Sex and Social Work: What Providers Need to Know

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Date: Friday, November 13, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Program Cost: $150*
Delivery: Synchronous Virtual Classroom via Zoom

Sexual health is an extremely underrepresented field within the world of mental healthcare. Participants in this course will be lead through the treatment process - from intake to termination - to examine their current practices and identify new ways of engaging with their clients’ intimate worlds. Guided discussion and engagement will train folks on two assessment strategies, multiple intervention methods, best practices for ethical dilemmas, provider biases and how to ethically work with/through them, and inclusive strategies for communicating as an affirming provider of sexual health.

Engaging in sexual health conversations with clients immerses me into the inner workings of their vivid world. I use this therapeutic intimacy to guide treatment interventions, empower my clients to lead pleasurable value-congruent lives, and enhance perspectives of the self and others. Sexual health is mental health - it is all interconnected, lively, and diverse.

This comprehensive workshop aims to fill in educational gaps, enhance provider repertoire, and prepare clinical social workers with empowerment for working with client sexual health concerns. From beginning to end, the group will be invited to play within the dynamics of pleasure-centered sexual health therapy.

Training strategies involved include lecture, large and small group discussion, case vignette practice and application, and prompted self-reflection with resourcing. 
 

Learning Objectives

Participants of this course will take away direct dialogue pertaining to:

1. Affirming consent;
2. Provider and client boundary setting;
3. Strategies to work with the DSM-5 diagnoses; and
4. Multicultural considerations to invite in the room

Instructor

Cate Clarke, LCSW, CSE (she/they) focuses her work as a intimacy specialist with the belief that access to inclusive sexual and relational health knowledge enhances societal well-being. Cate received her B.S in psychology from Eastern Michigan University, then a Masters of Social Work and dual certificates in sexuality education and sex therapy from the University of Michigan. Soon after, she became a Certified Sexuality Educator by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) where she concentrated her passion for curriculum design geared towards clinical training settings. Currently, Cate is the Director of Clinical Training at Forum, the clinical education & training department of FairSky Foundation 501(c)(3) - a Michigan-based social justice nonprofit organization focused on increasing access to affirming psychological care. Cate currently trains nationally at all levels of professional clinical development, dedicates herself to staying involved with current research, and greatly enjoys engaging with curiosity, whimsy, playfulness and pleasure. 

Cost | CEUs

Program Cost: $150

Discount Rate: $120 for BMC alumnae/i, faculty, staff, field instructors of current GSSWSR MSS students, current MSS students, and agency-funded groups of 3 or more*

CEUs: 6

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