Staff Training

Would your community living organization, faculty, or staff team like to build confidence when it comes to providing sexual health support?

Real Talk is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada to provide free professional development courses to community service workers, residential care workers, and other professionals supporting people with cognitive disabilities in Metro Vancouver.

Our Certified Sexual Health Educators can work with your organization to design a custom curriculum that best suits your needs.

email us to book now

Testimonials

A woman stands with read hair, a black t shirt, blue jeans, and a beige blazer with a red poppy on the lapel. Next to her stands a man with grey hair wearing a burgundy shurt and dark dress pants. Both are standing at the front of a class room, reading text from a powerpoint presentation off a projector slide to a classroom of students.

Real Talk presents to Intellectual Disabilities Society Summit Program

Kelsey and John from the Real Talk team deliver sensitive content in a respectful & thought-provoking way. Our goal is to give students the tools and resources needed to provide dignity-filled, self-determined supports. The Real Talk content challenges assumptions and has inspired thoughtful conversation and reflection on the importance of sexual health knowledge and access to intimacy. More importantly, I have heard from program alumni how they have used the resources shared by Real Talk in their support work. I highly recommend Kelsey, John and the Real Talk resources!”
–JENNA CHRISTIANSON-BARKER | MBA, PhD CANDIDATE | DOUGLAS COLLEGE FACULTY – DISABILITY AND COMMUNITY STUDIES

“I would like to thank you for your *very important workshop in my class.  Very simply, the content was so significant and, more than that, your facilitation and engaging approach was appreciated by everyone in the room.  Before the day was out, I had multiple students reach out to me to tell me how much they appreciated your work.  And, when debriefing your workshop in the following week’s class, it was clear that your workshop will have a big ‘afterlife’ in the students’ learning and practice.  Students talked about the many ‘lightbulb’ moments they had during your talk (the connections between language and safety, the ethical foundation/ professional values that underpin your teachings, and so much more).”
– DR. LISA MOY | BA, BSW, MSW, PhD, RSW | UNIVERSITY OF THE FRASER VALLEY INTERIM ASSOCIATE DEAN | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK AND HUMAN SERVICES

“I journey alongside a lot of youth. There are always friendship, relationship and sexual health questions raised and connections needed. Real Talk is always part of the answer.”
– MEAGHEN TAYLOR-REID | BA, MA, PhD, MINISTRY OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES NAVIGATOR, BURNABY AND NEW WESTMINSTER

“Real Talk provided a 3 hour presentation in my Contemporary Practice in Adult Services class at Douglas College and the feedback from students was excellent.  Sexual health education/support for adults with developmental disabilities is a specialized knowledge area and it was fantastic having the Real Talk team provide this information to students.  The presenters did a great job engaging the class and I would definitely have them back again.”
-JERRY STANGER | BSW, RSW, MHA, CHE – CONTRACT FACULTY, DOUGLAS COLLEGE

“The reviews from your workshop were all glowing! The session was informative and well-structured. Your team provided essential information on sexual health approached from the angle of respecting individuality. The examples and the interaction that you provided helped create a comfortable environment for discussion. We got to learn many things, and from the resources that you shared, that would be helpful in our curriculum and daily programming. On behalf of the whole PASS program team, we THANK YOU for the work that you do in educating support staff who continue to advocate for our neurodivergent young adults.”        –HELEN NG | BSc., MD, BCaBA, PROGRAM MANAGER – PALS ADULT SERVICES SOCIETY (PASS)

What makes us different:

 

  • With over thirty years of experience working in the sector, Real Talk’s lead educator has a nuanced understanding of sexual health support in the community living context.
  • We deliver our workshop alongside Peer Facilitators: adults with cognitive disabilities who are passionate advocates for exploring these topics, and providing lived experience perspective
  • Real Talk sees safety as the foundation of quality sexual health support – but not the one and only goal. Our courses show how to prevent & heal from bad outcomes, but also how to increase the likelihood of good outcomes like more self-esteem, more pleasure, and more life-affirming relationships.
  • Real Talk approaches sexual health support from a rights-based perspective. We believe people have a right to consent or not consent to sex. We believe that people have a right to information about their bodies & how they work. We believe people have the right to know about different sexual orientations & gender identities.
  • At the same time, we realize that this stuff can be awkward to discuss, and that families or colleagues may not be on board. Our workshops give real-life tools and talking points that help engage in respectful ways with people who have different opinions.

Our goal is to have sexual health support woven into people’s day-to-day context, not silo’d – and we show how you don’t need to become a sexual health expert in order to be a great sexual health supporter.

Our curriculum includes:

  • Increasing comfort with discussing the subject
  • Finding new ways of holding space during intense conversations
  • Learning how and where to get reliable sexual health information that’s accessible to different learning styles.
  • Examining sexual health barriers that are specific to people with cognitive disabilities
  • Thinking about ways around these barriers
  • Examining staff concerns / fears
  • Sharing stories of mistakes & successes.

Our three-hour workshop explores the four most common barriers staff encounter in providing sexual health support, and how to navigate each with increased confidence:

  • Discomfort around the topic of sexuality
  • Resistance from the family/caregiving network in this support being provided
  • Lack of clarity around organizational policy in our roles as support staff doing this work
  • Sexual health resources and services being inaccessible to the people we support

EMAIL JOHN@REAL-TALK.ORG TO GET MORE INFORMATION AND BOOK YOUR FREE STAFF TRAINING.