I’m still very concerned by how GP’s in Australia receive minimal or no training in sexual health.
GP’s in Australia don’t receive any training about how to discuss sex and sexual health with their patients.
Sexual health is intergral to our well being and it needs to be seen as an essential part of our mental and physical health.
GP’s often assume their patients are sexually active because they don’t want to ask them that question. A lot of the time that assumption is wrong.
There’s a lot of couples counsellors out there who have no sexual health training at all. A lot of them also don’t have any training in working with couples where domestic violence and abuse might be present.
You can’t operate in a sexless vacuum. It’s there and medical and mental health professionals need to have adequate training in sexual health.
It’s not true that if you repair the relationship that sex will automatically start flowing again.
It’s also not true that you can wait for a couple to bring up sexual issues with a therapist. Often they might want to but won’t, hence the need for therapists with sexual health training who will ask the right questions and not shy away from topics about sex and intimacy.
Asking patients questions about their sexual health is crucial for understanding their medical history.
The more uncomfortable the question is, often the more important it is to ask.
