask," and additional resources interwoven throughout.